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Rating: “Shake Your Money Maker” by the Black Crowes is an album that practically lacks nothing. Let's take a milestone of Hard Rock/Blues: “Led Zeppelin IV.” In an album like that, we find songs like “Black Dog” or “Rock n’ Roll” with driving rhythms and powerful riffs that could bring down a stadium, and then ballads like “Going to California” or the legendary “Stairway to Heaven,” concluding with the relentless and perhaps my favorite track of the album, the inexorable “When the Levee Breaks,” which trudges through its 7 minutes and more of duration always on the same chord progression in Open D. But why am I talking about this album instead of reviewing the one indicated by the title, namely the debut of the Black Crowes led by the Robinson brothers? Well, to provide a point of reference, of course. If we take the Led album as the canon, a perfect representation of a genre from which every hard rock band should draw and try to emulate, well, Shake Your Money Maker takes on the challenge and comes very close.
The album opens with “Twice as Hard,” a song that feels the full influence of Page on the Crowes with a good dose of bottle neck slide that's very “Southern,” which is never a bad thing. “Jealous Again,” on the other hand, truly makes you cry, but not because the song is particularly sad—quite the opposite. The melancholy hits you when it crosses your mind that those piano bridges, that strumming rhythm on the guitar, and that sharp, penetrating voice you definitely heard at least 20 years before on Stones' CDs. The melancholy is then followed by anger, reflecting on how Jagger & Co. have become in the '90s.
The album continues with cheerful tones halfway between Blues and Hard Rock with simple solos that are not overly pretentious but absolutely functional. You finally reach the ballad zone and inevitably encounter “Seeing Things” and the touching “She Talks to Angels.” The former maintains an electric tone even if extremely clean and laid-back, accompanied by a jazz organ that feels very, very John Paul Jones. The latter starts with a dreamy acoustic riff (I remember the first time I learned it, it gave me great satisfaction because it sounds divine). In this track, all the components blend together with disarming simplicity and harmony, a bit like in “Stairway to Heaven,” where every instrument, every note, really seems in its place.
Then comes the main course, the track that highlighted a band just blooming, playing a genre that, yes, is always an evergreen, but let's face it, was starting to get a little stale in the '90s. All this in a vast sea dominated by Metallica at the peak of their career, AC/DC still going strong, and Guns N’ Roses fresh from their incredibly fierce and badass debut with Appetite. The track in question can only be “Hard to Handle,” a cover of the legendary soulman Otis Redding. The song breathes new life in this hard rock rearrangement that seems to fit perfectly for its groove and composition. Although I don't consider it the best of the album, it's a song you could listen to over and over without ever getting tired.
Unfortunately, the album doesn't conclude with a similarly memorable “When the Levee Breaks” but with a more than acceptable “Stare It Cold.” The best part of the track? Absolutely the final part when the rhythm takes off in such an energetic closing that truly makes you yearn for the Stones of the golden times and makes it impossible for you to stay still wherever you may be.
