Since 1993's chart-topper August and Everything After, Counting Crows' musical roots have been stuck deep in rock's past; they sounded out of time at the height of grunge and "alternative" rock. Not surprisingly, they still do. Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings is a concept offering divided into halves by title with two producers: Gil Norton on Saturday Nights and Brian Deck on Sunday Mornings. Frontman and chief songwriter Adam Duritz channels his characters on their lone   [ read more ]

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Like any band that could conceivably be called alternative in the '90s, Counting Crows released a lot of multi-part singles loaded up with non-LP B-sides and had songs given away on compilations and soundtracks, but they truly jumped into that game after their 1994 debut, August and Everything After. After recording that first album, they didn't have much left in the vault, so the singles contained live versions and acoustic versions of songs from the album. The only major non-LP song was {&"Einstein    [ read more ]

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Why is it the opening notes on "Rain King" from the Counting Crows' New Amsterdam: Live at Heineken Music Hall sound so elegiac, so utterly lost and sad? When this song was first released on August and Everything After, it sounded like an anthem. Here Adam Duritz sounds tired, lost, and perhaps even afraid, and he lets it be known in the grain of his voice that that's exactly what was going on. While the band roars to life on "Richard Manuel Is Dead," Duritz lets out the words "I've bee   [ read more ]

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Counting Crows always seemed a little older than their years, so it somehow seemed appropriate when they arrived at certain milestones a little earlier than their peers. They released their first live album, an exhaustive double-disc set, just two albums into their career, then, two albums later, they issued Films About Ghosts: The Best Of..., their first compilation. Part of the reason they're issuing a compilation after just four studio albums may be that they've arrived at the end of their recordin   [ read more ]

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Hard Candy is the sound of a band at a creative and poetic summit. Over three previous studio recordings, Counting Crows have moved through varied musical territories as a way of conveying emotion through performance, texture, and nuance, the place where the mood-meets the heart-meets the mind. Hard Candy is both a radical departure from the band's previous method of recording, and contextually, an affirmation of what sets them apart from virtually every other band on the rock & roll scene: thei   [ read more ]

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Hard Candy is the sound of a band at a creative and poetic summit. Over three previous studio recordings, the Counting Crows have moved through varied musical territories as a way of conveying emotion through performance, texture, and nuance; the place where the mood meets the heart meets the mind. Hard Candy is both a radical departure from the band's previous method of recording, and, contextually, an affirmation of what sets them apart from virtually every other band on the rock and roll scen   [ read more ]

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It's likely that critics and listeners will consider Counting Crows' long-delayed third album, This Desert Life, another retro effort by a traditionalist band, but it's actually their most individual and finest album yet. All the familiar elements are in place, from Adam Duritz's impassioned vocals and cryptic lyrics to the jangling instrumentation, but the laments gel better than ever before. Part of it undoubtedly has to do with David Lowery and Dennis Herring's organic production, which ke   [ read more ]

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It certainly says something about the state of the music industry in the '90s when it has become a common occurrence for bands to release live albums after only two albums of original material. On one hand, it's indicative of how the labels have to fight the proliferation of high-quality live CD bootlegs. On the other, it illustrates that the labels have a difficult time receiving new product from their major bands. And that makes the Counting Crows' double-disc set Across a Wire: Live in New York bot   [ read more ]

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For their second album, Recovering the Satellites, Counting Crows crafted a self-consciously challenging response to their unexpected success. Throughout the record, Adam Duritz contemplates his loss of privacy and sudden change of fortunes, among other angst-ridden subjects. In one sense, it's no different from the subjects that dominated August and Everything After, yet his outlook is lacking the muted joy that made "Mr. Jones" into a hit. Similarly, the music is slightly more somber, yet t   [ read more ]

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When the prevailing guitar jingle of "Mr. Jones" cascaded over radio in the early '90s, it was a sure sign that the Counting Crows were a musical force to be reckoned with. Their debut album, August and Everything After, burst at the seams with both dominant pop harmonies and rich, hearty ballads, all thanks to lead singer Adam Duritz. The lone guitar work of "Mr. Jones" coupled with the sweet, in-front pull of Duritz's voice kicked off the album in full force. The starkly beautiful    [ read more ]

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