Counting Crows
"Mr. Jones" was one of those great Rock songs that show up every now and then. A song that has the one-two punch of driving Rock and potent lyrics. Lead singer Adam Duritz's line about staring at the TV and have his image staring back was both clever and startling. Influenced by the Band and Van Morrison, Duritz and rhythm guitarist David Bryson began as duo. After a failed recording project Dan Vickrey (lead guitar), Charlie Gillingham (keyboards), Matt Malley (bass) and Steve Bowman (drums) were added.
The band hit the northern California club circuit and recorded a demo of Duritz written songs that found its way to DGC Records. Signed by the label, "August and Everything After" containing "Mr. Jones" was the debut. The set also included the mournful "Round Here" and "Rain King." The band seemed to be on everyone's awards list and they walked away with several honors from the usual self-congratulatory sources (Grammy Awards, MTV, etc.). But success brought its own troubles. First, Bowman departed, replaced by Ben Mize, and Duritz suffered a nervous breakdown (reportedly not his first).
In '96, "Recovering The Satellites" shot to the top of the album charts. The haunting "Long December" was the outstanding track. It also claimed an MTV Video award. Counting Crows toured heavily through '97 with the Wallflowers as the opening act. Yet they found time to record a VH1 Storytellers show. The performance made up half of the double CD "Across The Wire-Live In New York. The other CD was recorded at The Ten Spot club. Counting Crows also contributed a song ("Colorblind") to the Cruel Intentions soundtrack.
Though they added guitarist/multi-instrumentalist David Immergluck, '99 release "This Desert Life" failed to generate much excitement which may have led to the group to consider broadening its audience.
After a Pepsi commercial (a walk on the beach where they looked genuinely uncomfortable invading Britney Spears' turf) the Counting Crows released "Hard Candy." Maybe they should have named it "Liquid Candy."
The "Hard Candy" tour saw the departure of Mize who left to log some family time and work on projects of greater interest. Jim Bogios, a veteran of Ben Folds Five ("Brick") and Sheryl Crow's band (seems Crows show up in Jim's life), took over.
The Crows landed a soundtrack credit when "Accidentally In Love" appeared in the animated Shrek 2. It even earned an Oscar nomination (good, but not real good, since movie songs are usually horrible). It lost to "Al Otro Lado Del Rio" from The Motorcycle Dairies.
With the completion of the "Hard Candy" tour Malley bailed. Another Ben Folds Five alum, Millard Powers filled in. '06's "New Amsterdam: Live At Heineken Music Hall" culled performances from the "Hard Candy" tour.
With producer Gil Norton ("Recovering The Satellites") the Counting Crows recorded "Saturday Nights And Sunday Mornings." "Saturday night is when you sin and Sunday is when you regret," observed Duritz. "Sinning is often done very loudly, angrily, bitterly, violently." The group released a free downloadable digital EP on their web-site in advance of the album's release.
Containing the lead single "You Can't Count On Me," "Saturday Nights And Sunday Mornings" arrived in March, '08.
The Counting Crows' "Mr. Jones," with a character based loosely on Bob Dylan's "Ballad Of A Thin Man," the melancholy "Round Here" and "Rain King" are on "August And Everything After." The follow up, "Recovering The Satellites," is another excellent album with the uptempo "Daylight Fading" and two exceptional slow songs (they're not really ballads) "Angels Of The Silences" and "Long December."
"Across A Wire-Live In New York City" is a strong live set covering their best known songs and album tracks. "This Desert Life" has its moments but comes off as a nondescript effort. Guess you can't win 'em all.
'02 release "Hard Candy" gets off to a strong start with the title track and the irrepressible "American Girls" but soon gets bogged down in wayward ballads. The percussive "New Frontier" picks things up again. The best ballad, "Why Should You Come When I Call," which despite the simplistic rhymes ("Why should you come when I call, I never say nothing at all") at least has some drama and emotion to it. The album sits better than other Crow's efforts but it doesn't rival their top-drawer work.
As any serious party animal knows, how bad you feel Sunday morning is inversely (or perversely) proportional to how great you felt Saturday night. That hellish feeling that lands Sunday morning often elicits the 'never again' vow. But it doesn't last because the pain (and regret) of Sunday fades while the memories of Saturday remain intact.
News that the Counting Crows were taking on the Saturday night/Sunday morning dichotomy sounded interesting. A blistering set of unleashed tracks followed by more contemplative songs. Well, on "Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings" they at least got the Sunday part right.
The set opens on a promising note with the raucous "1492." From there though, things mellow out significantly. Still, the acoustic Rocker "Sundays," the ramblin' twang of "Los Angeles" and the urgent "Cowboys" score. "Insignificant" wants to soar but stays grounded while the slower "You Can't Count On Me" (from the "Sunday" set) actually does.
"Sunday" gets a respectable treatment as the Crows lean on Country motifs. Then, possibly saving the best for last (perhaps signifying the passing of a hangover and a desire to do it all again) "Come Around" snaps the lethargy and ends the set on an uptempo note.