In conclusion, “Shake Your Money Maker” is one of those albums I would definitely take to a desert island and never tire of listening to. It manages to combine in a rather original mix, genres like Blues, rock, and hard rock, all spiced with a bit of American Spirit. It is an album from which emerges an incredible passion for music in one of its many declinations, which materializes in a debut album of truly remarkable intensity and energy, absolutely enviable.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Jealous Again (04:34)
Cheat the odds that made you brave to try to gamble at times
Well I feel like dirty laundry sending sickness on down the line
Tell you why
'Cause I'm jealous, jealous again
Thought it time I let you in
Yeah, I'm jealous, jealous again
Got no time, baby
Always drunk on Sunday, trying to feel like I'm at home
Smell the gasoline burning, boys out feeling nervous and cold
Oh yeah
I'm jealous, jealous again
Thought it time I let you in
Jealous, jealous again
Got no time, baby
Stop, understand me
I ain't afraid of losing face
Stop, understand me
I ain't afraid of ever losing faith in you
Never felt like smiling sugar wanna' kill me yet
Find me loose lipped and laughing, singing songs ain't got no regrets
Oh yeah
I'm jealous, jealous again
Thought it time I let you in
Jealous, yeah, I'm jealous again
Got no time, baby
Stop, understand me
I ain't afraid of losing face
Stop, understand me
I ain't afraid of ever losing faith in you
Don't you think I want to, don't you think I would
Don't you think I'd tell you baby if I only could
Am I acting crazy, am I just too proud
Am I just plain lazy, am I, am I, am I, am I
Jealous, jealous again
Thought it time that I let you in
Jealous, jealous again
Got no time to let you in
Oh yeah, I'm jealous, jealous again
Got no time now to let you in
Jealous, yeah, jealous again
Got no time, baby
Oh yeah
03 Sister Luck (05:13)
Worried sick my eyes are hurting
To rest my head I'd take a life
Outside the girls are dancing
'Cause when you're down it just don't seem right
Feeling second fiddle to a dead man
Up to my neck with your disregard
Like a beat dog that's walking on the broadway
No one wants to hear you when you're down
Sister luck is screaming out
Somebody else's name
Sister luck is screaming out
Somebody else's name
A flip of a coin
Might make a head turn
No surprise, who sleeps
Held my hand over a candle
Flame burnin' but I never weep
Sister luck is screaming out
Somebody else's name
Sister luck is screaming out
Somebody else's name
What a shame
(Repeat 2nd Chorus)
04 Could I've Been So Blind (03:44)
How could I've been so blind
So empty that I've never felt warm
Can I spell it out
Turn myself out of my home
Lookin' like a fool
Feelin' even worse than it seems
Tryin' hard as nails
Believin' only in myself
And now it looks like innocence is gone
I know right and I know what's wrong
Feeling lonely that's the way it goes
Sometimes
But my greatest fear
Paint a smile from ear to ear
Alone and cryin'
Living like this is no better than dying
I tell you baby things are gonna' change
Looking like we were caught out in the rain
Feeling lonely
That's the way it goes
Sometimes
Chorus:
Could I ever have been so blind
Could I ever have been so blind
Could I ever have been so blind
Could I ever have been so blind
Solo
Could I ever have been so blind
Could I ever have been so blind
Hardest thing I ever had to do
Was stand up straight and tell it all to you
Look you right in the eye
Tell you baby sorry but I have lied
And now it looks like innocence is gone
I know right and I know what's wrong
Feeling lonely that's the way it goes
Sometimes
(Repeat Chorus 4 times)
05 Seeing Things (05:18)
I find it hard to shed a tear
You brought it all on yourself my dear
Wrong, yes I may be
Don't leave a light on for me
'Cause I ain't comin' home
It hurts me baby to be alone
Yes, it hurts me baby
A hundred years will never ease
Hearing things I won't believe
I saw it with my own two eyes
All the pain that I can't hide
And this pain starts in my heart
And this love tears us apart
You won't find me bent down on my knees
Ain't bendin' over backwards baby
Not to please
'Cause I'm seeing things for the first time
I'm seeing things for the first time, oh yeah
I'm seeing things for the first time
In my life, in my life
I used to dream
Of better days that never came
Sorry ain't nothin' to me
I'm gone and that's the way it must be
So please I've done my time
Lovin' you is such a crime
You won't fine me down on, on my knees
Won't fine me over backwards baby
Just to please
'Cause I'm seeing things for the first time
I"m seeing things for the first time
Seeing things for the first time
Oh I'm seeing things for the first time
Yeah, seeing things for the first time
I'm seeing things for the first time
Yeah, I'm seeing things for the first time
In my life, in my life
06 Hard to Handle (03:07)
