Hey, whattaya know? COUNTING CROWS are still a band! Who knew?And the better question: Does anyone still care? After all, it's been six years since their last album (the if-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest-obscure HARD CANDY), and 15 years since AUGUST AND EVERYTHING AFTER blew up bigger-than-big (and left contemporaries like GIN BLOSSOMS and TOAD THE WET SPROCKET choking on their dust).
The new long-player, SATURDAY NIGHTS & SUNDAY MORNINGS, is out today. I don't hear a breakout single on there ("1492" rocks hard but in vain), so it's hard to imagine this effort serving as catalyst for a comeback. Stranger things have happened, I suppose (for example: People keep buying that damn JACK JOHNSON record. Ugh.)
COUNTING CROWS on MySPACE.
From the LP SATURDAY NIGHTS & SUNDAY MORNINGS, 2008 >>>
[MP3] "Cowboys"
[MP3] "Come Around"
From the LP HARD CANDY, 2002 >>>
[MP3] "Miami"
[MP3] "American Girls"
From the LP THIS DESERT LIFE, 1999 >>>
[MP3] "Hanginaround"
[MP3] "All My Friends"
From the LP RECOVERING THE SATELLITES, 1996 >>>
[MP3] "A Long December"
[MP3] "Angels of the Silences"
From the LP AUGUST AND EVERYTHING AFTER, 1993 >>>
[MP3] "Round Here"
[MP3] "Mr. Jones"
BONUS TRACK >>>
[MP3] "Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman)"
I don't think they care to have an actual "comeback". They seem quite comfortable and happy where they are right now. I've seen them over the past couple of years and they seem to have morphed into kind of a jam-band (in the best sense of the sometimes pejorative word). The musicians are all top-notch and they seem to never play a song the same way twice. Which is annoying to people that want to hear the songs the way they are on the radio, but it can be a real revelation sometimes when they go off the reservation.
ReplyDeleteCounting Crows and REM both really shine in concert and, although it'll never be 1992 again for either one of them, I am looking forward to getting both of their new disks. Same for The Black Crowes. Nice couple of weeks for new releases!
the first 6 songs on the new album really surprised me. there's energy!! there's emotion!! that was really refreshing after 2 shiny & overproduced efforts (plus a lot of filler releases on soundtracks, greatest hits, live album, etc). after the first 6 though, the album just peters out....'sunday mornings'...ok, i get it. but it feels like such a drag after the rockin' songs.
ReplyDeleteI never remember them saying they were quiting. You know I can see now I am at 33 years old. If I was in a band for the last even ten years I would like an extended time off to be with my family or just clear my head. I mean I work every day and come home and still have vacation. I could not imagine touring for those long periods.The new CD is great. If they play the same old radio frindly song over and over they would already be gone not by choice but by changing times. They are a very musicly complex band and it shows. I think its great.
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