Track Listing

1. Twice As Hard
2. Jealous Again
3. Sister Luck
4. Could I've Been So Blind
5. Seeing Things
6. Hard To Handle
7. Thick 'n' Thin
8. She Talks To Angels
9. Struttin' Blues
10. Stare It Cold

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #145682 in Music
• Released on: 2002-03-08
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered

CD Description
When the Black Crowes released SHAKE YOUR MONEYMAKER in 1989, the alternative music revolution was a couple of years off as hair bands and mall queens cluttered the airwaves. The Crowes' debut was a straightforward rock & roll album named for an Elmore James song and recorded by a band fronted by an impossibly skinny lead singer and a pair of riff-happy guitarists. Sure, songs such as "Sister Luck", "Twice As Hard" and "Jealous Again" may have struck a little close to the sound the Rolling Stones and Faces were trading in during the early '70s, but there was nothing contrived about the Black Crowes' music.
Despite being in their early 20's at the time, brothers Chris and Rich Robinson showed a knack for writing about soul-searching ("Seeing Things") and tragic characters ("She Talks To Angels") when they weren't busy tearing up the joint ("Thick N'Thin"). These sons of the south even turned a new generation on to fellow Georgian Otis Reddingwhen they covered his "Hard To Handle". This album not onlykicked off a controversial career but helped put Rick Rubin's fledgling label on the map.

Customer Reviews

For those about to rock....this is for you
This is the first Black Crowes album and it introduced them with a bang. From the opener Twice as Hard to the ballad of She Talks to Angels this is a class album throughout. This is blues rock as it should be - authentic, mean & lean,but above all cracking tunes. The Crowes main strength is take the blues and make it sound vibrant rather than just regurgitating tired old formulas. Chris Robinson has a great voice that lives the part, his brother Chris is a possessed demon of a guitarist. They are truly one of the best live acts around and this energy is certainly captured in this album. This is well worth checking out if you like your guitars loud and mean and your music straight from the heart!

Real rock ' roll for the 90s
I've never really been into the Black Crowes, but I picked this their first album up on a whim, seeing it for sale at £6, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The Robinson brothers have written nine out of the album's ten songs, and "$hake Your Moneymaker", with its gritty, rootsy rock n' roll sound, is certainly more than good enough for a debut album.

The Black Crowes' sound is a tough amalgam of rock n' roll, blues and a little bit of soul, not unlike the Faces or the Rolling Stones. The arrangements are lean, yet muscular, with bluesy guitar riffs that leave room to breathe for the excellent rhythm section of Steve Gorman and Johnny Colt, and superb blues-and-boogie piano by the Rolling Stones' keyboardist, the great Chuck Leavell.

"$hake Your Money Maker" eventually sold millions of copies (more than three in the US alone), and the acoustic ballad "She Talks To Angels" was a sizable hit. And the quality of the Robinson brothers' songwriting is consistently high almost all the way through, from the hard rock of "Twice As Hard" and "Jealous Again" to the swaggering, mid-tempo shuffle "Sister Luck" and the poignant "Seeing Things".

They also throw in a good cover of Otis Redding's "Hard To Handle", but the original songs are so good that the Crowes really don't need to rely on covers.

This fine album is for anyone who likes classic, Stonesy rock n' roll with a bluesy slant. It won't be my only Black Crowes CD for long, that's for sure.

One of the best debuts ever
The sheer energy of this CD will knock you for six. Great production and great riffs make it one of my most listened to CD's. I'm old enough to admit I bought the CD when it first came out, and yes its a nod to the Faces, Stones etc, but its timeless stuff. For the price you can pick it up for now you have no excuses-Buy it!