Baby, here I am, I'm a man on the scene
I can give you what you want, but you got to come home with me
I forgot some good old lovin' and I got some more in store
When I get through throwin' it on you, you got to come back for more
Boys and things that come by the dozen
That ain't nothin' but drugstore lovin'
Hey little thing let me light your candle
'Cause mama I'm sure hard to handle now
Yes around
Action speaks louder than words and I'm a man of great experience
I know you got another man but I can love you better than him
Take my hand, don't be afraid, I'm gonna prove every word I say
I'm advertising love for free, so you can place your ad with me
Boys will come along a dime by the dozen
That ain't nothing but ten cent lovin'
Hey little thing let me light your candle
'Cause mama I'm sure hard to handle now
Yes around
Yeah, hard to handle now, oh baby
Baby, here I am, I'm a man on your scene
I can give you what you want, but you got to come home with me
I forgot some good old lovin' and I got some more in store
When I get through throwin' it on you, you got to come a-runnin' back for more
Boys will come along a dime by the dozen
That ain't nothing but drug store lovin'
Hey little thing let me light your candle
'Cause mama I'm sure hard to handle now
Yes around
Hard, hard to handle now, oh yeah
Boys will come along a dime by the dozen
That ain't nothing but ten cent lovin'
Hey little thing let me light your candle
'Cause mama I'm sure hard to handle now
Yes around
07 Thick n' Thin (02:44)
Got a chainsaw buzzin'
Who's that cussin'
Eyes start blinkin'
The boys all start their wishing
Left holdin' the bag again
Buring it at both ends
Don't believe she's a friend
Chorus:
Thick, thick & thin
Let it loose now, let it go to the wind
Got my clock tock tickin'
Hear the madame start bitchin'
See the boys itch itchin'
Do girls ever know what they're missin'
But it sounds like shit to me
Last laugh mine will be
I don't believe she is clean
Chorus:
Thick, baby, yeah, thick & thin
08 She Talks to Angels (05:29)
She never mentions the word addiction
In certain company
Yes, she'll tell you she's an orphan
After you meet her family
She paints her eyes as black as night, now
Pulls those shades down tight
Yeah, she gives a smile when the pain comes
The pain's gonna make everything alright
Says she talks to angels
They call her out by her name
Oh yeah, she talks to angels
Says they call her out by her name
She keeps a lock of hair in her pocket
She wears a cross around her neck
Yes, the hair is from a little boy
And the cross is someone she has not met, not yet
Says she talks to angels
Says they all know her name
Oh yeah, she talks to angels
Says they call her out by her name
She don't know no lover
None that I ever seen
Yeah, to her that ain't nothing
But to me, yeah me
It means everything
She paints her eyes as black as night now
She pulls those shades down tight
Oh yeah, there's a smile when the pain comes,
The pain's gonna make everything alright, alright yeah
She talks to angels
Says they call her out by her name
Oh yeah-eah-eah, angels
Call her out by her name
Oh-ooh-oh-oh angels
They call her out by her name
Oh-oh, she talks to angels
They call her out
Yeah-eah-eah, they call her out
Don't you know that they call her out by her name?
10 Stare It Cold (05:14)
Under the weather
I never got better
Wrapped up in my disease
Mile away, she want to count my day
Look a little older in the light
Under the weather
Feelin' very heavy
Never up for no air
Sea legs start to wigglin'
And sick I'm still feelin'
Just know I never cared
Don't you want to feel it
Don't you want to stare it cold
Don't you want to feel it
Don't you want to stare it cold
Never thought about it
And never no questions
Seein' where I've gone wrong
No kiss made it magic
'Cause that old girl has had it
Then it's time for me to run along
(Repeat Chorus 4 times)
(Repeat verse 1)
(Repeat Chorus 4 times)
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Other reviews
By shooting star
From the first notes of the distorted guitar in "Twice As Hard," it is clear that the group is not used to frills but to a raw, hard, and especially direct style.
The gem of this album, and one of the most beautiful songs in their entire discography, is "She Talks To Angels," where acoustic guitar and organ transport the listener on a decadent yet profound journey.
By Karter4
Shake Your Money Maker is one of the few albums that enter not just my brain but also my heart.
The Black Crowes offer an essential rock, raw, hard, yet easy to listen to for everyone.
By claudio carpentieri
"We are absolutely not just talking about simple replicants driven by an irrepressible desire for revival; the class is all there and can be perceived with a naked ear."
"Forty-five minutes of high caloric power that mostly feeds on the musical abc generated during those two magical decades (the 60s and 70s...)."
