Music Review: The Black Crowes Who Killed That Bird Out On Your Window Sill... The Movie(DVD); Freak 'N' Roll.. Into The Fog-All Join Hands The Fillmore, San Francisco (CD)

These two recent releases from The Black Crowes represent separate snapshots of the band from two very unique points of their long career. Who Killed That Bird Out On Your Window Sill... The Movie was originally released as a VHS video by the band's record label at the time, American Recordings, in 1992. It comes from the most commercially successful period in the band's career.

The Crowes were riding high on the success of back-to-back platinum albums in Shake Your Money Maker and The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion (still arguably their best), and the video was put together by the record company largely to capitalize on the Crowes' red hot status at the time.

It's hardly the "movie" it bills itself as, but rather, pretty much what you would expect. Most of the band's early videos are here — from "Jealous Again" through "Remedy" — and strung between things like on the road footage and a number of radio interviews in which lead vocalist Chris Robinson looks bored out of his mind for the most part.

There's even a rather funny montage of Chris answering the same question of "what do you like to do when you are not working with the Black Crowes?" over and over again.

Another funny part shows the band looking absolutely dumbstruck at what looks to be a Japanese press event where two Japanese media personalities are talking at about 190 miles an hour in completely undiscernable Japanese, while the band sits there with blank stares on their faces. Like I said, funny stuff.

Much more interesting, however, is the precious little live footage on this DVD, which offers glimpses into The Black Crowes' considerable prowess as a live band. From a show in Atlanta comes a very tasty cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy." Way more fascinating is footage from a huge outdoor show in Moscow.

As the Crowes blaze their way through a scorching version of "Stare It Cold," a number of crowd shots are interspersed which reveal several things. One is that the crowd at a Russian outdoor concert doesn't look all that different from what you would have seen at an American rock festival around the time this film was shot. With the notable exception of what looks to be hundreds of uniformed Soviet police. There are also a few shots of concert-goers getting bloodied by the same Russian cops. It's an interesting, and telling juxtaposition.

Article Author: Glen Boyd

You'll find Blogcritics music editor Glen Boyd sharing his Thoughtmares on his personal blog The Rockologist. Glen is also the author of Neil Young FAQ, published in May 2012 by Backbeat Books/Hal Leonard Publishing.

Visit Glen Boyd's author page — Glen Boyd's Blog