By Your Side (Black Crowes album)
Encyclopedia
By Your Side is the fifth studio album by American rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in 1989. Their discography includes nine studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the...

. It was released in early 1999 on Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

, following the band's move from American Recordings. Second guitarist Marc Ford
Marc Ford
Marc Ford , is an American blues-rock guitarist. He's a former lead guitarist of the rock and roll jam band The Black Crowes and the leader of his own bands .-Burning Tree:Ford began his career with the blues-rock outfit Burning...

 and bassist Johnny Colt
Johnny Colt
Johnny Colt is an American bass guitar player.-Biography:He was the original bassist for The Black Crowes which formed in Atlanta, Georgia. After leaving the Black Crowes he went on to form the Brand New Immortals with guitarist David Ryan Harris and drummer Kenny Cresswell. Colt played bass for...

 had left The Black Crowes in 1997. Audley Freed
Audley Freed
thumb|250px|Audley Freed playing with [[New Earth Mud]] on June 28, 2004 at [[Irving Plaza]], [[New York]]Audley Freed is a guitarist. He started his professional career on the Southeastern club and fraternity circuit. He then formed the band Cry of Love, which was signed to Columbia Records and...

 and Sven Pipien
Sven Pipien
Sven Pipien is a musician best known as the bassist of the hard rock band The Black Crowes. He had previously played bass with Atlanta-based Mary My Hope, who released one album on Silvertone Records....

 were hired as the band's new guitarist and bassist, respectively, though Rich Robinson
Rich Robinson
Rich Robinson is an American musician and founding member of the rock and roll band The Black Crowes. Along with older brother Chris Robinson, Rich formed the band in 1984 while the two were in high school...

 played all the guitar parts on By Your Side. The album was recorded in New York City during the second quarter of 1998 and produced by Kevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley is a music producer and mixer for many artists, such as the bands Journey, Iron Maiden, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Joe Bonamassa, Marya Roxx, Dream Theater, Tyler Bryant, Mr. Big, and Europe.-Biography:...

. By Your Side comprised songs written in the studio, revised songs from pre-production and re-recorded songs from the shelved album Band (1997).

The Black Crowes promoted By Your Side by performing on numerous television programs in North America and Europe. The album debuted at its peak position of number 26 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 and generally received positive reviews. While some critics depreciated By Your Side for its similarity to albums by Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....

 and The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

, most reviewers lauded The Black Crowes' return to the straightforward approach of their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker (1990). Chris Robinson's singing and Rich's guitar playing also won praise from critics, though reviews of the lyrics were mixed.

The band toured North American theaters for two months, starting February 1999, in support of By Your Side. Setlists from the Souled Out Tour, as it was called, typically included more than half the album's songs. This tour was followed by a short co-headlining tour of US amphitheaters with Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...

. The band spent the remainder of the summer opening for Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

's European tour.

Background

Personnel changes and label interference considerably affected The Black Crowes' attempts to follow up Three Snakes and One Charm
Three Snakes and One Charm
Three Snakes and One Charm is the fourth album by the American blues-rock band The Black Crowes. It was released on July 23, 1996.The album's cover logo resembles a 45 rpm record insert. The limited box set edition of seven 7" vinyl EPs included a custom adapter in shape of the logo...

 (1996). In May and June 1997, the group recorded an album called Band, but it was rejected by their label, American Recordings. Lead singer Chris Robinson said American "couldn't go with the vibe" and wanted something more "safe". In August, guitarist Marc Ford
Marc Ford
Marc Ford , is an American blues-rock guitarist. He's a former lead guitarist of the rock and roll jam band The Black Crowes and the leader of his own bands .-Burning Tree:Ford began his career with the blues-rock outfit Burning...

 was fired due to a heroin habit that impaired his performances. Guitarist Rich Robinson
Rich Robinson
Rich Robinson is an American musician and founding member of the rock and roll band The Black Crowes. Along with older brother Chris Robinson, Rich formed the band in 1984 while the two were in high school...

 said, "We would be onstage playing 'Remedy', and he would be playing a completely different song.... We told him to clean up or get out. We assumed, since he loved music and the band, that he would clean up." Bassist Johnny Colt
Johnny Colt
Johnny Colt is an American bass guitar player.-Biography:He was the original bassist for The Black Crowes which formed in Atlanta, Georgia. After leaving the Black Crowes he went on to form the Brand New Immortals with guitarist David Ryan Harris and drummer Kenny Cresswell. Colt played bass for...

 had been losing interest in the band since the recording of Three Snakes and One Charm; his contributions to that album were minimal, as Rich played bass in his stead on all but one track. Colt quit in October to become a yoga instructor.

