Last years' Warpaint was the first Black Crowes record in over seven years, so the fact that the Robinson brothers have another new album in the can comes as quite a surprise. The even bigger surprise is how it was made and how it's being marketed. Recorded entirely if front of a live audience, The Black Crowes crafted Before the Frost… at The Barn, Levon Helm's Woodstock New York venue that has become almost a kind of safe haven for kindred Rock spirits to play at whenever it suits them. What's even cooler about Before the Frost… is that when you purchase the eleven tracks here, it comes with a free digital download of …Until the Freeze, a nine track album that makes the whole of these sessions a double album worth of new material. But since I only have these eleven tracks at my disposal right at this very second, I'll just tackle this first half for this review.

If nothing else, you have to compliment the Robinson brothers for such an ingenious thought process. The fact that you could coerce anyone into actually buying an album to get an album for free is a hell of a deal. And the idea of recording an entire album of new material in front of an audience is a gutsy move that only a couple of veterans like Chris and Rich could even attempt to pull off. Sometimes it really works, like on the all out rocker of an opener "Good Morning Captain" and its follow up "Been a Long Time (Waiting on Love)." The live setting really enhances the quiet intimacy of the album closer "Last Place That Love Lives" as well. But some of the time on Before the Frost…, the songs just don't feel properly fleshed out. On close to half of the album, you sense that the Robinsons are almost making it up as they go along and sometimes it works, but a lot of the time it just gets tedious. The lyrics feel especially rushed, some of the lines that Chris sings just seem incredibly off the cuff. But like I said, you have to at least applaud the Robinsons' on going with the flow and coming up with a good reason for people to look into this album. I can tell you right now, I can't wait until I can download the second half of this album to see what treasures will be unearthed next.