Monthly Archives: August 2009

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Song of the Day #379: ‘When I Dream of Michelangelo’ – Counting Crows

satnightsThe 6-year gap between Hard Candy and Counting Crows’ next album, Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings, was the longest yet. And unfortunately the new material wasn’t quite worth the wait. Conceived as a split between hard songs (the Saturday nights) and soft (the Sunday mornings), the album wound up a bit too extreme on both sides of the spectrum.

Each half contains some strong material but each also contains songs simply not worthy of the band’s name. Opening track ‘1492’ is the one song in the Counting Crows’ catalog that borders on unlistenable… a blistering hard-rock tear that doesn’t relent for four minutes. The other five songs that make up the album’s first half are better but not better than average by Counting Crows standards.

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Song of the Day #378: ‘Up All Night (Frankie Miller Goes to Hollywood)’ – Counting Crows

hardcandyAs much as I love August and Everything After and This Desert Life, if I had to choose I would name Hard Candy Counting Crows’ best album. One reason is that, like those albums, it does so many things right but, unlike them, it manages to do absolutely nothing wrong. I don’t hear a false note on Hard Candy.

The biggest hit off this album is oddly enough a hidden track, and one the band didn’t even write. A cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ tucked away after a few minutes of silence at the end of the album wound up on a movie soundtrack and the Billboard charts. I heard Mitchell’s original the other day and was reminded of how much I like what the Crows did with it. Hers, not so much.

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Song of the Day #377: ‘I Wish I Was a Girl’ – Counting Crows

desertlifeIf Recovering the Satellites was a slight misstep, Counting Crows’ third album (1999’s This Desert Life) was a powerful return to form. The album marked an evolution for the band, particularly musically… there’s a richness and depth in these songs that stands out even compared to their great early work.

Kicking off with the feel-good party anthem ‘Hanginaround,’ This Desert Life makes quite the first impression. I’ve noticed that kids tend to like ‘Hanginaround’ (at least kids in my family) and I think that speaks well of its construction.

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Song of the Day #376: ‘Monkey’ – Counting Crows

satellitesCounting Crows’ second album, 1996’s Recovering the Satellites, was a bit of a letdown from August and Everything After, but I’ve grown to appreciate it over the years. Initially it felt a little too hard and a little too all over the place.

And I’ll admit, the extended coda of the otherwise excellent song ‘Miller’s Angels’ annoyed me so much that it turned me off the whole album for awhile. Duritz occasionally suffers from that Sting syndrome of not wanting to let songs end. And he can be a bit too in love with his own voice sometimes, noodling around with a phrase until you’re ready to smack him.

But that complaint aside, Recovering the Satellites emerges as a solid effort that avoids the fabled sophomore slump.

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(500) Days of Summer

500days(500) Days of Summer is a movie custom made for people who love Belle and Sebastian and The Smiths, Annie Hall and Memento, Wes Anderson and Charlie Kaufman. It’s a movie, in other words, custom made for me.

I’m not suggesting it’s as good as any of those things… it’s not. But it’s in their spirit and that counts for a lot.

As the dry narration says right up front, it’s a story about a boy and a girl but it’s not a love story. In fact, even that is a little misleading… it’s really a movie about a boy. The girl, Summer (well portrayed by the endearing, sweetly sexy Zooey Deschanel), is more a type than a fully fleshed-out character. And oh, what a type. Casually irresistible, she draws a certain kind of guy in like a magnet through no fault or design of her own. She ‘s never as into you as you’re into her but she’s just vulnerable enough to make you think that might change.

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