By You Side was, supposedly, a return to form for my beloved Black Crowes. It was, supposedly, the best the band had created since their 1990 debut, Shake Your Money Maker. It was supposed to be a hard-rockin’, classic southern rock and roll experience. But, alas, my opinions always differ from those of other critics.

BYS was the first Black Crowes album I bought. BestBuy was selling all CDs for $10 (however, I was too stupid to buy more than one), and I bought BYS, based on the strength of the only two songs I had heard from it: “Go Faster” and “Kicking My Heart Around”. Both songs were intense, fast-paced, keep-rocking-like-there’s-no-tomorrow-nevermind-if-there’s-no-real-point-or-soul songs. From reviews of the album, I was led to believe that the rest of the album was similar. “Led to believe” being the key phrase.

The title track, the third track on the album, is a semi-ballad song that has only recently grown on me. Its growth occurred only be because of circumstance after what happened on September 11, and their semi-acoustic (i.e. vocals, electric guitar, backing vocals, but no drums, base or second guitar) performance of this song on Conan O’Brian. I still prefer the Conan version over the studio. Chris (Robinson, lead singer) sings with more soul in that version, but the chorus has a completely different context to it. “When you feel your heart is breakin’/and all your friends are fakin’/when it’s givin’ and you’re takin’/I will be by your side”.

“Horsehead” is another great track on this album, but this is one I’ve always loved. It is easily the most indirect and interpretation-open song on the album, allowing for multiple listens. Led Zeppelin’s influence on the Crowes is very self evident here, especially in the guitars (which might be part of the reason while Jimmy Page declared this song as his favorite Crowes song).

“Only a Fool” and “Heavy” are the two biggest missteps on the disc, and in the Crowes’ career. “Only a Fool” suffers from over production. Too many backing vocals, too many horns and whistles, and too little memorable performances from the band weaken the track until it is just a pain to listen to. “Heavy” sounds like a drastic improvement over “Only a Fool”; the music is composed very well. However, all goes to hell as Chris sings. The second half of each verse has a rhyming scheme that grates on one’s nerves. “They way you put on your clothes/the way you wiggle your toes/the way you scratch your nose/when you watch it grow” sings Robinson, who was either too drugged or too sober upon recording to realize that the lyrics to this song are utter crap.

“Welcome to the Good Times” picks things up again, slightly. The closest thing the album has to a ballad, the subtle and soft (in comparison to every song present), “Welcome” brings a less joyful and more “trying to cheer a depressed person up” mood. The change in pace is welcome, especially after the two blunders that preceded it.

“Go Tell the Congregation” returns to the rock-yer-balls-out attitude of the first two songs. While not as effective as “Kickin’” nor catchy as “Go Faster”, the song is still effective in rocking hard. Steve Gorman (drummer) has a very good way with beats, and it shows on this song.

“Diamond Ring” and “Then She Said My Name” are both love songs borrowing from the cheesiness of “Heavy”. However, these two songs do it better. I’m a sucker for love songs, as long as they don’t rhyme “wiggling toes” with “yellow”, and (elsewhere in “Heavy”) “snow”. While neither are, have been or ever will be my favorite Crowes songs, they are adequate works that fit into the context of the album.

Finally, the Crowes end the disc with a bang. “Virtue and Vice” is the most perfect song on the album. It ranks with the Crowes’ best songs, closing this uneven album on the best note possible.

Overall, By Your Side is an uneven album that seems to have been intended to appeal to the masses and help the Crowes’ dwindling record sales (which dwindle to this day!). It failed, and the band had a scar on the skin of their career. The Crowes would not release anything new, nor would they make music headlines, until two years later, in 2000 when they toured with Jimmy Page. That’s right, it took Jimmy F’N Page to dig them out of the rut they had dug for themselves.