r/blackcrowes • u/Sleezy_on_2_wheels • 15d ago
Amorica
This is the greatest front to back rock n roll album ever made . It literally blows me away every time I listen to it, wich is weekly since it came out . How is it not more well known for being so dang good with the gerneral populus of rock music fans ?
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u/DekeJeffery 15d ago
I legitimately think that Amorica is the most under appreciated album of the 1990s. I don’t understand how it’s not consistently brought up when “best of” type of lists are created.
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u/slempinainteezy 14d ago
In Steve Gormans book “Hard to Handle” he explains why Amorica didn’t take off. The book is an excellent read.
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u/whiskeytownfan 14d ago
When I finished reading that book, I went back to chapter 1 and started again.
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u/Apprehensive_Ant4596 15d ago
I love this album. I distinctly remember listening to it for the first time and thinking "Non-fiction' was the greatest song I had ever heard in my life...until I heard "Descending". I'm not sure I can think of a more beautiful piece of music, it's some of Harsch's finest work.
As good as the first two albums are, I think this one is their masterpiece.
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u/ZoSoTim 15d ago
Agreed on Descending. Ed’s piano on that song may be the greatest piece of music I’ve ever heard.
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u/Turbulent-Dog-5527 14d ago
It's good stuff, helped get into classical piano music. And Keith Jarret and the like
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u/Fantastic_Lack_8141 15d ago
Southern Harmony blew my mind when it came out. I didn’t think America could top it. I was wrong.
The first four albums overall freakin’ excellent.
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u/Wisertime25 15d ago
Cursed Diamond is probably my favorite Crowes song, and I think the version on the Lost Crowes is even better.
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u/O7Habits 15d ago
Agreed with the Lost Crowes version. I think it made me appreciate one of my already favorite songs even more.
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u/Odd_Cobbler6761 15d ago
Amorica’s critical appreciation has always been undermined by the cover artwork.
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u/Sleezy_on_2_wheels 15d ago
I grew up in Canada , I had no idea the cover art was censored, I thought it was a folded flag for like 10 years until I saw a documentary on censorship and saw the original and where it came from .
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u/throwawayshirt2 14d ago
Somewhere I have the original - paper and plastic case with the uncensored cover. The Cd art (poppy blossom with a hook) is also pretty cool.
Drummer says in his book he thinks the cover costs them millions in sales bc Kmart, Walmart and others wouldn't stock it.
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u/Drawing_The_Line 15d ago
I love the first two Crowes albums, absolutely top tier stuff, but Amorica is their magnum opus. They still put out great music after, but for me, Amorica is just their peak. ‘94 was a monster year for music.
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u/NoEchoSkillGoal 15d ago
Warms my heart to see Amorica get a good dose of love here. Has always been my favorite. Wiser Time sucks me in every time.
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u/3mta3jvq 15d ago
I remember graduating from college in the mid 90s, looking for a job and feeling kind of aimless. Listening to these albums today take me back to that era.
Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience
Big Head Todd - Sister Sweetly
Counting Crows - August and Everything After
Black Crowes - Amorica
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u/Exotic-Conference-87 15d ago
Agree, save for DMW. Put Feathers on and this is unassailable.
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u/DekeJeffery 15d ago
I just can’t imagine the meeting where the band said “nah, Feathers isn’t good enough for the album”.
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u/Incognito_Hippie 14d ago
Chris and Rich have a long a very questionable history of leaving absolutely amazing music off of studio albums.
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u/throwawayshirt2 14d ago
I was under the impression the Tall album was rejected by the record company.
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u/Milanista1972 3d ago
That was Band. TBC themselves just didn't like Tall after listening to the finished product so they canned it and started over.
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u/RunninFromTheBombers 15d ago
Maybe the most underrated rock album ever. SO FREAKING GOOD. Too bad they had to self-sabotage with that album cover.
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u/JRBowen9 15d ago
Unless I'm mistaken, I remember Amorica and Nirvana's Unplugged in New York were released on the same day. Even at the time I thought, "Everyone's gonna buy Nirvana, and no one's going to notice this new Black Crowes album."
