the black crowes

The Black Crowes have always worn their influences on their sleeve, satisfied to echo the heavy roots rock of the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

Their newest release, Warpaint-the band's first studio album in seven years-has all the hallmarks of a rock album from the early 1970s: raspy vocals reminiscent of Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger courtesy of Chris Robinson, big distorted guitars by Rich Robinson and North Mississippi all-star Luther Dickinson, hammond organs, pedal steel and songs drawing from blues, soul, country, gospel and folk.

Dedicated reenactors that they are, though, they bypass none of the embarrassing cliches of the era either. We have songs about going off the tracks ("Wounded Bird"), corny innuendo ("Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution"), love-as-drugs metaphors ("Oh Josephine"), mawkish minstrelry passing for gospel ("Walk Believer Walk") and, of course, a folk-mandolin ballad ("Locust Street"). All aesthetic quibbling aside, these ingredients never amount to much more than a generic period piece.

With all the attention paid to emulation, the Black Crowes have neglected their song-writing. Fluent in all the tropes of the genre, the Robinson brothers produce pleasant enough songs, albeit along with the odd groaner.

In fact the only standout song on the album is the rootsy, barebones "God's Got It," a smoldering gospel stomp, direct and succinct, and the only song under four minutes on the album. Tellingly, they didn't write it. Warpaint stands as bland, inoffensive, if sometimes embarrassing, tribute to a bygone era. It's only success is perhaps the ease with which it fits seamlessly between the Faces, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin records on your iPod.