POP MUSIC REVIEW : Empty Nest : Black Crowes Show Little Vision at Greek

The Black Crowes are a band with a million-dollar sound and a buck-fifty imagination.

Mixing the sassy, mid-’70s blues-rock of the Rolling Stones with the party-minded flair of the Faces, the Crowes are the kind of group that would probably come across just fine when heard casually across a crowded barroom floor.

But put them on stage at the Greek Theatre, where you had nothing to vie for your attention Tuesday night except the stars above, and you see how empty the group’s music--and vision--is.

When the Atlanta-based unit’s debut album was released in 1990, the Crowes looked like a band that could soar. That’s because those seductive Stones/Faces musical blueprints still produce a rich, accessible sound--one that is hard to find on today’s rock scene.

The catchiest songs on the first album--such as “Jealous Again”--spoke about universal feelings with a trace of melodic flair, and one of the songs--the melancholy “She Talks to Angels”--even seemed to express genuine emotions.

But this year’s follow-up album, “The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion,” failed to build upon the promise except for the song “Remedy”--and that failure all but grounded the Crowes musically on Tuesday at the Greek, despite the enthusiasm of a capacity crowd.

Lead singer Chris Robinson, now sporting a beard that makes him look like an undernourished Pete Townshend, or maybe R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, continues to shuffle and strut his way across the stage in Mick Jagger-like fashion, but there is little sense of dynamics or command. In fact, he seems awfully close to a Spinal Tap parody when he spins around as if caught under the spell of the music.

At the same time, Robinson is a strikingly one-dimensional singer who can’t quite bring his world-weary tales alive--not just when measured against models like mid-’70s edition Jagger or Rod Stewart, but also when pitted against a ‘90s rival like Axl Rose, whose blues-rock exercises with Guns N’ Roses are infinitely more affecting.

The good news is that Robinson appears to be loosening up--a welcome sign after seeming to be so taken by his group’s success that he was in danger last year of becoming the most obnoxious man in rock.

Robinson even made some playful asides to the audience, including a good-natured challenge to some people who were seated in the front rows to change seats with some of the standing, cheering fans in back. He’d probably make a lively guest on the Howard Stern show.

On the downside again, his brother Rich Robinson’s guitar ambitions seem to have evaporated. When the Crowes played the Greek last year, he demonstrated a sensitivity and character in a version of the Allman Brothers’ “Dreams” that suggested he could lead the band to a higher level. But there was little evidence of soulful or more original elements in his playing or in that of new guitar sidekick Marc Ford.

Opening Tuesday’s concert were the Jayhawks, a Minneapolis-based group that was probably as much influenced by the classic country-rock sound of the Flying Burrito Brothers as the Crowes were by their heroes.

But the Jayhawks’ best songs, tales of wistful longing written by singer-guitarists Mark Olson and Gary Louris, do enable the group to exhibit some imagination and heart on record. At the Greek, however, the material proved uneven and the group’s colorless manner showed the need for more passion and pulse.

The Black Crowes also play Friday at the Greek Theatre and Sunday at the Santa Barbara Bowl.