By James Calemine
“Now there’s no one to trust
And you like it that way.”
–”Wilted Rose”
On March 15, 2024, The Black Crowes released their tenth studio album, Happiness Bastards. The group’s previous album– Before the Frost–was recorded at Levon Helm’s barn 15 years ago. Completed in two weeks at Nashville’s Neon Cross Studio, Happiness Bastards does not disappoint. Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson are well-known for their hostile relationship, but on Happiness Bastards they put the bullshit aside and focus on their strengths–songwriting, recording great rock-n-roll albums and playing live shows.
The ten songs on Happiness Bastards clock in at 38 minutes, and deliver a tight, lean, mean, riff-oriented hard-rocking message. No wasted words or notes exist on Happiness Bastards. Rich Robinson’s snake bite guitar lick on the opening track “Bedside Manners” captures the Crowes sound in five seconds as Chris sings “Put a knife in my back/Expect me to say please/With friends like these/Who needs enemies?”.
The Crowes avoid any sentimentality on this collection, especially regarding the midnight ravers in “Rats and Clowns”. “Cross Your Fingers” may be the album’s strongest song. Rich’s soulful acoustic guitar introduces a sharp funk-edged hook as Chris sings “You cross your fingers/Hope I die,” like a man who understands poetic justice.
“Wanting and Waiting”, the album’s first “single”, is a straight-up rocker with B-3 organ and hand-clapping back-up singers contributing to the mid-tempo groove. The ballad “Wilted Rose” features Lainey Wilson on vocals. This tune is another one of the album’s brilliant tracks. Rich’s emotive guitar melody and Chris’ cold-blooded lyrics make the song resonate. Sven Pipen’s bass-playing shines on this atmospheric number where Wilson’s back-up singing contributes to the tune’s heartfelt mood.
“Dirty Old Sun” contains straight-up Saturday night grit that would make Funkadelic proud. The bluesy “Bleed It Dry” swings as Chris belts out his lines like Bob Dylan at his most venomous. “Follow the Moon”, another gem, is a sterling example of Rich Robinson’s ability to create a serpentine riff that his brother transforms into a wicked tale:
“Holy rollers, yeah, black-paint girls
Wild-eyed servants, wine-stained pearls
Nothing synthetic, only pure
Doctor, that’s doctor’s orders
Got you dying from the cure…”
The Happiness Bastards songs will transfer well to a live audience. The final cut, “Kindred Friend”, is a peaceful, mostly-acoustic song where Chris sings, “Tomorrow owes nothing to the past/Today is open road/ Let’s stop pretending/And write our own ending” as if offering an olive branch to a long lost friend, or brother.
Happiness Bastards sounds like rock-n-roll is alive and well to The Black Crowes…
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