The advent of this collection was brought about by the Crowes' brief reunion time period in '05/06 with the lineup configuration of the Brothers Robinson, Ed Harsh, Marc Ford, Sven Pipien and Steve Gorman. This two disc collection contains two different eras of the 92-97 lineup in "Tall"(what later became Amorica) and the unreleased BAND sessions(an album that was rejected by American Recordings). I was able to locate bootleg copies of these two releases in a much different form than what was eventually released, and although, one could say, these recordings have been "cleaned up" for proper distribution of product, the Tall disc holds water much more so in authenticity as opposed to its second counterpart in "BAND".

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The Tall portion offered, has alternate/early takes of songs that wound up on Amorica, such as, A Conspiracy, Cursed Diamond, High Head Blues, NonFiction, Wiser Time and Descending respectively. Tracks that have seen proper release featured are Dirty Hair Halo, Feathers, Thunderstorm 6:54, Tornado, Tied Up and Swallowed and Lowdown(an early version of Amorica's Ballad in Urgency). Performance wise, the Crowes were at an early peak within the confines of the tracks presented and the songwriting quality and overall ensemble performance is almost telepathic and quite methodical. Paul Stacey(New Earth Mud guitarist) oversaw this project and it seems that any "touching up" of tracks were kept to a bare minimum within the Tall portion. BAND, its second disc, however, suffers from overdub overkill in comparison to the bootleg version of the material and unfortunately, stifles some of the music offered and dilutes its simplistic rawness and feel of spontaneity.

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The sequence of BAND is very good, however, within the song flow, and there are a few tracks such as Grinnin(originally titled Ok By Me) and Never Forget This Song( a reworking of Bitter, Bitter You from the Tall sessions), that had appeared in various forms within their live shows of the time period. There's some good hard rock Crowes songs offered such as Another Roadside Tragedy, Paint an 8, If It Ever Stops Raining(which became the song, By Your Side) and Predictable, nonetheless. Some softer numbers like Wyoming and Me are tarnished with the addition of overdubbed horns, and Lifevest is arranged differently within the chorus pattern and it seems this track was another culprit of studio trickery when compared to the bare bones bootleg copy. Perhaps I'm jaded by the bootleg copies that I religiously played once I obtained them and it's hard for me to truly give this posthumous collection a better formed opinion. I think for newer fans of the band, it's nice to have this collection as far as "lost" songs within the group's prodigious repertoire are concerned, but for those whom haven't obtained the bootleg copies, I highly suggest you to do so, and you can make up your decisions on whether or not this release is of any redeeming value. It's good but could have been better. 

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Rating Grade- B-