Tag Archives: counting crows

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Song of the Day #3,230: ‘Hanginaround’ – Counting Crows vs. Morrissey

Entering our third week of Montauk Madness, ten first round mathcups have been posted with 22 to go. I’ll leave all of the polls open for the duration of this round to pick up any stragglers. All of the Round One matchups can be accessed here.

The seeding in this tournament was determined randomly, and it’s fun to see the interesting pairings that result. Today’s battle, for example, is a showdown between depressed whiners Adam Duritz and Morrissey — specifically Counting Crows vs. Morrissey’s work as a solo artist.

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Song of the Day #2,704: ‘Why Should You Come When I Call?’ – Counting Crows

hardcandyThe Random iTunes Fairy must have seen my mention of Counting Crows’ 2002 album Hard Candy a couple of weeks ago and gotten in the mood to hear it again.

There isn’t a weak track on this album, easily the band’s best work. In fact, every track is so good I’m hard pressed to name a favorite. Maybe ‘Miami’ or ‘Up All Night.’ The title track or ‘American Girls.’ The plaintive ‘Carriage’ or drunkly melancholy closer ‘Holiday in Spain.’

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Song of the Day #2,688: ‘Hard Candy’ – Counting Crows

hardcandyCounting Crows are one of the world’s most unjustly maligned bands, so I wasn’t surprised that their fourth record — Hard Candy — didn’t show up on any of the critics top ten lists I studied when preparing this collection of 2002’s best albums.

Still, it’s a mystery to me why even this incredible album went unappreciated by tastemakers. A deeper analysis showed that the record wasn’t panned. It received solid reviews — a B here, three stars there — but nothing that would put it in the conversation among the year’s best.

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Song of the Day #2,367: ‘Cover Up the Sun’ – Counting Crows

counting_crows_somewhere_under_wonderland

Best Songs of 2014 – #11
‘Cover Up the Sun’ – Counting Crows

I saw Counting Crows in concert last summer and loved the show but was underwhelmed by a couple of tracks from their then-upcoming album, Somewhere Under Wonderland.

When I got the album, I was pleased to find that they’d played my two least favorite tracks, and the rest of the record was as light and lovable as those two were ponderous and dull.

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Song of the Day #2,256: ‘Earthquake Driver’ – Counting Crows

counting_crows_somewhere_under_wonderlandMy wife and I saw Counting Crows in concert a few months ago, in a sort of 90s throwback show with opening band Toad the Wet Sprocket.

They sounded wonderful. Frontman Adam Duritz looked like he’s just crawled out of a dumpster but his distinctive voice was in top form and he rattled off his intricate lyrics without a hitch, owning every moment onstage.

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