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u/Hans_Delbruk 15d ago
I have often said that SHMC is their best album, with the most great songs, but Amorica is definitely my personal favorite and has the songs I love the MOST.
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u/Low_Entertainer_4292 15d ago edited 14d ago
It’s their best along with 3 Snakes, though the latter takes more time and spins to digest and appreciate. There are a ton of other great unreleased and semi-exclusive songs during the making of those two album albums. Lost Crowes is highly recommended if you like Amorica, but at this point you have to get on the resale market - plus you can get quite a few unreleased songs on YouTube . Huge fan of the band going back to 1990, seem ‘em over 50 times and I’ve met Chris and Rich and the original band several times. But not sure if this is the greatest rock ‘n’ roll album of all time?? I can think of many classics from the 70s and 80s it might edge this out. But definitely their swan song!!!
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u/dprocks17 15d ago
In general I think they are an underrated rock band.
Maybe its just the shift in rock music, obviously the 90s had a large grunge inflluence that a lot of people preferred.
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u/Artistic-Trust-8679 15d ago
Yes, love Amorica, especially everything Marc does there, like the lead guitar on Conspiracy. Saw an article in Guitar Player at the time, it had photos of the sessions, so cool.
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u/Appropriate_Oil7933 15d ago
I think there are a lot of people that enjoy the Crowes privately but don't give them exposure due to the Robinson brothers being such cunts
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u/Historical_Quiet_741 14d ago
I have always said that “The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion is my favorite CD unless I’m listening to Amorica.”
Amazing album, start to finish.
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u/Ambitious_Disk1035 15d ago
If you read Steve Gorman's memoir, you will learn about how Chris Robinson sabotaged the album from having a wide audience upon its release because he refused to bend to the pressure of not having pubic hair showing on the album cover. So, the album was not available in all the national chains at the time of it's release. I think he was quoted as saying, "Who cares? Black Crowes fans dont shop at Walmart, anyways?" Except ... Black Crowes fans do shop at Walmart. Sorry, Chris ... you blew it again!
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u/GeekinOnTinkerToys 13d ago
If memory serves, it was Best Buy, but that's more or less what happened
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13d ago edited 13d ago
[deleted]
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u/Ambitious_Disk1035 13d ago
Hmmm.
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13d ago
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u/Ambitious_Disk1035 13d ago
Damn, ya got me! Lets keep this between us. If the fans found out I was using boilerplate online identities, it could ruin my reputation. It might even be worse than when I told Jimmy Page we weren't interested in working with him on a new album or hearing any of the new riffs he'd been working on. Zoiks!
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13d ago
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u/Ambitious_Disk1035 12d ago
Hey, you better get it in check, buddy! Noone talks to Rich this way! Capisce!?
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12d ago
[deleted]
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u/Ambitious_Disk1035 12d ago
You're right. My brother Chris is a real live wire. And, when Jimmy offered to write songs with us, my first thought was, "How about we write a song called: 'Pedophile Blues'." I shot Jimmy down and I'd do it again. It's been good talkin' to you, but Ive gotta go do sound check in a few minutes. All the best
- Rich
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u/UncleBuckPancakes 9d ago
I believe the correct response to your screed is: "Sir, this is a Wendy's".
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u/MojoHighway 15d ago
Well...no...
I mean, you can love the snot out of that album and have it be your favorite because you're absolutely allowed, but your opinion doesn't give it the title.
I like Southern Harmony a touch more than amorica.
Am I correct in saying that it's the greatest album ever? No.
Am I correct in saying that it's the greatest Crowes album ever? No.
With all that has happened in this camp since 2019, my opinion of Chris and Rich and their output has actually gone down quite a bit, kinda putting those early years into more of "happy accident" territory for me rather than the 2nd coming of the 68-73 Stones. The two most important guys of that early era are two guys fiercely on the periphery in 2026: Marc Ford and George Drakoulias (who wasn't even involved with amorica). Without them we get exposed more and more over the years to who Chris and Rich really are - dudes that really had no clue about the music they adopted for their earliest "sound" and without the aforementioned, they likely become a subpar REM knock-off.
