Shake Your Money Maker (album)

Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson had formed Mr. Crowe's Garden in 1984.^[12] 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.^[13]

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^[14] with lyrics written by Chris, which were inspired by a heroin-addicted girl he "kinda knew" in Atlanta.^[15] The band also chose to record a cover version of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle", which would prove to be their breakthrough single.^[16]

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,^[17] and subsequently aired on MTV.

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[18]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[19]
Kerrang!	5/5[20]
Melody Maker	[21]
Mojo	[22]
NME	4/10[23]
Q	[24]
Record Collector	[25]
Rolling Stone	[26]
Uncut	9/10[27]

Close

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,^[26] whose readers and critics later voted the Black Crowes "Best New American Band" at the end of 1990;^[28] 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.^[29] 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."^[19] 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."^[30] Retrospectively, AllMusic critic Steve Huey praised Rich Robinson's guitar playing and Chris Robinson's "appropriate vocal swagger".^[18]

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) ^[33]
• 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