by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

On Amorica, the Black Crowes finally come into their own, taking their cue from the most relaxed, groove-oriented tracks on their previous album. While the album contains no immediately obvious singles, the songs are the best the band has ever written, stretching out into a hard, jam-oriented, funky blues-rock. The Black Crowes' influences are still discernible -- no band celebrates the glory days of rock culture quite as enthusiastically -- but they use the music of the Stones, the Faces, and Little Feat much the same way the Stones used the music of Chuck Berry: it's a starting point that leads the band into a new direction, incorporating different musical genres, and making the music original. That sense of reinterpretation is what keeps Amorica fresh.