Personnel changes and label interference frustrated The Black Crowes' attempts to follow up their 1996 album 'Three Snakes And One Charm', as after recording an album during May and June 1997, which was to be called either 'Band', 'The Band' or 'Meet The Band', it was rejected by their label, American Recordings. Lead singer Chris Robinson said American "couldn't go with the vibe" and wanted something more "safe", and so after guitarist Marc Ford was fired due to a heroin habit that impaired his performances, and Johnny Colt left to become a yoga instructor, the band regrouped and began writing and recording an album that would be acceptable to their record company, eventually presenting them with 'By Your Side' in 1998. When 'Band' leaked online in 2002, the comments by fans were almost universal in saying that it should have been released and that it would have been a great addition to the band's discography, and it seems that the record company took note of this and so in 2006 they released 'The Lost Crowes', which consisted of sessions for a proposed album called 'Tall', where many of the songs were later re-recorded for the 'Amorica' record, and the aborted sessions for 'Band'. However, they couldn't help themselves from interfering, remixing the tracks and changing the running order, as well as removing two of the songs completely, and bizarrely renaming 'OK By Me' as 'Grinnin''. What fans were therefore left with was nothing like the rejected record, and even the addition of a previously unheard rehearsal take of 'Peace Anyway' (which I've added here) couldn't make up for their disappointment. The only track that eventually made it to 'By Your Side' was the horn-laden 'Only A Fool', although 'If It Ever Stops Raining' was re-recorded with different lyrics to become the title track of 'By Your Side', so 'Band' remains pretty much a completely new, unheard album, and it's therefore no surprise that it's been heavily bootlegged over the years. However, it's now getting much harder to find online, and so here it is so that fans of the band who haven't heard it can make up their own minds about whether the record company was right to reject it.
Track listing
01 If It Ever Stops Raining
02 Predictable
03 My Heart's Killing Me
04 Only A Fool
05 Smile
06 Never Forget This Song
07 Wyoming And Me
08 Life Vest
09 Paint An 8
10 Another Roadside Tragedy
11 OK By Me
12 Peace Anyway
Dude I'm having some trouble trying to download this and The Real Thing. But when I try a search for your Neil Young Toast it brings it right up. No biggie though. Thanks for all of your GREAT SHARES!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNever mind I figured it out. Thanks again for the great shares. One question as you add things to Album I Wish Existed will the PDF be upgraded or will I have to download the PDF again?
ReplyDeleteYou will need to download the pdf each time, as every time I post something I'll add the link to the pdf at the top, though the actual link will always stay the same.
DeleteOh yeah this almost sounds like a lost Faces album. That's GREAT
ReplyDeleteIn the download, "Peace Anyway" is listed as track #13, so it's possible that either the track number is wrong, or there's a missing track, or something?
ReplyDeleteThere were originally going to be 13 tracks, with 'Grinnin'' as number 12, but after spennding days on the net trying to locate a copy of 'OK By Me', when I did finally find it, it turned out to be 'Grinnin'' under a different title, so I removed 'Grinnin'' and added the original 'OK By Me'. Just forgot the change the songs number, but now done.
DeleteLooks interesting. Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteGreat Stuff! Thanx Bunches!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Superb!
ReplyDelete