A great album you might not know about
The Black Crowes – “By Your Side”
I first listened to this album when it was released in the late 90s. I was working at a tech start-up, trying to get an online radio station going for them. Not easy back when the fastest home internet connection was 56K.
“By Your Side” seriously impressed me. Every song was solid. Each track had a wonderful feel and momentum. Even the slow tunes pulsed with intense energy. Given the right cables, you would swear you could use it to jump start your car.
When I left the company, I intended to buy my own copy of the album, but somehow it slipped my mind.
Then last week I was on vacation and digging through rows of discs at a used record store in Northampton, Massachusetts. (As absurd as that sentence seems, it is all true.) I saw this CD and something clicked. Something clicked with recognition, but also need. I needed to buy the album.
I worried a little bit that my memory of this album was colored by nostalgia. Maybe it would not be as great as I remembered. But I have been immersed in the album for the last 45 minutes and it is even better than I remembered.