The Black Crowes
Before The Frost…
2009, Silver Arrow
Rating: 3.5/5

The Black Crowes are a music making machine that have been cranking out allot of product lately much to the delight of fans. It was only a short while ago we got the WARPAINT album and more recently the WARPAINT: LIVE concert recording.

The band have chosen to do something slightly different with the marketing of this album and that is to release 11 of the 20 tracks on CD with the remaining 9 available for free download as a separate album entitled …UNTILL THE FREEZE. You have to buy the actual CD to get access to download the 2nd half complete with album artwork. There is also an LP version which has all tracks.

The songs that make up BEFORE THE FROST… are very similar in style to their 2nd album. While all their albums were similar in style they seemed to lack the magic that the earlier couple of albums contained. This is the music that the early fans latched onto and what made them popular in the first place. BEFORE THE FROST…should put them back out there in the publics eye again and help them regain some of those fans they may have lost along the way. The mellower tunes like “Appaloosa” and “The Last Place That Loves Lives” are prime examples of the great singing and song writing that they have. These couple of songs have that classic Crowes sound. On the latter, Chris’ vocals coupled with the acoustic guitar make for one of the best songs you will hear.

A fine set of music from the brothers Robinson and band. A must own release especially if you were a fan of the earlier albums.