The Black Crowes – Happiness Bastards (LP Vinyl)
Review
Fifteen years is a long time to wait for one of rock-and-roll’s most beloved acts to release new music. But The Black Crowes operate on their own timeline, in their own universe —and fans have certainly reaped the benefits. Their new album, chronicled in Relix’s March 2024 cover story, is a blast. Happiness Bastards—the band’s first set of new songs since 2009’s Before the Frost… Until the Freeze—finds The Black Crowes doing exactly what we hoped they would, knocking out big, brash Southern rock gems driven by Chris Robinson’s elastic, wailing vocals and Rich Robinson’s muscular, furious guitar lines. Happiness Bastards opens with a gust of hot air; those instantly recognizable guitar tones and Erik Deutsch’s honky-tonk piano on “Bedside Manners” slap you right in the face. It’s as if the band is saying, “We mean business, and we’re not gonna waste a second.” And they really don’t. Track after track, Happiness Bastards delivers the goods—songs you can imagine sounding electrifying from the stage. Take “Cross Your Fingers”— the cut begins with some gently fluttering acoustic fingerpicking, and Chris Robinson singing, “Call down lighting, rain and thunder.” The band’s answer? A storm of electric guitars, striking like lightning a minute in. Those are moments Black Crowes fans live for. Only two of the album’s 10 tracks slow things down, including the gorgeous “Wilted Rose,” a collaboration with Lainey Wilson (and even that ballad kicks up some dust after a few minutes). Overwhelmingly, Happiness Bastards is a down-and-dirty, rock[1]and-roll throwdown—and one of the best parties The Black Crowes have ever thrown. And that’s saying something.
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— Justin Jacobs, jambands.com
Product Details
Reunions don't always deliver, but the Crowes have never been a band that did anything halfway. Chris and Rich Robinson spent the better part of a decade apart before bringing the classic lineup back together for sold-out tours revisiting Shake Your Money Maker, and Happiness Bastards channels that hard-won reconciliation into something that sounds less like a comeback than a continuation.
The Black Crowes are leaving the bullshit in the past. Fifteen years after their last album of original music, the Robinson Brothers present Happiness Bastards - their 10th studio album. Some may say the project has been several tumultuous years in the making, but we argue it's arriving at just the right time. Call it brotherly love or music destiny that brought them back together, the highly anticipated record consecrating the reunion of this legendary band just may be the thing that saves rock & roll. In a time where the art form is buried beneath the corporate sheen of its successors, The Black Crowes are biting back with the angst of words left unsaid penned on paper and electrified by guitar strings, revealing stripped, bare-boned rock & roll. No gloss, no glitter, just rhythm and blues at it's very best - gritty, loud, and in your face.
Since The Black Crowes reunited in 2019, they've made a triumphant return to form with over 150 shows spanning 20 countries worldwide, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Shake Your Money Maker, the album that put them on the map. Upon their return from the road, they knew they needed something new to show for their lost time. The Robinson Brothers and longtime bassist Sven Pipien headed to the studio with producer Jay Joyce in early 2023 and the experiences of years past transcribed themself through the music as the band found their way back to their roots. And it's finally here - Happiness Bastards is out March 15, 2024.
Tracklist
Side A
Side B
UPC: 020286246732
Label: Silver Arrow Records
Release Date: 3.15.24
Format: LP Vinyl