A few days after RSD 2017* I accidentally found myself in another record shop in Liverpool and on a whim picked up a smart little 10″ of Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes Live At Jones Beach, the fact that it was on marbled black and white vinyl may have tipped the scales a little, that and the fact it was numbered only #62 out of 4000.
Recorded on their joint tour in 2000, we get three tracks ‘Misty Mountain Hop’, ‘Bring It On Home’ and ‘In The Light’**; none of which made it onto the Live At The Greek LP of that tour.
Chris Robinson, contrary Crowe that he is, has referred to the gigs as just a job and that ‘it was alright‘. Oh how my little 9-5 deskbound heart bleeds for him! We’ve all had to put up with shitty jobs to put food on the table Chris, I remember the time Iron Maiden asked me to replace Bruce Dickinson for a tour and I went through with it because I needed a new cooker; integrity be damned.
I digress, this is not my favourite iteration of the Black Crowes, I’m a Marc Ford and Johnny Colt kinda guy personally but they were still an excellent band in 2000. I particularly dug the late Eddie Harsch on keys and that young Jimmy fella on third guitar seems to be quite a find too.
Opener ‘Misty Mountain Hop’ is as deep as you would ever want, that riff still sounds like nothing else in the hard rock canon^ and it is a treat to hear Page, Rich Robinson and Audley Freed all getting room to do their respective thangs. Chris Robinson’s vocals mar this one for me though, he just sounds off the pace and lacking in the necessary horsepower.
Mind you, Chris R really redeems himself on next cut ‘Bring It On Home’ with some good mouth organeering and a deep shuffle mouth blues moaning. Steve Gorman drums up a storm on this cut too, obviously nowhere near as good as you-know-who but he really brings it on, umm, home. On the video of the gig Page really loses himself in the music here, which is lovely to see.
The 9 minutes 6 seconds of ‘In The Light’ takes up the second side of the 10″. It is a cracking rendition too, the sinister drones and spiralling chord sequences really are great and Eddie Harsch really gets to shine. Of the three tracks on Live At Jones Beach Chris Robinson seems most at home here and it is by far his best performance. This was definitely a real highlight of the gig.
Live At Jones Beach is an interesting curio, it has never tipped me over into buying Live At The Greek^^ but I do rather like it, flaws an’ all. It is really well produced by Kevin Shirley too
Whatever did happen to that third guitarist chap?
And if you feel that you can't go on
And your will's sinkin' low
Just believe, and you can't go wrong
1270 Down.
PS: Whole gig.
*where I actually went to a record shop on RSD for the first time ever.
**never performed live by LZ.
^not to be confused with the hard rock cannon, Brian Johnson pressed into service back in 1981.
^^those in the know – is it worth it? a big fancy pants box set version is due for release shortly.
I like this collab and I’m happy for your addition to the pile.
This is a great RSD find. I’ve come across a few by chance* like that after the event.
I remember getting the full album on CD when it came out. I haven’t listened to it much – it’s always felt too much of a slog, not sure if it’s the mixing or the non-obvious track listing, were it comprised of tunes like Rock ‘n’ Roll, Black Dog or Good Times Bad Times etc it would’ve blown the listeners’ collective tits off. As it was it, nearly 2 hours of deeper cuts feels stodgy.
Surprisingly they’re releasing the full, unabridged set across 6lps for the insomniac in your life.
*insert innuendo of your choice
Insert my innuendo … ooh missus (etc etc)
Wow, after your enthusiastic review I have rushed out and ordered 3 copies of the new 6LP boxed set.
I really think, nay demand, that the record company use your comments ‘Feels like a bit of a slog’ and ‘Nearly 2 hours of deeper cuts = stodgy’ as hype stickers immediately!
“6LPs of the best sleep you’ll ever have”
‘Unexciting music for your uncle’
Man, they really missed a trick by not calling themselves Led Crowe or The Black Zeppelins, or even better, Led Crowe & The Black Zeppelins.
Rats, I would have loved to have seen you on tour with Iron Maiden.
Ha sorry, I was only able to get a couple of weeks off work, so I could only cover the South American leg of the tour.
Ah, that’s it.
That is cool find! I think I would have had to pick that up as well. This was an okay collab, didn’t blow me away though.
I get it. This was a good little find, it briefly got really expensive and seems to have settled down a bit in price now. Damnit! I wanted it to become the most expensive 10″ record ever!
Long Live Johnny Colt! The coolest looking rocker from 1990-93….Nobody wore a cowboy hat or swigged JD from a bottle like he did when the Crowes rolled into Thunder Bay April ’93.
That’s exactly it Deke! You always got the sense he was really living it, not holding back and not pretending.
No pretending as I remember it like yesterday when Colt chugged and than passed the bottle to Ford and he took a swig and sprayed it everywhere haha
Have you got Live At The Greek?
Yes, I have the double CD that came out originally and I preordered the triple set to get the extra tracks. Such a great album.
Sounds like a lovely little item, Joe. And “In the light” is a fascinating choice.
It is a good one, definitely worth it for In The Light on its own. I kinda knew you’d like ITL, it really is prog Zeppelin at their best.