The Black Crowes: The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion (180g, remastered) [AMERICAN RECORDINGS]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 180g pressing was made in Germany. The album went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and set a record with four album rock No. 1 hits, and Guitar World later ranked it among the 100 greatest guitar albums.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Remastered
• Pressed in Germany

About the album

Second albums are supposed to be difficult, but nobody seems to have told the Black Crowes. Chris and Rich Robinson came off the back of Shake Your Money Maker with a new lead guitarist in Marc Ford and a new keyboard player in Eddie Harsch, and the extra firepower shows. They named the record after The Southern Harmony, an 1835 hymnal compiled by William Walker, which tells you a fair bit about where their heads were at.

George Drakoulias co-produced with the band, and Brendan O'Brien engineered and mixed, giving it a warm, live-in-the-room roar. "Sting Me" opens with a swagger, "Remedy" is pure gospel-tinged rock 'n' roll with a choir of Barbara Mitchell and Taj Harmon behind it, "Thorn in My Pride" stretches out into a slow-burning jam, and "Hotel Illness" stomps along on Chris Robinson's blues harp. "Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye" is a gorgeous, aching ballad, and the record closes with a cover of Bob Marley's "Time Will Tell."

Rock Hard magazine also squeezed it into its 500 greatest rock and metal albums. It remains the record that proved the Crowes were no one-album wonder, and it still sounds best turned up loud enough to annoy the neighbours, which we can neither endorse nor discourage.

Also at Kops: more The Black Crowes on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On American Recordings, a reissue of the 1992 album.