ALBUM REVIEW & 2024 ALBUM OF THE YEAR: THE BLACK CROWES - HAPPINESS BASTARDS

When The Black Crowes hit the road in 2022 to support the 30th anniversary of their five-time platinum-selling breakthrough debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, many claimed it was nothing more than a money grab featuring brothers Chris and Rich Robinson and a handful of hired guns.

If the success of that tour didn't prove that the brothers still had plenty to contribute to the world of Rock 'n' Roll, then their first full-length original album in 15 years, Happiness Bastards, most certainly should have.

Recorded in the summer of 2023 under the watchful eye of producer Jay Joyce at his East Nashville studio, Neon Cross was released under the band's Silver Arrow label in March of 2024. The album hits hard as soon as the needle meets vinyl with the opening track, Bedside Manner, which features some blues-inspired guitar, uptempo drums, and a piano track that catches the ear.

While the album's first single, Waiting and Wanting, featuring a catchy guitar riff and classic Crowes-sounding keyboards, garnered the most radio attention, to me the song that takes this album to the next level is the second single on the album, Cross Your Fingers, which starts acoustic and then gets funky on the guitar.

While the biggest surprise on the album is Wilted Rose, featuring a duet with country star Lainey Wilson, the first duet to ever appear on a Crowes album, it adds a little country flair to the 10-track album. The biggest wild card on the album is Flesh Wound, a fun and uptempo song that received mixed reviews on social media among fans of the band.

While this album doesn’t produce hit after hit like the band's first two albums, it's solid enough to garner four and a half out of five punches to Joel Osteen's face and definitely ranks in the upper half of the band's nine studio albums.

Just for fun, here is how I rank all 9 studio albums by The Black Crowes:

1. The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (1992)
2. Amorica (1994)
3. Shake Your Money Maker (1990)
4. Happiness Bastards (2024)
5. Three Snakes and One Charm (1996)
6. War Paint (2008)
7. By Your Side (1999)
8. Before the Frost...Until the Freeze (2009)
9. Lions (2001)

Hopefully, we don’t have to wait another 15 years for the Crowes to release another full-length original studio album.