The Black Crowes continue to rock on 20 years later. I simply cannot get enough of their latest, a 2-CD set individually titled Before the Frost… and its downloaded companion disc …Until the Freeze.
They recorded the tunes in unusual fashion: in a very rustic setting in upstate New York – a recording studio owned by The Band’s Levon Helm – that really shines through the music. A small audience was present for the live sessions and are respectfully unheard until their applause at the end of each track.
It's not like we've haven't heard those front porch sounds before in tunes like “Nonfiction” and “Locust Street.” But the mood of these discs fit the Crowes’ Georgian origin like none of their albums – each amazing in its own right.
Of course you get the rockin' Crowes, too, with tunes like "A Train Still Makes A Lonely Sound." But the twang this time around is sweetly thick in the air. Guest musicians add a biscuits-n-gravy aroma with instruments like banjo, mandolin and pedal steel guitar.
Also recommended is the companion DVD that features an all-access view of the unique recording process and location called “Cabin Fever.”
Rumors say the next project for the band is something they’ve supposedly already begun work on: a double-disc of acoustic takes on their vast catalog.
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