The Lone Crows

Self-Released

http://thelonecrows.bandcamp.com/

10 tracks

This is the debut album for this young quartet from Minneapolis. Featuring Tim Barbeau (Guitar, Vocals), Julian Manzara (Guitar), Andy Battcher (Bass) and Joe Goff (Drums, Percussion), this band is a throwback to early 70's rock with a dose of 60's psychedelic and maybe a little grunge from the last decade. Is it blues? Hell no. Track 10, simply entitled "Blues" is, but the rest is an all out, rocking assault.

So let's get the blues out of the way since this is a blues magazine. "Blues" represents the Lone Crows doing a Jimmy Page sounding instrumental. It reminds of a raw Led Zeppelin guitar attack. The guitars wail, the backline throbs and we are back in 1969 with some blues shuffle transformed by a rock band in front of a heavily medicated crowd with heads bobbing up and down to the beat. Nice. Have I heard it before? Perhaps. It builds into a big finish, and at 4:13 it's respectable and not over done.

The rest? Well, it ranges from 13+ minutes of heavy psychedelic grunge in "Runnin' Through My Head" to the title track (which is 70's rock laced with nitroglycerine). Anders Nelson adds some massive organ sounds to "Runnin' Through My Head" for effect, too. "Hear You Call" gives us a little Carlos Santana approach to the guitar sounds, with Santana's trademark style evident in the piece."You Got Nothing" is psychedelic and incendiary. "Moonshine" gives us more of the stratospheric strat sounds, with the big guitar solo and some echo enhanced vocals a la 40 year ago. "The Ghost" is a 70's guitar instrumental, throbbing and ringing for 6:12; we are spared a 30 minute jam and at just over six minutes I was ready to finish up. "When I Move On" is more Zeppelin sounds as is "The Crawl," although the latter perhaps is more of a guteral early Townsend than Page.

All in all, the album grew on me a bit. It reminded me of my late HS and early college days. These guys can play, but they sound a lot like other bands we've heard. Lots of improvisation and one take stuff here. Primal, raging, distorted, and fuzzed out. It's cool and I bet these guys are fun to watch live. If you need a throwback album that sounds a lot like early Zeppelin stuff, this is for you.