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Lions (album)

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Untitled

Lions is a studio album by The Black Crowes, released in 2001. It was their first album on the V2 label following their exit from Columbia, and their only studio album to feature Audley Freed. Lions was recorded in New York City in January and February of 2001,[9] and produced by Don Was, who had previously worked with Bonnie Raitt and The Rolling Stones. Bass guitar duties were shared by Rich Robinson and Was, as Greg Rzab had left the band but was not replaced until the tour that followed the release of Lions.

The album's critical reception was mixed; numerous reviewers found similarities to Led Zeppelin, with some approving and others not. The overall sound of the album generally garnered praise, while a frequent complaint was the lack of quality songs. Lions debuted at its peak position of #20 on the Billboard 200 chart,[10] selling over 53,000 copies in its first week.[11]

Background

The Black Crowes felt Columbia's promotion of their 1999 album By Your Side was lacking; Rich Robinson complained, "That record was destined to fail because before it came out they [Columbia executives] just said, 'It's not going to do well...It's no use wasting time or money.'"[12] The band was also frustrated by the label's request for albums like their first, Shake Your Money Maker. This experience drove the band to leave the label through a loophole in their contract.[13]

Around the end of 1999, Chris Robinson’s relationship with Kate Hudson began. The pair met at a Friday-night party in Manhattan, which led to a Saturday stroll through Central Park and a Sunday move-in.[14] A New Year's Eve wedding at the Aspen, Colorado ranch of Kurt Russell and Kate’s mother, Goldie Hawn, followed in 2000.[12]

Bassist Sven Pipien was fired before the 2000 tour with Jimmy Page after showing up late to a performance and missing the subsequent return flight. Rich said that alone wasn't enough to get him fired, but his odd defensiveness when later confronted about his behavior was too much to deal with. Greg Rzab was hired over Andy Hess, primarily due to the band's reluctance to hire someone with limited touring experience after the Pipien episode.[15] Rzab, though, would exit before the recording of Lions.

In mid-2000, the band chose to sign with Richard Branson’s V2 label.[16] Rich explained, "The cool thing about V2, the reason that we chose them, is that they told us, 'You guys go make the record you want to make. Then give it to us and we'll sell it.' That's what we needed to hear."[13] The freedom V2 afforded the band through its hands-off approach would influence not only the music, but the album title, as well. "Lions is a symbol that stands for the fierce feeling and freedom that music allows you," proclaimed Chris.[17]

Writing and production

Chris Robinson granted that the experience of playing Led Zeppelin songs with Jimmy Page influenced Lions, but not on a song-by-song basis. "Led Zeppelin's music is very dramatic and very dynamic. That's something we've attempted to do with our style also. I think it definitely affected how we make our music."[18] Some songs were influenced by funk and R&B, and "Miracle to Me" was influenced by Nick Drake.[13]

Lyrically, Chris claimed the influence of Kate Hudson was subtle. "More so than a literal reference to her, it's the vantage point from where I'm writing. It's the reasons that I'm singing and it's the feeling. That is an influence far greater than the literal influence." He did grant, however, that "Soul Singing" and "Miracle to Me" were written with Hudson in mind, and explained that the album roughly follows a path from confusion to clarity that mirrors his own.[12] Don Was remarked about Chris' lyrics, "I realized he was taking on something that was significant. He was writing about becoming a man. [...] There's a lot of old man/young man symbolism that's a self-conversation, Chris talking to himself. I don't know that anyone has actually chronicled being 33 [years old] as well as this album."[17]

Frictive moments during the writing of Lions were rare, owing to the Robinson brothers' usual method in which Rich writes all the music and Chris writes all the lyrics.[13] "Soul Singing" was the only song to cause disagreement between the brothers Robinson; "I'd written this part where although the vocals changed the music stayed the same throughout. I thought we should add something or just not finish it, but Chris thought it was already a song, and a good one. So we talked about that one for a while," Rich recalled.[19]

