By Ben Golden
An often-overlooked band of the past decade, Counting Crows has been releasing quality music since forming in 1991 and gained initial success with the release of “August and Everything After.” Since then, they have released five studio albums along with a few live cuts. The band is perhaps best known for their feel-good hits “Mr. Jones” and “Accidentally in Love,” the latter of which was featured in the “Shrek” movies. On their first release in six years, “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings,” the Crows mix things up in this two-themed disc.
For the first half of the disc, the songs are up-tempo and sinful, representing the Saturday Nights portion. The remaining half of the disc is a slower, acoustic set but has just as much to offer.
The opening song is the toe-tapping “1492,” a brilliant tune about the melting pot of cultures in America. The opening lyrics of the CD have Adam Duritz singing: “I’m a Russian-Jew American/impersonating African-Jamaican/what I want to be is an Indian/I’m gonna be a cowboy in the end I guess.”
Talented frontman Duritz crafts these new songs with his usual lyrical prowess. The difference on this album, at least in the opening track, seems to be the increased use of electric guitars. They have a sort of Pearl Jam sound to them, which only serves to enhance them overall.
Another standout track is the catchy “Sundays,” which rolls along to a bare-roots rhythm similar to that of hit “Accidentally in Love.”
The Saturday Nights portion of the CD ends with a bang on the song “Cowboys,” with Duritz admitting “Here is a list of the things I should have been but I’m not.”
While the songs are new, there are pieces from every previous album worked into different tracks on this new one. The Sunday Mornings portion is a familiar return to the sound that many avid Counting Crows fans fell in love with.
Duritz, often criticized for his sensitivity, opens up once again to fans, especially in standout tracks “When I Dream of Michelangelo” and “You Can’t Count on Me.” According to him, the basis for this album is about finding beauty in ordinary things.
Overall, this album is simply another layer of an already accomplished body of work the band has produced in their many years together. Touring this summer with Maroon 5, it’s clear the Crows refuse to be swept under the rug as just another ’90s band.
counting crows (myspace.com (Danny Clinch)