Well. Here we are in the Nineties. Although to me this feels a lot more up to date, a quick reality check: this is still 35 years in the past from the time of writing. More, from the time of publication.
The year 1990 has some optimistic news after
decades of the same old crap – the Berlin Wall is officially demolished and
Germany is re-unified, on the back of the various former-Soviet Union countries
gaining independence. Nelson Mandela is freed from prison. Thatcher resigns as
leader of the Conservative Party after a summer of riots against her vastly "popular" Community Charge aka “poll tax”. And Tim Berners-Lee trials internet
protocols at CERN.
But meanwhile cracks are already beginning
to show in the newly-independent Yugoslavia, and Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait,
precipitating Operation Desert Shield.
And like trouble in the Middle East, the first album of the Nineties that Dimery
throws at us is something of a Seventies throwback, The Black Crowes emulating the
likes of early ZZ Top, Creedance Clearwater Revival, The Faces and Rolling
Stones, with some good old school bluesy sweaty rock and roll.
The biggest hit on the album, and I daresay
the biggest hit they’ve ever had, is the cover of Otis Reddings’ Too Hot To
Handle, which kind of became the default version of that song. It may be
because it stands apart, stylistically, from their other tracks, most of which
by this stage will remind the listener of early Seventies rock.
Could I’ve Been So Blind (yes, that’s how
it’s written) is a little bit like Rolling Stones’ Brown Sugar, for example
while Seeing Things is a slow and bluesy number that recalls both Janis Joplin
and the track Handbags And Gladrags. The Rod Stewart version especially,
perhaps thanks to singer Chris Robinson’s raspy vocals – all things said he’s
got the perfect kind of voice for dirty blues rock, but he’s capable of other
sounds. Start It Cold is more like an AC/DC track, where Robinson gives a good
Angus Young soundalike rock scream.
As I found with Terence Trent D’Arby / Senanda Matreiya, though, having a good vocal is only part of the song if the rest doesn’t stand out above everything that has come before. D’Arby’s tracks were good enough funky pop but the tunes for me didn’t match the very similar offerings from the Jackson siblings. The Black Crowes give a pretty solid album but the music feels more like a tribute act than their own thing, which perhaps is why they never quite achieved lasting chart success.
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