The Crowes had previously sent demos to Don Was in the hopes that he would produce By Your Side. Was, however, felt the demos were good enough to be the album; Columbia disagreed, and Kevin Shirley was hired.[15] With complete artistic control under V2, the band was free to hire Was for Lions. The band was satisfied by the experience, finding that Was was devoted to helping them realize their own vision for the album rather than imposing his own.[13]

The recording of Lions progressed as smoothly as the writing, with only "Come On" causing conflict between the Crowes and Was. Said Rich, "We must have recorded 'Come On' about five times in different ways. [...] Then he [Was] just took it away with him and came back with this different mix," which impressed the band, leading to its inclusion on the album.[19]

Most of the songs were recorded live, with the band members playing together in one room.[16] Microphones were set up to capture the sound of the room, rather than the sound of individual instruments.[20] Was felt this approach best captured the band the way they come across in a concert setting, later noting that the Lions songs debuted at a private show in February 2001 "sounded exactly like the record."[20] Rich played bass on eleven of the thirteen tracks;[16] Don Was played bass on "Come On" and "Lay It All on Me".[15] (Andy Hess joined the band in time for the above private show.)[21] Rich played piano on "Lay It All on Me".[15]

Four completed songs were cut from the album; three ("Last Time Again", "Love Is Now" and "Sleepyheads") were released as b-sides, and the other ("The Pretty Gurl Song") circulates in trading circles on a bootleg.[9]

Reception

Lions was released on May 8 2001 and subsequently debuted at its peak position of #20 on the Billboard 200 chart,[10] selling over 53,000 copies in its first week.[11] The album has sold 192,000 copies in the U.S. as of January 2002.[22]

Critical reception of Lions was mixed. Numerous reviewers detected a Led Zeppelin influence (praised by some,[5][23] attacked by others[1]) and attributed it to The Black Crowes' recent tour with Jimmy Page.[1][6][7] Dave McKenna, in a special to The Washington Post, compared Steve Gorman's drumming to that of John Bonham and found analogs to specific guitar and keyboard tones in Led Zeppelin albums.[23] Nigel Williamson of The Times compared Chris Robinson's voice on "Come On" to that of Robert Plant, and wrote that the song "could almost be a Led Zeppelin II cast off."[6] Other reviewers noted similarities to Aerosmith,[1] with Howard Cohen of The Miami Herald calling "Lickin'" "the best Aerosmith single that band hasn't recorded in years."[5] The perceived lack of originality, though, turned off some critics.[4][8]

Many reviewers praised the sound of Lions but felt the songs were weak.[3][7][24] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide called Lions "a powerful, textured hard rock record that covers a lot of ground, surging from powerful riffs to gospel choruses and funkier-than-expected riffs," though he also complained that "the songs can seem incomplete."[24] Critics had trouble agreeing which of the songs were lacking, though. "Losing My Mind" and "Young Man, Old Man" were called "highlights" by Jane Stevenson of the Toronto Sun,[7] though elsewhere the former was called "woeful"[1] and the latter a "'Freddie's Dead' vamp" that should have been skipped.[2]

Track listing

All songs written by Chris Robinson and Rich Robinson.

  1. "Midnight from the Inside Out" – 4:21
  2. "Lickin'" – 3:42
  3. "Come On" – 2:58
  4. "No Use Lying" – 4:57
  5. "Losing My Mind" – 4:26
  6. "Ozone Mama" – 3:54
  7. "Greasy Grass River" – 3:20
  8. "Soul Singing" – 3:54
  9. "Miracle to Me" – 4:42
  10. "Young Man, Old Man" – 4:14
  11. "Cosmic Friend" – 5:23
  12. "Cypress Tree" – 3:41
  13. "Lay It All on Me" – 5:29

Japanese version

  2. "Love Is Now" – 4:22

Personnel

Additional personnel

  • Don Was – bass guitar on "Come On" and "Lay It All on Me"
  • Craig Ross – lead guitar on "Greasy Grass River"
  • Maxine Waters, Oren Waters, Rose Stone and Julie Waters – background vocals on "Soul Singing"

