Shake Your Money Maker (1990)

Shake Your Money Maker (also stylized as The Black Crowes Present: $hake Your Money Maker) is the debut studio album by American rock band the Black Crowes, released on February 13, 1990, on Def American Recordings. It is the only album by the band to feature guitarist Jeff Cease. The album is named after a classic blues song written by Elmore James. The Black Crowes have played the song live many times over the years, but it is not included on this album.

Shake Your Money Maker peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and two of its singles, "Hard to Handle" and "She Talks to Angels", reached No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. "Jealous Again", "Twice As Hard" and "Seeing Things" were also charting singles in the United States. Shake Your Money Maker is the Black Crowes' best selling album, having sold more than 5 million copies.

On January 8, 2021, the Black Crowes announced that a 30th anniversary edition of the album would be released on February 26, 2021. The new version contains the original tracks remastered in addition to three previously unreleased songs, outtakes, two demos from the Mr. Crowe's Garden era, and a live performance set recorded in 1990 at Center Stage in Atlanta. Previously unreleased track "Charming Mess" was released on the same day as the announcement.

Background and production

Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson had formed Mr. Crowe's Garden in 1984. In 1988 George Drakoulias saw the band at a show they did in New York City and had them signed to Def American the same year; they changed their name to the Black Crowes shortly after.

The recording sessions began in the summer of 1989 in Atlanta and Los Angeles, with Drakoulias producing the album. Some tracks include retained songs from the Mr. Crowe's Garden era such as "Could I've Been So Blind" and "She Talks to Angels", whose riff had been written years ago by then-17 year old Rich Robinson with lyrics written by Chris, which were inspired by a heroin-addicted girl he "kinda knew" in Atlanta. The band also chose to record a cover version of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle", which would prove to be their breakthrough single.

Four music videos for "Twice As Hard", "Jealous Again", "Hard to Handle" and "She Talks to Angels" were filmed to promote the band and the album, and subsequently aired on MTV.

Release and reception

When the album came out in February 1990, critical reception was mostly favorable. Mark Coleman called Shake Your Money Maker "the kind of streamlined, supertight groove album that bar-band dreams are made of" in a review for Rolling Stone, whose readers and critics later voted the Black Crowes "Best New American Band" at the end of 1990; the band appeared on the cover of the magazine's 605th issue (May 1991) following their firing from the ZZ Top tour in March that year. The issue's interview of Chris and Rich Robinson compared the band to 1970s acts, with journalist David Fricke explicitly citing Faces and the Rolling Stones and Rich Robinson mentioning Aerosmith. In Entertainment Weekly, Dave Marsh wrote, "The Black Crowes are to the early Rolling Stones what Christian Slater is to the young Jack Nicholson: a self-conscious imitation, but fine enough in its own right. Authentic bluesmen these Crowes will never be, but their sheer energy earns 'em the right to trash it up." CMJ New Music Report noted that while the band "might have studied their sonic textbooks a little too closely, if the Crowes have more songs like these in store, they could be one of the biggest bands of the new decade." Retrospectively, AllMusic critic Steve Huey praised Rich Robinson's guitar playing and Chris Robinson's "appropriate vocal swagger".

Personnel

• The Black Crowes
• Chris Robinson – vocals
• Rich Robinson – guitar
• Jeff Cease – guitar
• Johnny Colt – bass guitar
• Steve Gorman – drums
• Additional personnel
• Laura Creamer – background vocals
• Chuck Leavell – piano, organ

Brendan O'Brien – Guitar solo on 'Hard to Handle' and "a potpourri of instruments"

• Production
• George Drakoulias – producer

Rick Rubin – executive producer (credited on the sleeve only after the album became successful)

Pete Angelus – personal manager

Dave Bianco – remixing on "Twice As Hard"

• Greg Fulginiti – original mastering
• Alan Forbes – artwork, art direction, design
• Tag George – assistant engineer
• Michael Lavine – photography
• Ruth Leitman – photography, cover photo
• Lee Manning – assistant engineer, mixing, mixing engineer
• Brendan O'Brien – engineer, mixing
• Leon Zervos – mastering