AFTER bursting onto the rock scene so forcefully with '90s Shake Your Moneymaker Atlanta's Black Crowes had nowhere to go but down.
 
 But a descent from Top 40 heaven is not necessarily a death knell to a band with the cojones to stick it out through decreasing record sales, a label defection, lawsuits and what the band calls "a tumultuous time that included drugs, divorce, departures and a general descent into madness." How rock 'n' roll.
 
 The core trio of brothers Chris and Rich Robinson and drummer Steve Gorman have endured and their sound has remained essentially the same through their five albums -- take blues-based '70s-style hard rock, add more catchy riffs, soak in alcohol and smoke.
 
 I guess it says something about the state of rock that a band so heavily based on 20-year-old influences like the Rolling Stones and the Faces sounds refreshing.
 
 Aside from improved musicianship and even more rasp to Chris' high-pitched yet throaty vocals, the Crowes are pretty much shaking the same moneymaker they showed us at the decade's start.
 
 Nevertheless, tracks like Kickin' My Heart Around, Heavy and Virtue and Vice are so filled with grooves, hooks and riffs that they risk bursting.
 
 And while there may not be any classic songs in this "classic rock" collection, I can't think of any album more fun to drink and drive to.
 
 I mean that metaphorically, of course.