Production

  • Don Was – producer, mixing
  • Chris Ribando – mixing, recording
  • Adam Olmstead – mixing
  • Steve Mandel – mixing
  • Chris Lord-Alge – mixing
  • Ray Martin – recording
  • Raeann Zschokke – recording

Charts

Album

Chart (2001) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200[26] 20
U.S. Billboard Top Canadian Albums[26] 20
U.S. Billboard Top Internet Albums[26] 8

Singles

Year Single Chart Peak
position
2001 "Lickin'" U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks[27] 9
2001 "Soul Singing" U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks[27] 12

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Donovan, Patrick (2001-06-15), "CD Reviews", The Age {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. ^ a b Gubbins, Teresa (2001-05-09), "Reviews of releases by David Byrne, Black Crowes and more", The Dallas Morning News {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ a b Lepage, Mark (2001-05-10), "Destiny's Child: surviving nicely", The Gazette, pp. D15 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. ^ a b McUtchen, Andrew (2001-06-07), "CD Reviews", Herald Sun, pp. Hit 64 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  5. ^ a b c Cohen, Howard (2001-05-09), "New releases from The Black Crowes, Powderfinger, Mandalay", The Miami Herald {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  6. ^ a b c Williamson, Nigel (2001-05-05), "New pop albums", The Times {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Jane (2001-05-06), "Well, at least they can sing", Toronto Sun, pp. S20 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. ^ a b Gardner, Elysa (2001-05-29), "Staind, Weezer return angry, mischievous Sticky Fingaz goes deep, Black Crowes go nowhere", USA Today, pp. 6D {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  9. ^ a b "The CrowesBase: Lions". crowesbase.com. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  10. ^ a b Graff, Gary (2001-07-31). "The Black Crowes Follow Their Own Flight Path". Broadcast Music, Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ a b Schneider, Mitch (2001-05-21). "The Black Crowes Roar onto the Charts with 'Lions' Debuting in the Top 20". Mitch Schneider Organization. Retrieved 2008-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ a b c Goodman, Dean (2001-05-24), "Black Crowes Singer in a Whole Lotta Love", Reuters {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  13. ^ a b c d e Thomas, Ernie (2001), "The Black Crowes: At Long Last They Have an Album to "Crow" About!", Midwest Beat (May 2001)
  14. ^ Guzman, Isaac (2001-05-15), "The Black Crowes Hatch a Lovebird", Daily News, pp. Now 36 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  15. ^ a b c d e Cohen, Jonathan (2001-05-16). "Roaring Like Lions: Rich". Nude as the News. Retrieved 2008-03-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ a b c Cohen, Jonathan (2001-04-10), "Black Crowes Find Themselves On 'Lions'", Billboard, retrieved 2008-03-23 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  17. ^ a b Devenish, Colin (2001-05-30), "Chris Robinson, Don Was talk of the Black Crowes' 'Lions'", liveDaily, retrieved 2008-03-23 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  18. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (2001-05-10). "Roaring Like Lions: Chris". Nude as the News. Retrieved 2008-03-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ a b Callaghan, John (June 2001). "The Lion, The Spliff & The Wardrobe". Guitar. 11 (12): 38–44.
  20. ^ a b Walsh, Christopher (2001-03-24), "Studio Monitor: Don Was & Black Crowes' 'Lions' Roar At Theater 99", Billboard {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  21. ^ "The CrowesBase: February 3, 2001". crowesbase.com. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  22. ^ Basham, David (2002-01-11). "Got Charts? Making Grammy Predictions, Counting Crowes". Broadcast Music, Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ a b McKenna, Dave (2001-05-09), "Black Crowes' Excellent Mimicry", The Washington Post, pp. C05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  24. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Lions Review". All Music Guide. Retrieved 2008-03-08.
  25. ^ Fazio, Steve. "Audley Freed: A Close-up Interview". Syntrillium Software. Archived from the original on 2002-01-27. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  26. ^ a b c "Lions > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". All Music Guide. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  27. ^ a b "The Black Crowes - Artist Chart History - Singles". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-03-11. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)


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