The Black Crowes
Before The Frost...Until The Freeze

There is an image among the promotional photos of this new work by the Atlanta band that represents and presents the album perfectly. The Black Crowes are portrayed with their beards, long hair, and seventies outfits at the entrance of a large wooden house with a staircase and stacks of firewood on either side. It is likely the recording studio located in Woodstock owned by Levon Helm (whose latest album "Electric Dirt" (2009) is splendid), where the band recorded live in front of a small audience the 20 tracks that make up this almost old-fashioned album.

That firewood seems to be there to testify to the warmth that listening to this album seems to emanate, contrasting with the icy cover and the title of the work. This album could be the perfect mix between Dylan/The Band's Basement Tapes and the Stones' Exile on Main Street. All original compositions except for Stephen Stills' cover "So Many Times." Songs that demonstrate how much the band has matured in recent years. Already the previous "Warpaint" (2007) was appreciated for the renewed compositional vein of the Robinson brothers, but this album surpasses it. Warmth, introspection, feeling, cohesion are adjectives that well describe the current status of the band, which seems to have been reborn after the entry of Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi All Stars) on guitar. The connection with the greats of the seventies has never been as marked as in this album, finding hints of Rolling Stones, Faces, early Rod Stewart (especially in Chris Robinson's splendid voice), or the southern echoes of the Allman Brothers Band and the warmth of compositions by The Band and Little Feat. The Black Crowes have lost the urgency and fervor of certain early works to gain warmth as they increasingly embrace American roots.

The crows of Atlanta seem to be having fun, reviewing all the styles that fit their musical abilities. The first album "Before The Frost..." opens with a formidable "Good Morning Captain", which starts where the previous "Warpaint" left off. A composition that will surely become a classic. Note the precious work on piano and keyboards by Adam MacDouglas. Alongside rough rock blues episodes like "Kept My Soul" or the long "Been A Long Time (Waiting On Love") with its final jam, where the band indulges themselves, we find country episodes like the beautiful "Appaloosa", which seems to come directly from Mr. Young's rustic Harvest, or the acoustic "What Is Home?", so close to CSN of the legendary sofa on the cover. There is also room for a fun and surprising track like those the Stones loved to do in the late seventies. "I Ain't Hiding" is a joke and should be taken as such, disco-funk rhythms that Jagger's big mouth would love.

The second part of the work "...Until The Freeze" can be downloaded from the website using the code found in the CD package unless you choose the vinyl, where you will find everything on two records. This might be the right solution given the vintage sounds of this work. "Aimless Peacock" reveals the soul of this second work, more cerebral and psychedelic. Violins and sitar immerse us in atmospheres reminiscent of things dear to late sixties George Harrison. While "Garden Gate" is a fun country waltz supported by the violin just as "Shine Along" and "Roll Old Jeremiah" result in country.

Twenty songs that make you cross America while sitting comfortably in an armchair while the fireplace burns that famous firewood and something alcoholic warms us inside, even though the music of this superb work would suffice—so anachronistic yet useful in these times to reconcile with today's throwaway musical world.