The Black Crowes: Greatest Hits 1990-99

(Columbia/Sony)

Herald rating: * * * *

Review: Graham Reid

Like their mentors, the boozy Faces, the Black Crowes have carved a wayward path — both musically and personally.

It's a miracle most of them are still alive. For a while these Southern blues rockers seemed destined for Allman Brothers-type greatness or some Lynyrd Skynyrd disaster. But here they still are.

They were doubtless a band of great live moments (their concert here not among them) and they could be rambling and unfocused on albums but they could also nail it dead centre. So a compilation taken from five albums is a good option.

Four from Shake Your Money Maker (yep, Hard to Handle and She Talks to Angels included), four from Southern Harmony (yep, Remedy, Sting Me and Thorn in My Pride included), sensibly only a couple each from amorica and Three Snakes, and the balance from By Your Side (the sloppy Stones of Exile-meets-Rockin Rod of its title track included). Excellent noise.

The album is subtitled A Tribute to a Work in Progress ... that seems fair enough, too. One thing you could always say about the Black Crowes is that they were in this for the long haul.

Or they were going to die trying.