At first glance, Counting Crows is a classic pop band with rootsy instrumentation — their three-guitar/bass/drums/organ lineup is at times augmented by mandolin, accordion, pedal steel, sitar and piano — and jam band inclinations that suggest anything but a pop band. Dig a little below the surface and you discover a band driven by the imagination of singer Adam Duritz, whose tortured musings are frequently buoyed by the band's spirited arrangements, often making Counting Crows' songs both gloomy and uplifting.
Counting Crows started as an acoustic duo — featuring pianist Duritz and guitarist Dave Bryson — in the East San Francisco Bay area in the early 1990s. Soon they'd filled out the lineup and named themselves after a divination rhyme that Duritz heard in one of the early movies of his onetime-girlfriend Mary-Louise Parker. The rhyme comes up in the lines of "A Murder Of One" on their career-making debut, August And Everything After.
"Mr. Jones" and "Round Here" made Counting Crows near-instant stars when August was released in 1993, and four albums and several hits later ("Big Yellow Taxi," "Hanginaround," "A Long December") Counting Crows is still one of America's most consistent bands.
After their 2002 album Hard Candy, Counting Crows took a six-year recording hiatus during which they toured the States a couple of times, picked up Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for "Accidentally In Love" (from the Shrek 2 soundtrack), and released a greatest hits package and their second live album. Duritz took time to contribute to the mockumentary Farce Of The Penguins and launch his second indie record label. The group returned in the spring of 2008 with Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, which is divided into a harder-rocking half (Saturday Nights) and a quieter, more acoustic half (Sunday Mornings).
Provenance: Berkeley, California
Latest release: Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (2008)
© 2008 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Counting Crows
