Review Summary: The Crowes ride a wave of inspiration with this light hearted but hard hitting album.
I lost track of the Crowes around the turn of the millennium. Three Snakes... had been the last BC album I bought, and Amorica ended up as my favorite album.
The music on Lions, Warpaint etc hadn't brought anything new or interesting for me and the albums were mostly butchered in reviews.
So when I heard some remarkable positive things about their latest "A Pound Of Feathers", I bought the album on a whim, and thus far I am pleasantly surprised.
The album is pretty straightforward and simple. No big ambitions here. And thinking about it, the album title could be explained in that direction; make a true statement, apparently without the use of weighty arguments.
The songs are mostly southern-rock type tracks with a couple of nice outliers. The soul influences of (long) before are still buried. The album also has its flaws.
The thing that resonates less with me for instance is the relatively modern mix, with boxy drums and sometimes over compressed or processed vocals. The sound would fair better with a more organic, natural approach like on the Amorica album. On the other hand it's also a commercial consideration and maybe for this album it was a wise one, facilitating ample radio play and playlist inclusions. Something not to be taken for granted given the genre. This is definite dad-rock...
The album opens pretty strong with a couple of quite typical (not in a bad way) BC songs. "Cruel Streak" is an early highpoint, with a simple but great and effective guitar lick. The energy of this track is comparable to their first couple of albums. Follow up "Pharmacy Chronicles", is again a typical but great songs. The relatable lyric is great and feels authentic. The (sort of) chorus is a bit hindered by the vocal mix.
There are a few filler songs ("Do The Parasite", "You Call This A Good Time") but they are largely overshadowed by the high quality of most of the other songs like "High And Lonesome" which weaves an altrock web in the verses leading into typical southern style grooving in the choruses. Great song. "Blood Red Regrets" is another excellent song where the Crowes really venture far into grunge territory. Chris Robinson sounds like an early Chris Cornell, and the whole band is just on fire.
"Eros Blues" is an interesting song but ultimately serves mainly as a stepping stone to the beautiful closer "Doomsday Doggerel". A slowburning blues rocker with a heavy nod to Zeppelin. The vocal (delivery) is great again. The song drags a bit in the middle part, but ultimately delivers the goods as an outstanding album closer.
It's really hard to pinpoint why this album is/feels so much better than most of their output of the last 20 years.
The band sounds vital as does Chris Robinson, who, vocally, doesn't age at all it seems. The songs are better, duh! (Way!) less filler. They must have hit a creative streak while also finding a (re)new(ed) emotional connection within the band.
There are specific periods in time (late sixties, early nineties) that somehow deliver great music. The Crowes were in the epicenter of such a period in the early nineties as an up and coming band making their best music. Like so many other artists of the era. But also artists that were a bit on the way back or even forgotten made great music again, like Page and Plant, David Byrne, Paul McCartney, Marillion, or Springsteen.
Inspiration moves in pretty constant waves I guess, and the Crowes ride this wave nicely, bringing an honest and very good album right in the middle of, what seems to be becoming (IMHO), another musical significant point in time.
