Two bands making comebacks have each released these ridiculous good singles in 2024
By Lee Vowell
Even long-time fans of older bands need new music to keep fueling their love of the group, right? It's the band's fault. Their excellence forced us to like them in the first place.
Thankfully, fans of the Black Crowes and the Decemberists both have new music in which to listen. The songs sound completely different. That is what we would expect, however.
How good is the new music? Are you still going to be a fan of the groups? Likely.
The Black Crowes release first true single single 2009
"Wanting and Waiting" is the first song released from the band's new album, Happiness Bastards, which will be released on March 15. The new single is what you should expect from the band after over 30 years of making music. Sort of. The last time we got a proper single from the Black Crowes was in 2009. They did release two songs in 2021 as part of the 30th anniversary of their debut record, Shake Your Money Maker, but "Wanting and Waiting" is new music from a new record.
The amazing part is that even though brothers Chris and Rich Robinson spent years not speaking to each other they never lost their ability to write fantastic music. They reconciled in 2019 and the world is better for it. So much so that the band still tours and has not given us a new full-length album.
If "Wanting and Waiting" is any indication of how the rest of the record will sound, we should all be happy. The single has the kind of big chorus and big riffs that we learned the band could do with ease. And yes, that is a very good thing.
The Decemberists put out first new single since 2018
The Decemberists are a completely different band sonically, of course. Instead of big guitars and dripping with the R&B-influenced southern rock such as the Black Crowes, the Decemberists instead lean more toward folk (though they can rock out when they want). Maybe they will never touch the greatness of the album, The King is Dead, but they have never truly disappointed on any full-length record.
The band has not put out an album since 2018's I'll Be Your Girl, and their previous single was "Sucker's Prayer" from that album. That is until now, of course. While the band announced a 2024 tour, they have not announced a new album. Instead, they have released the single, "Burial Ground."
The folkiness of their normal sound has given way to something akin to early 1960s Beach Boys. The melody at times even is strikingly familiar to "Sloop John B (I Wanna Go Home" only with Colin Meloy's usual ridiculous great lyrics. Worth listening to? Definitely, and this is especially true if you are a fan of Belle and Sebastian.