Sven Pipien
Sven Pipien
Sven Pipien is a musician best known as the bassist of the hard rock band The Black Crowes. He had previously played bass with Atlanta-based Mary My Hope, who released one album on Silvertone Records....

 was hired in December to replace Colt. Pipien had previously played with Mary My Hope and was a one-time housemate of Chris. Audley Freed
Audley Freed
thumb|250px|Audley Freed playing with [[New Earth Mud]] on June 28, 2004 at [[Irving Plaza]], [[New York]]Audley Freed is a guitarist. He started his professional career on the Southeastern club and fraternity circuit. He then formed the band Cry of Love, which was signed to Columbia Records and...

 was hired as the second guitarist before a 1998 tour in support of the band's Sho' Nuff box set. Recording sessions for By Your Side were well underway at this point, and continued after the tour, but Freed did not contribute to the album. Chris said of the new band members, "It's great. These guys want to be here—and we feed off of that. And that will become obvious when you see us on the road."

American Recordings was partially absorbed by Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 in early 1998. Though the arrangement preserved the American label, The Black Crowes transferred to Columbia in the process. "We basically said we weren't going to record for [American Recordings founder] Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...

 anymore ... and with Columbia's help, we pulled Rick out of any and all decision-making", said Rich. Despite working under a larger label, the band felt they had more freedom and support under Columbia; added Chris, "At American, I never knew what a record company did. We never had an A&R guy. Now we have a product manager.... It's like ... I didn't know what the music business was."

Writing and production

Pre-production for By Your Side began in December 1997 with songs that later underwent substantial revision or were dropped altogether. Early versions of "HorseHead" and "It Must Be Over" were recorded at this point, and a reworked riff from "Every Little Bit" and some lyrics from "Tickle Tickle" were later incorporated into "Heavy". Some of the songs ultimately dropped, such as "Baby" and "Bled to Death", were later rewritten by Rich for his debut solo album, Paper
Paper (album)
Paper is the debut solo album from Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson. This album contains brand new material along with songs that were initially written for Robinson's 2002-2003 project, Hookah Brown...

 (2004). More songs were introduced in January 1998, including "Red Wine Stains", which eventually became "Go Faster", and an early version of "Virtue and Vice". Some unused sections from this batch were borrowed for Paper, as well, including the main riffs of what became "Tomorrow Is Here" and "Thrown It All Away".
Producer Kevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley is a music producer and mixer for many artists, such as the bands Journey, Iron Maiden, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Joe Bonamassa, Marya Roxx, Dream Theater, Tyler Bryant, Mr. Big, and Europe.-Biography:...

 was brought in on the advice of Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

 guitarist Joe Perry
Joe Perry (musician)
Anthony Joseph "Joe" Perry is the lead guitarist, backing and occasional lead vocalist, and contributing songwriter for the rock band Aerosmith. He is influenced by many rock artists especially The Rolling Stones and The Beatles...

. As Rich explained, "We really wanted to work with someone who can come in and say, 'That's not good.' ... If Kevin says something I disagree with, he'll be the first one to say, 'Hey, it's your song,' but it's healthy for me and Chris to have him come in and be as excited about our songs as we are and say, 'Okay, that's cool, but what if we tried this?'" At his first meeting with the band, Shirley described the songs played for him as having "the same old jammy, shuffle feel of the last two records. I stopped them then and I said to them ... 'You've got to feel like you're teenagers again. You need a song like that.'" Shirley's prompting led the band to write "Kickin' My Heart Around" on the spot, before he had signed on to produce. Rich agreed that Shirley shifted the focus to making "a rock record" that was "focused and concise".
The band hired Shirley and agreed to his recording conditions, which meant recording in New York City at Avatar Studios
Avatar Studios
Avatar Studios, formerly known as The Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street in Manhattan, New York City.The building was originally a Consolidated Edison power plant; but after a period of vacancy, it was used as a sound stage for the television game show Let's Make a Deal...

, taking weekends off and recording from 1:00–8:00 pm. Chris said of the rigid schedule, "We loved it.... We had lives other than just being in the studio 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Got a different vantage point on the whole thing." Shirley's laid-back style also won praise from the band. "Kevin is the first guy that I've worked with that just went with it—especially my singing. A lot of this album is just my scratch vocals. It's very loose, and Kevin let it go.... He'd say, if we didn't get it in two or three takes, 'We'll come back tomorrow'", said Chris. Of the album's lyrical bent, Chris said, "...there is a lot of love on it, and I've never written love songs. I do think having a muse in my life like the woman I'm with now helped.... I think there's also a lot of humor on this album, which is something we haven't touched on before, except maybe on Shake Your Money Maker, which was a lighter time and a lighter mood." There was also a conscious effort to "simplify the language", which was inspired by Chris's listening to music by Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...

