.:: Three years after "August And Everything After" paved the Triple A way for the likes of Hootie & The Blowfish, Counting Crows take a more aggressive tack with their sophomore release. As with the debut, the sound takes its cue from singer Adam Duritz's introspective lyrics, but Duritz deals with especially weighty topics this time--the ups and downs of fame are on his mind now--and the band's approach is more slashing than subdued.
The yearning "Catapult" opens the record with a quavering guitar and Mellotron, but it gives way to the crashing cymbals, raging guitar and screaming organ of "Angels Of The Silences," a song about rejection. Even the strings on "I'm Not Sleeping" attack with an angry urgency before they are finally consumed by Dan Vickrey's squalling guitar. The Counting Crows showed off their bark on their debut; now they're showing off their bite.
For their second album, Recovering the Satellites, Counting Crows crafted a self-consciously challenging response to their unexpected success. Throughout the record, Adam Duritz contemplates his loss of privacy and sudden change of fortunes, among other angst-ridden subjects. In one sense, it's no different from the subjects that dominated August and Everything After, yet his outlook is lacking the muted joy that made "Mr. Jones" into a hit.
Similarly, the music is slightly more somber, yet the approach is harder and more direct, which gives even the ballads a more affecting, visceral feel. Recovering the Satellites occasionally bogs down in its own pretentiousness -- for a roots rock band, the group certainly has a lot of artsy goals -- yet when they scale back their ambitions to simple folk-rock, such as on the single "A Long December," they are at their most articulate.
***i know, this is not that indie or underground, but it's very good***
download: counting crows - recovering the satellites
pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment