American/UMe is re-releasing the first four The Black Crowes American Recordings albums on 180-Gram vinyl. Fans of the band will be able to pick up 1990’s Shake Your Money Maker as a single disc, while 1992’s The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, 1994’s Amorica and 1996’s Three Snakes and One Charm will all be issued as two-LP sets with sound cut directly from masters...

Three Snakes and One Charm is The Black Crowes’s fourth album. It was previously available on vinyl only as a boxed set of 7” singles, but now comes out for the first time as a two-LP set on 180-gram vinyl since its initial CD release in July 1996. The original album peaked at #15 on the Billboard 200. The album was recorded in a rented home, which helped soothe the frayed relationship between the brothers Robinson, then finished at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles. Two bonus tracks, originally included in the boxed set, 'Just Say You’re Sorry' and a cover of Bob Marley’s 'Pimper’s Paradise', are included on the fourth and final side of the double-vinyl set.

This album, for me, comes close to matching the energy and talent of the band's debut Shake Your Money Maker. Who can't instantly warm to tracks like 'Under a Mountain' and 'Nebekanezer'? (even though 'Good Friday' and 'Blackberry' were the album's most highly charted single releases)

For lovers of vinyl, American/UMe do a wonderful job of bringing this back for vinyl lovers. Although, on its original release the majority of listeners would most likely have picked this up on CD as vinyl was dying a slow death.

This is another worthwhile addition to your vinyl collection if you're a fan of The Black Crowes.

10

Nick Smithson