, George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....

 and Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...

. "I realized how direct and honest those records were – and I wanted that here", said Chris.

For the first time on a Black Crowes album, Rich was the only guitarist involved in the recording. He said recording that way was not a challenge because he recorded most of the guitar parts on Three Snakes and One Charm, as well. Rich also noted that having only one guitarist gives the band "a different dynamic" because it affords Pipien and keyboardist Eddie Harsch
Eddie Harsch
Eddie Harsch is a Canadian-American keyboardist and current member of Detroit-based jam band Bulldog. Previously, he was The Black Crowes' keyboardist from 1991 to 2006. Harsch first joined Bulldog during The Black Crowes' hiatus, which lasted from early 2002 to early 2005...

 "a lot of space". Chris praised his brother's performance, saying, "It sounds like there's two guitarists, two distinct personalities."

Fifteen songs were recorded in the second quarter of 1998 during the main recording session with Kevin Shirley . Some were updated versions of songs from pre-production; a few were totally new; others combined newly written music with parts from older, shelved songs. The main riff of a Three Snakes and One Charm leftover called "Pastoral", for example, was used for the B-side "You Don't Have to Go", while its chorus riff was borrowed for "Then She Said My Name". Four of the songs were holdovers from the Band sessions: "Only a Fool
Only a Fool (song)
Only a Fool is a song by the Black Crowes released in 1998.-Track listing:...

" and "If It Ever Stops Raining" were included on the album (the latter with new chorus lyrics as "By Your Side
By Your Side (The Black Crowes song)
By Your Side is a Blues-rock song by American band The Black Crowes. Written and recorded in 1998, it is featured on their 1999 album of the same name.-Track listing:# "By Your Side" – 4:28# "Grows a Rose" – 3:16# "Peace Anyway" – 3:45...

"), while "Peace Anyway" and "Smile" were released as B-sides. One cover song, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

's "When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky", was recorded during the session and later released as a B-side.

While touring in support of Sho' Nuff, Chris and Rich finished writing "Diamond Ring" and "Go Tell the Congregation". The two songs were recorded after the tour during a planned session for putting finishing touches on By Your Side, though the decision delayed the album's release from November 17 to January 12. Rich said, "It's cool that Columbia Records is backing us on an artistic level and they're being open to all the hassles that come with moving an album into the new year. I know we're driving them insane with these last-minute changes, but we know it's all for the right reasons." After finishing the album, Chris noted that it "has the same sort of energy" as Shake Your Money Maker, "...but there is much more to it. There are a lot of subtleties in these songs. These are rock 'n' roll songs with subversive pop hooks."

Promotion and release

The Black Crowes began promoting By Your Side in September 1998 when they performed at the Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2006, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and...

 in New York City for an episode of the VH1 show Hard Rock Live; the episode aired on December 12. The first noticeable instance of promotion was Columbia's release of "Kickin' My Heart Around" as the album's first single on November 2, 1998. The track spent ten weeks at its peak position of number 3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart starting on November 28; it also charted in Canada and the UK. The band's next promotional event was a performance and interview for a live album premiere radio broadcast on January 6. On January 11, the Crowes performed "Kickin' My Heart Around" on The Late Show with David Letterman.
By Your Side was released on January 12, 1999. The album's cover art is a blue-tinted nighttime photograph of the band, all dressed in white and standing in front of a lake. The band name is rendered in tiny white lights above their heads, and other small white lights are scattered at their feet. In keeping with the tiny lights theme, the back cover shows a satellite image of the United States at night, in which densely populated areas can be discerned by light pollution
Light pollution
Light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is excessive or obtrusive artificial light.The International Dark-Sky Association defines light pollution as:...

, and the booklet contains drawings of constellation
Constellation
In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....

s.

On the day the album was released, the band appeared at a Tower Records
Tower Records
Tower Records was a retail music chain that was based in Sacramento, California. It currently exists as an international franchise and an online music store....

 store in Manhattan to sign autographs and give away 1,000 tickets to that night's private show at Irving Plaza
Irving Plaza
Irving Plaza is a 1,200-person ballroom-style music venue at 17 Irving Place and East 15th Street in the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...