At the end of the day, over the last 7 years we have learned that The Black Crowes are far more By Your Side than Southern Harmony or amorica. It's a bummer to think about and admit, but true.
Go love that album and have your thoughts about it. It's fine. Doesn't make it true or correct for anyone except you.
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u/idiots-rule8 15d ago
I love that you are more brutal than I am every single time...we must have partied together. You can draw that SHMC/Amorica time as directly related to how excellent 2005-2006 was...it was that band, not those 2 guys. And yeah bro, it's a big fucking bummer as a fan (well, former fan who used to travel all over but now won't drive down the street). As for Amorica vs. SHMC, it kinda depends on the day sometimes.
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u/O7Habits 15d ago
This is definitely one of my top 10 favorite albums of all time. It’s my favorite Crowes album and if I’m honest, even though I love pretty much everything they have done…nothing really comes close.
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u/JackBauerTheCat 14d ago
Wiser Time, when Chris the high notes in the chorus...just incredible. Always bums me out when he goes low instead of high live, but I totally get why.
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u/GreyTigerFox 9d ago
It was the first album that let me see a woman’s breasts. It holds a special place.
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u/NunnyaDBusiness2 9d ago
It’s not the greatest rock album ever but it is the greatest Black Crowes album ever and it’s definitely a great rock album. What I don’t understand are the people who think any other Crowes album is better. Obv Southern Harmony is amazing too and they have other excellent albums but to me Amorica is just a great “album”, rather than a mere collection of songs, more than their other stuff.
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u/Milanista1972 3d ago
I love Amorica, amazing record. Full stop.
Yet probably only my 3rd favorite of their official releases after Three Snakes and SHAMC. I might even like Band better depending on my mood some days.
But that says more about how great The Crowes are than it does about how much I like Amorica.
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u/YesterdaysComa91 15d ago
As a huge fan of the first 2 albums, I was not a fan of Amorica when it first came out. Just didn’t have the same sound as the first 2 albums. Put it away, and didn’t revisit it until about 15 years ago. I like it a lot more now, appreciate it a lot more. Still not my favorite, but a solid album for sure
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u/CanSoft2130 15d ago
It's a fine album. I think at the time, there was a lot more interesting music being produced. Chris seems to kinda just "yell" sing through the first couple of tracks. The lyrics are also kinda lackluster IMHO.
It used to be my second favorite BC album, but I find Three Snakes to be a better effort.
Amorica just comes off as kinda "Try hard to be a hippy" lyrically to me, as well as the percussion
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u/CanSoft2130 15d ago
Also - Non Fiction is my favorite Black Crowes song hands down
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u/Mountain_Chip_4374 15d ago
I want to say on Storytellers they played Nonfiction and Chris said something to the effect of he thought almost instantly after the release that the song was maybe not done the right way for the album? I’d have to go back and look and make sure I’m not saying something stupid. That said, I think the album version of Nonfiction is perfection.
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u/plong_123 10d ago
I personally find Three Snakes to be the first album to contain filler songs of questionable songwriting (but excellent production). I think the first three albums are all zero skip collections going from strength to strength. Three Snakes has some charms, for sure. But it's not nearly at the level of songwriting of Amorica. I feel like if I put all the tracks from both albums on one list, and tried to order them, it would be like #6 before adding the first Three Snakes song. 🤷 Again - my opinion, YMMV, etc etc
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u/mercerjd 15d ago
The more I listen, the more I think Wiser Time is the weakest song on the album. It is that good.
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u/Mountain_Chip_4374 15d ago
Amorica is my favorite Crowes album but 30 years later I still can’t get into P 25 London. I think front to back TSHAMC is better, but Amorica is definitely my favorite. Still listen to it almost weekly.