| The Black Crowes - Info for Foamfoot |
| Live! Music Review Magazine from August 1995. by Bill Glahn. Note - not all the info is strictually factual! Ok, here's a question for any legal eagle in our family of readers. A well-known band (in this case - the Black Crowes) performs under a false moniker at a small club. An astute bootlegger manages to get hold of an excellent soundboard recording of the show and puts it out under the fictitious name, never using the name "Black Crowes" anywhere in the artwork. The closest Totonka comes to using the band's official name is the term "Crowes" (without "Black") used in the liner notes. To my knowledge, "Foamfoot" is not a registered trademark and probably doesn't appear anywhere in the band's contract with their label. So in essence, the bootlegger is not trading at all on the band's likeness or image. Some great artwork in the William Stout tradition is used for the cover with no photos of the band in sight. Since trading on the "image and likeness" of an artist is at the foundation of U.S. copyright law, is this a bootleg? To make matters more complicated, not one Black Crowes-penned tune in contained on this disc! So the Black Crowes are not even entitled to mechanical (songwriting) royalties (although quite a few others are). This probably doesn't matter anyhow, since Chris Robinson has expressed his love of bootlegs in no less than Rolling Stone magazine (even causing some nervousness in one store owner by naming his favorite shop to buy bootlegs!) But what if this were a Springsteen bootleg full of cover tunes (many to choose from) recorded previous to the times when the ticket sale became a contract with the "no taping" warnings? Could a company issue such a recording as "the Boss" with artwork of the kind that appeared on Whoopy Cat's "Lost Radio Show" disc? This is one we'd love to see tested. Back to Crows From The Closet - Chris Robinson announces that his basement is too small to rehearse in so the band wanted to practice in front of an audience. But the band doesn't practice any of their own material, instead opting to place their own stamp on a variety of "classic rock" staples and a few long lost gems. And it all gets captured on a superbly mixed soundboard recording. You won't find anything like this on any other Black Crowes bootleg. There's even a few guest appearances. The disc starts off with a version of Walk In My Shadow from Free's "Tons of Sobs" (first) album, probably well known to our European readers but certainly out of the realm of over-played "classic-rock" tunes that fill the American airwaves. Afer Bottle Of Red Wine fans finally get to hear Chris Robinson tackle a Steve Marriott tune with the Small Faces' Tin Soldier. But Robinson picks a lower key than Marriott used so the similarities aren't as startling as one might think (or hope for). Actually, it's on the songs that are the most stylistically removed from the Crowes brand of Southern rock 'n' soul that shine the most. While Marshall Tucker were considered a "Southern Rock" band, they were, in reality, much closer to today's country/pop style. In the Crowes hands, Take the Highway, comes across with a lot more bite, a great deal more groove. The extended dual lead guitar takes the song closer to Allmans-style jamming than Marshall Tucker ever got. The band is aided on this song by Gary Louris of the Jayhawks (mis-labeled on the back cover as Gary Lewis - yuchhhh.) Speaking of the Allmans, the band also romps through that band's One Way Out. The biggest surprise, however, is a take on the Band's Jeremiah Surrender. The opening riff is so strong and forceful that I didn't recognize the song until Robinson started singing. No attempt is made here to follow the original's style. Where the song never seemed to fit in with the Band's repertoire, the intoxicating guitar riff sounds tailor-made for the Crowes. It's certainly an obscure choice for a band like the Crowes, but a very intelligent one. It's obvious that these guys didn't just borrow a sound - they developed it from a collector's knowledge of the obscure and overlooked. A second guest appearance takes place when David Crosby joins the band for a version of his own Long Time Gone. Other highlights include versions of the Grateful Dead's Deal and Clapton's Presence of the Lord. No date is given and the location is given simply as the Troubadour. This is not the secret show from last winter when the band performed as Blessed Chloroform at another famous L.A. nightspot, The Whiskey. The fact that Totonka doesn't give the venue is the only negative thing to report. The cover is a brilliant take-off on the Grateful Dead album, Skeletons From The Closet. And with the sort of professional rivalry that is legendary among competing bootleggers, Totonka shows some biting wit as they extend their condolences to K.T.S. (perhaps a bit prematurely) in anticipation of the closing of the Italian "protection gap" system of legal bootlegs. Totonka also makes the customary threat of "Criminal Prosecution" to anyone who reproduces this CD without authorization. Among those receiving thanks is Chris Robinson. Makes you wonder just who's "closet" this recording came from, doesn't it? Crows From The Closet is an all-around masterpiece in the best tradition of bootlegs. And no, Totonka does not accept VISA/MASTERCARD or publish a legitimate address in Italy, Germany, or Luxembourg. You're going to just have to track this one down in the more low-profile spots where bootlegs may be found. (Bill Glahn) Back to Black Crowes shows page |
| With many thanks to Corvus |