By Your Side

On their fifth CD, the Black Crowes straighten up and fly right, replacing the tuneless twaddle of their last two albums with the sort of solid, down-and-dirty ditties they built their rep on. While originality has never been their strong suit — the title track of By Your Side is essentially a sideways rewrite of the Rolling Stones’ ”Tumbling Dice” — this collection still manages to radiate enough wild-eyed, amped-up brio to renew one’s faith in the restorative powers of good ole Southern-fried rock &amp roll. B+