THE BLACK CROWES released their last studio album in 2010: a semi-acoustic compilation reimagining some of their past tracks. 12 years on, their fraternal fulcrum of Chris and Rich Robinson is reunited and touring again, and they have been back in the studio recording new takes on older songs… but this time, the songs aren’t their own.
‘1972‘ is a collection of six covers freshly recorded as an ‘Amazon Original’ EP for Amazon Music. At launch it’s a digital exclusive for that service, with the band additionally selling CD and vinyl versions. It’s an interesting example of the kind of catalogue-focused partnership that artists and streaming services are exploring nowadays.
In this case, that catalogue includes the Crowes’ own music featured on Amazon Music’s ‘(RE)Discover The Black Crowes‘ playlist series, while ‘1972’ includes the songs covered, from the Rolling Stones (‘Rocks Off’) and The Temptations (‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’) to David Bowie (‘Moonage Daydream’) and T-Rex (‘The Slider’).
The idea for ‘1972’ was sparked by Apple TV+ documentary ‘1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything‘, which documents the intersection of music and politics/activism that year.
The Crowes manager called Amazon Music’s global co-head of artist relations up and said we should do something like this with the band. Not only could they crush a bunch of covers from back then, but we realised that 2022 is the 50th anniversary of 1972.
It’s immediately clear why the ‘1972’ project passed the Crowes’ cool test: it’s a year and era they look back to with admiration.
“If you look at music at that time, it seemed to be untethered and unaffected as much by greed. It seemed very free: it wasn’t an established thing. All those artists were free to create the music they wanted to create,” they say. “The uniqueness of each artist was what was so cool about it, if you look at what was big or what was released at that time. They didn’t have the overgenrefication of everything, if that’s a word!”
“It was simply rock and roll music. From ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’ to T-Rex to David Bowie to Little Feat to the Rolling Stones to Rod Stewart, everyone and anyone in between was all just music. They were all so unique and brought so much to the table. That’s kinda how music should be.”
The ‘1972’ project has other links to the past. The songs were recorded at the Sunset Sound studio in Hollywood, where ‘Exile on Main Street’ (the Stones album that included ‘Rocks Off’) was mixed.
Meanwhile, the release of ‘1972’ was marked with a Crowes livestream from the Whisky a Go Go venue 50 years to the day after Little Feat played it.
01 - Rocks Off
02 - The Slider
03 - You Wear It Well
04 - Easy to Slip
05 - Moonage Daydream
06 - Papa Was a Rollin' Stone
The Black Crowes – 1972 – 2022
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