. By Your Side debuted at its peak position of number 26 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 on January 30. The album has sold 271,000 copies in the US as of January 2002. The next two weeks were filled with radio and television appearances in Canada, Belgium, France, Sweden, and Italy. The Black Crowes returned to the US to perform during pre-game festivities at Joe Robbie Stadium before Super Bowl XXXIII
Super Bowl XXXIII
Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played on January 31, 1999, at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida to decide the National Football League champion, following the 1998 regular season. The American Football Conference champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football...

 on January 31. While on tour in support of the album in February, the band performed the second single, "Only a Fool", on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...

. The single was released in mid-February and peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The accompanying promotional video was directed by "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...

. After an early April stop at an Atlanta radio station where the band played a half-hour acoustic set, The Black Crowes made a third late night television appearance at the end of that month, playing the album's third single, "Go Faster", on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...

. "Go Faster" peaked at number 24 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in July. Also in late April, Chris Robinson promoted By Your Side in an interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Critical reception

By Your Side was generally well received by critics. Regarding the songwriting, most reviewers praised The Black Crowes for returning to the straightforwardness of Shake Your Money Maker (1990) following the more adventuresome Amorica
Amorica
Amorica is the third album by The Black Crowes. It was released in late 1994 on American Recordings and re-issued in the US and UK in 1998 with two bonus tracks. The album cover's depiction of pubic hair, from a 1976 United States Bicentennial issue of Hustler magazine, caused controversy...

 (1994) and Three Snakes and One Charm. Gemma Tarlach of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel welcomed the album "because it represents a great band's return to what it does best", calling it "45 minutes of good, dirty fun". Wall of Sound's Russell Hall found that the band's emergence from "the jam-band haze that's infected" their recent work resulted in a "laser-sharp focus". Mark Falkner of The Florida Times-Union
The Florida Times-Union
The Florida Times-Union is a major daily newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Widely known as the oldest newspaper in the state, it began publication as the Florida Union in 1864. Its current incarnation started in 1883, when the Florida Union merged with another Jacksonville paper, the...

 said that beyond the band's mastery of their influences' musical styles, what prevents them "from being just another tribute act is that they have (also) mastered the power, the passion and the fun that made the mix work". Some critics, also noting the change in approach, derided the band for returning to mine the same influences perceived in their debut album. Jim Farber of the Daily News thus described By Your Side as "a copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy" and marked "Go Faster" a sped-up version of Humble Pie
Humble Pie (band)
Humble Pie was a rock band from England, finding success both in the UK and the US. They are remembered for songs such as "Black Coffee" "30 Days in the Hole", "I Don't Need No Doctor", and "Natural Born Bugie"...

's "Hot 'n' Nasty". The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 Nigel Williamson called "HorseHead" "Zeppelinesque
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

" and labeled "By Your Side" "a kicking boogie half way between 'Cindy Incidentally' and 'Tumbling Dice
Tumbling Dice
"Tumbling Dice" is a rock song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for The Rolling Stones' 1972 double album Exile on Main St., and was the album's first single. The single peaked at #7 on the US charts and #5 in the UK....

'". Steve Dougherty of People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...

 summed up by commenting, "Purists will wonder why to buy this album when the Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

' 1972 Exile on Main Street or Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....

's 1970 Gasoline Alley
Gasoline Alley (album)
Gasoline Alley was the second solo album by Rod Stewart. It was released in 1970. It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die...

 exist on CD."

On some tracks, the influence of soul music was perceived. Richard Harrington of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

 wrote that "Only a Fool" "conjures '60s-era Stax-Volt
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...

 passions while Robinson's jubilant vocals evoke Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...

's rough-edged insistence" and compared "Diamond Ring" to Al Green
Al Green
Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...

's work. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a New Orleans, Louisiana, brass band. The ensemble was established in 1977 by Benny Jones together with members of the Tornado Brass Band...

's playing on "Welcome to the Goodtimes" was called "infectious" by Wayne Bledsoe of The Knoxville News-Sentinel.
The musical performances and sound of the album were frequently hailed by critics. Lorraine Ali of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 identified Rich Robinson's guitar playing as "brilliant in spots, letting it rip with Southern-rock abandon or lazy, drawling slide guitar". Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the band's retention of the sonic detail from Amorica, and Jane Stevenson of the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun
The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...

 appreciated the "soulful" backing vocals throughout. Echoing those sentiments was CMJ, which noted the "lazy slide-guitar textures, harmonica moans and choirs of soulful singers", but also stated "Chris Robinson's gritty, cocksure vocals blaze the trail." Stephen Thompson of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...

 called Robinson's vocal performance on "HorseHead" "an inflection-for-inflection imitation of ... Billy Squier
Billy Squier
William Haislip "Billy" Squier is an American rock musician. Squier had a string of arena rock hits in the 1980s. He is best known for the song "The Stroke" on his 1981 album release Don't Say No...

