Before the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, one of the weirder music stories of 2020 was the reappearance of brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, reviving The Black Crowes with a new touring line-up (after dissolving in 2002, 2011 and 2015) and touring their breakthrough debut Shake Your Money Maker in full. On February 26, that album will get the deluxe treatment.
For its belated 30th anniversary - it was released in 1990 - Shake Your Money Maker will be remastered and reissued on CD and LP in multiple formats, including deluxe and super deluxe editions. Appearing in both expanded sets will be a selection of 11 B-sides and unreleased material, including five newly-released recordings: three outtakes from the album, including intended lead single "Charming Mess," and two demos recorded under their original name, Mr. Crowe's Garden. A super deluxe box, consisting of three CDs or four LPs, adds an unreleased live set recorded over a brace of homecoming shows at Center Stage in the band's native Atlanta, GA just before Christmas 1990. The box will also include replicas of a Mr. Crowe's Garden tour flier, vintage set list and tour laminate, plus a collectible patch. David Fricke has written liner notes in the accompanying 20-page booklet. (A cutdown 3CD edition without the deluxe packaging will be available at Target and Rough Trade retailers in the U.S. and the U.K., respectively.)
In an age before grunge music entered the mainstream, Shake Your Money Maker set The Black Crowes up as harbingers of a new rock and roll revival. Their straightforward, blues-based style surprisingly found a home on commercial radio, with the acoustic "She Talks to Angels" and a hard-driving cover of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle" both becoming Top 40 pop hits.
Money Maker eventually sold more than five million copies and established the Robinson brothers as two of the most mercurial rockers of the '90s, attacking corporate sponsors, fans, and occasionally each other. The Black Crowes line-up changed dramatically over time - drummer Steve Gorman was the only member to appear in every iteration of the band until his incendiary memoir in 2019 - but their return was a welcome one for rock fans.
Pre-order the various formats of Shake Your Money Maker below, and check out the full track list as well.
Shake Your Money Maker: 30th Anniversary Edition (American Recordings/UMe, 2021)
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3CD: Target (U.S.) / Rough Trade (U.K.)
3CD Super Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4LP Super Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
CD/LP 1: Remastered original album (released as Def American 24278, 1990)
- Twice As Hard
- Jealous Again
- Sister Luck
- Could I've Been So Blind
- Seeing Things
- Hard to Handle
- Thick N' Thin
- She Talks to Angels
- Struttin' Blues
- Stare It Cold
- Mercy, Sweet Moan
CD/LP 2: More Money Maker - Unreleased Songs and B-Sides
- Charming Mess
- 30 Days in the Hole
- Don't Wake Me
- Jealous Guy
- Waitin' Guilty
- Hard to Handle (with Horns Remix)
- Jealous Again (Acoustic Version)
- She Talks to Angels (Acoustic Version)
- She Talks to Angels (Mr. Crowe's Garden Demo)
- Front Porch
- Sermon (Mr. Crowe's Garden Demo)
Tracks 1-2 and 9-11 previously unreleased
Track 3 from Sho' Nuff: The Complete Black Crowes - American C5K 65741, 1998
Track 4 from "Twice As Hard" U.K. CD single - Def American DEFAC 7, 1990
Track 5 from "Jealous Again" U.K. CD single - Def American DEFAC 4, 1990
Track 6 from "Hard to Handle" promo CD single - Def American PRO
Track 7 from "Twice As Hard" promo CD single - Def American PRO-CD-4122, 1990
Track 8 from "She Talks to Angels" promo CD single - Def American PRO-CD-4201, 1991
CD 3/LP 3-4: The Homecoming Concert, Atlanta, GA - December 1990
- Introduction
- Thick N' Thin
- You're Wrong
- Twice As Hard
- Could I've Been So Blind
- Seeing Things for the First Time
- She Talks to Angels
- Sister Luck
- Hard to Handle
- Shake 'Em On Down/Get Back
- Struttin' Blues
- Words You Threw Away
- Stare It Cold
- Jealous Again
RJD says
So the 2cd is under $20 but the 3cd is almost $60?? Must be one helluva convert!!
Not targeting this set only as this pricing structure is the same reason I went with the 2cd of Petty's Wildflowers All The Rest.
Joe Marchese says
The complete contents of the 3CD set minus the deluxe packaging is currently available at Target (U.S.) for $22.99 USD and at Rough Trade (U.K.) for £18.99. See the links above.
RJD says
Thanks Joe.
Convert should be *concert* in my original post.
John says
Ty! Canceled my Amazo $60 order and ordered from Target.
Rob M says
The 2CD will do me just fine, unless I find a Target coupon somewhere. Zero interest in Live stuff. Very happy they're at least not truncating the studio rarities/B-sides. That's how all of these expanded-type releases should go.