Warpaint

If you're any kind of Black Crowes fan you'll, more than likely, enjoy their newest effort, Warpaint.

They may not strut around with that Stones-like swagger as in days past but they can still put out a consistent album. While Warpaint does not have that commercial quality of By Your Side or the trippy sounds of Lions it does come through with its fair share of blues influenced songs.

This is not the album to look for if you need the up-tempo rockers, although Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution and Walk Believer Walk fit the bill. My favorites on this one are Oh Josephine and Locust Street, which are more of a ballad in tempo.

Chris Robinson seems to have rested his vocal chords and he does an ample job of coming through on most tracks. The loss of Marc Ford and Ed Harsch are felt on this album. Not that Luther Dickinson, of the North Missippi All Stars, doesn't come through on guitar though; there is some scorching slide work on this album. However Adam MacDougal doesn't add enough to the mix on keyboards to make his presence known.

But as anyone that follows the Crowes knows, this band has always been the brothers Robinson and Steve Gorman on drums.

They've often been called derivative of the Rolling Stones or the Allman Brothers, and they may well be. But the Black Crowes stick to what they know and do it well.