"; elsewhere on the album Robinson's voice was compared to that of Rod Stewart. Stewart himself called the album "brilliant" and said it "absolutely knocked [him] out". Robinson's lyrics were alternately praised and panned. The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

's Caroline Sullivan called "Go Faster" an amalgam of the band's interests, "including drugs ... nubile wenchhood ... scrapes ... and touring". The Washington Post's Harrington, however, called Robinson "convincing when he sings [in 'Virtue and Vice'], 'I feel so alive today and that's all I want to say/ I hope it stays this way,' adding, 'If not, I'll be okay'".

Concert tours

The Black Crowes played a few shows in the eastern US in early January before the release of By Your Side, then spent the rest of the month promoting the album via television appearances in the US, Canada and Europe. A brief warm-up show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

, on February 10 preceded a two-month tour of North American theaters, called the Souled Out Tour, with Moke as the opening band. Every song from By Your Side was played at some point on this tour – "Go Faster", "Kickin' My Heart Around", "By Your Side" and "Virtue and Vice" were performed at most shows, but "Diamond Ring" was played only twice. A 1963 Fender Esquire
Fender Esquire
The Fender Esquire is a solid body electric guitar manufactured by Fender, and was the first guitar sold by Fender in 1950. Shortly after its introduction a two-pickup version named the Broadcaster was introduced while the single pickup version retained the Esquire name...

 guitar belonging to Rich was stolen from the backstage area at DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

, on February 16. The band's management waited six weeks before issuing a press release asking for its return, hoping the guitar would turn up in a local pawnshop. No update on the guitar was ever provided. After taking two weeks off, the band spent six weeks playing outdoor amphitheaters in the US on a co-headlining tour with Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...

; opening acts were Everlast
Everlast (musician)
Erik Francis Schrody , better known by his stage name Everlast, is a Grammy Award-winning American rapper and songwriter, known for his solo hit "What It's Like" and as the front-man for rap group House of Pain. He is also part of the hip-hop supergroup La Coka Nostra, which consists of members of...

 and Cree Summer
Cree Summer
Cree Summer Francks , best known as Cree Summer, is a Canadian actress, musician and voice actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as college student Winifred "Freddie" Brooks on the NBC sitcom A Different World...

.

Beginning in June, The Black Crowes toured Europe for six weeks, opening for Aerosmith in concert halls and at festivals. "Go Faster" and "Kickin' My Heart Around" remained staples of the band's 60- to 75-minute sets. Harsch required emergency surgery for a twisted intestine on June 24 and missed the band's next eight shows. (The crew continued to set up Harsch's keyboards and placed a human-sized inflatable green alien in his spot.) One of the shows Harsch missed was a charity concert in London at which The Black Crowes played a 45-minute set of Led Zeppelin songs and blues covers with Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...

. The band's last show in support of By Your Side was a one-off festival date in Niigata, Japan, on July 30.

Track listing

All songs written by Chris Robinson and Rich Robinson
Rich Robinson
Rich Robinson is an American musician and founding member of the rock and roll band The Black Crowes. Along with older brother Chris Robinson, Rich formed the band in 1984 while the two were in high school...

.

  1. "Go Faster" – 4:04
  2. "Kickin' My Heart Around" – 3:40
  3. "By Your Side
    By Your Side (The Black Crowes song)
    By Your Side is a Blues-rock song by American band The Black Crowes. Written and recorded in 1998, it is featured on their 1999 album of the same name.-Track listing:# "By Your Side" – 4:28# "Grows a Rose" – 3:16# "Peace Anyway" – 3:45...

    " – 4:28
  4. "HorseHead" – 4:02
  5. "Only a Fool
    Only a Fool (song)
    Only a Fool is a song by the Black Crowes released in 1998.-Track listing:...

    " – 3:43
  6. "Heavy" – 4:43
  7. "Welcome to the Goodtimes" – 4:00
  8. "Go Tell the Congregation" – 3:36
  9. "Diamond Ring" – 4:09
  10. "Then She Said My Name" – 3:43
  11. "Virtue and Vice" – 4:45


Australian bonus disc
  1. "It Must Be Over" – 4:49
  2. "You Don't Have to Go" – 4:24
  3. "Twice As Hard
    Twice As Hard
    "Twice As Hard" is a blues-influenced hard rock song by American southern rock band The Black Crowes. Featured on their debut album Shake Your Money Maker, the song was released as a single in 1990 and reached the 11th position in the Mainstream Rock charts....

    " (From VH1 Hard Rock Live) – 4:34
  4. "HorseHead" (Acoustic Version) – 4:12

Personnel

The Black Crowes
  • Chris Robinson – diva (vocals and harmonica
    Harmonica
    The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...

    )
  • Rich Robinson
    Rich Robinson
    Rich Robinson is an American musician and founding member of the rock and roll band The Black Crowes. Along with older brother Chris Robinson, Rich formed the band in 1984 while the two were in high school...

     – the prince (guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

    )
  • Steve Gorman
    Steve Gorman
    Steve Gorman is a musician best known as the drummer of the American hard rock band The Black Crowes. He also spent some time as the drummer for British rock band Stereophonics.- Early career :...

     – drum schtick (drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

    )
  • Eddie Harsch
    Eddie Harsch
    Eddie Harsch is a Canadian-American keyboardist and current member of Detroit-based jam band Bulldog. Previously, he was The Black Crowes' keyboardist from 1991 to 2006. Harsch first joined Bulldog during The Black Crowes' hiatus, which lasted from early 2002 to early 2005...

     – thirty-nine? (keyboards
    Keyboard instrument
    A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

    )
  • Sven Pipien
    Sven Pipien
    Sven Pipien is a musician best known as the bassist of the hard rock band The Black Crowes. He had previously played bass with Atlanta-based Mary My Hope, who released one album on Silvertone Records....

     – very bass (bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    )


Additional personnel
  • Dirty Dozen Brass Band
    Dirty Dozen Brass Band
    The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a New Orleans, Louisiana, brass band. The ensemble was established in 1977 by Benny Jones together with members of the Tornado Brass Band...

     – horns
    Horn section
    In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...

  • Zoe Thrall – flute
    Flute
    The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

  • Curtis King, Cindy Mizelle, Tawatha Agee, Brenda White King, Vanees Thomas – background vocals
  • David Campbell – arranger


Production
  • Kevin Shirley
    Kevin Shirley
    Kevin Shirley is a music producer and mixer for many artists, such as the bands Journey, Iron Maiden, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Joe Bonamassa, Marya Roxx, Dream Theater, Tyler Bryant, Mr. Big, and Europe.-Biography:...

     – producer, engineer, mixing
  • Rich Alvy – engineer
  • Pat Thrall
    Pat Thrall
    Pat Thrall is an American rock guitarist. Thrall is a native of the San Francisco area, and began his recording career in 1972. He played guiatar,vocals and percussion with the group Cookin Mama album: new day , that also had this brother Preston Thrall on percussion.Thrall has worked with former...

     – editing
  • George Marino – mastering
  • Leon Zervos – mastering
  • Pete Angelus – personal manager
  • Leslie Langlo – A&R
    A&R
    Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...

  • John Kalodner
    John Kalodner
    John David Kalodner is a retired American A&R executive. His achievements included signing Foreigner, AC/DC, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins to Atlantic Records in the seventies....

     – John Kalodner
  • John Cheuse – art direction, design
  • Josef Astor – photography
  • Will Kennedy – digital imaging

Album

Chart (1999) Peak
position
US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

26
Australia ARIA Album Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

40
Austria Album Chart 47
Belgium Album Chart 18
Canada RPM
RPM (magazine)
RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...

 Top 100 CDs
10
Finland Album Chart 21
France Album Chart 71
Germany Album Chart 28
Netherlands Album Chart 46
Norway Album Chart 23
Sweden Album Chart 11
UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

34

Singles

Year Single Chart Peak
position
1998 "Kickin' My Heart Around" US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 3
1998 "Kickin' My Heart Around" Canada RPM 100 Hit Tracks 12
1998 "Kickin' My Heart Around" UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

55
1999 "Only a Fool
Only a Fool (song)
Only a Fool is a song by the Black Crowes released in 1998.-Track listing:...

"
US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 7
1999 "Only a Fool" Canada RPM 100 Hit Tracks 25
1999 "Only a Fool" Canada RPM Rock Report 3
1999 "Go Faster" US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 24
1999 "Go Faster" Canada RPM Rock Report 6
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