Counting Crows
Chip McFlennigan
Posts: 1,162
Along with PJ and Alice in Chains, the Crows were in my holy trinity of favorite bands growing up.
Today, they suck ass.
Why?
Today, they suck ass.
Why?
I knew it all along, see?
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2008: MSG I, MSG II, Newark(EV)
2009: Albany 1-2(EV), Philly 3
2010: Boston, MSG I
2013: Buffalo, Brooklyn II, Hartford
2016: MSG 1, MSG II, Fenway 1
Counting Crows are a great band. I agree their new stuff doesn't quite match their early albums but I still think its ok - but nothing will beat their first album.
I've seen them live twice and wasn't disappointed.
i love every album as well...recovering the satellites is probably my favorite though.
they are like PJ in the fact that they have a big group of fans basically wherever they play...lots of hard core fans as well..
what don't u like about new albums and/or the live shows???
It's funny to type that out since I know a lot of people who feel the same way about Pearl Jam.....
Well, they were an awesome live band back in the day. Their recent tours have sucked though, as they've become complacent and are now literally sharing the stage with rappers and other bands and singing their songs as well. I don't wanna buy a Counting Crows ticket to see their bassist do five songs while some dude raps, and then see Augustana sing the bridge to Mr. Jones.
Also, their last two albums were far inferior to Recovering the Satellites, and their other two early albums. Ugh.
As for the other Crows....I still contend that 'August and Everything After' is a masterpiece, but the kool-aid wasn't strong enough for me even with the second album...which was still pretty damn solid.
I can't comment on their virtues as a live band for I have not seen them, but I think the overall quality of their work has lagged simply because they far outreached themselves with August....I think maybe that album was simply a fluke. Well, maybe not a fluke, but maybe they just weren't made for the long haul.
They say every sin is deadly but I believe they may be wrong...I'm guilty of all seven and I don't feel too bad at all
God damn right. I'm seeing the Crowes 3 times this year, and I expect...and will be delivered greatness.
Counting Crows? I have a friend who is a major fan. I've watched their live videos and am bummed that Adam rarely sings it the way it's recorded, but whatever..
August and Everything After is an incredible album though...
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
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9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
But I do think their newest album was a return to form. It wasn't as good as their first two albums but at least they returned to more of a rockin' sound than that pop they'd been making recently.
They left a song off their last album that should've made it onto the album proper, or at least been released as a b-side. Instead, it's sitting around in some studio somewhere, collecting dust. The song is called Suffocate, and it's an incredible song that they played live once. They recorded it for the last album, and then didn't release it. Not even as a bonus track. Huge disappointment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8rjGB3lR7s
Completely agree with you here. He takes the improvisation to a new level and ruins many of their songs when peformed live.
I've seen them twice and they kicked ass both times
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Ha, the crowd was basically taking over the singing at the end there. It's such a great song to sing along to and he tries to be cute the whole time.
Here's more or less how they played Rain King. Ugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu9rtD7KKBI
Sat nights and sun mornings is a very good album.
I've seen them twice. Once it was great, the other time sucked. Kinda hard to judge based on that.
Yeah there really is no need to stretch Rain King out over nearly eight minutes!
I don't know if he's just plain arrogant or what, but changing the songs up that much isn't much fun for the audience. Obviously it works better on some songs than others, for example, there is an amazing version of Round Here on the b-side to Angels Of The Silences where he really adds to the song. I think you can get away with it on a more drawn out kind of song, but when it's essentially a 3-4 minute pop song like Mr.Jones it just doesn't work, what should be a triumphant sing-along moment just falls flat and leaves people disappointed.
all these awful live versions you're talking about :? ....Across a Wire (1998) had great live versions...but maybe that was the band the OP remembers.
finally:
Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
VIC 07
EV LA1 08
Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
Columbus 10
EV LA 11
Vancouver 11
Missoula 12
Portland 13, Spokane 13
St. Paul 14, Denver 14
Not a big fan odd Hard Candy but Sundays and Saturdys iIS a return to their greatness in song writing.
unfortunately their ability to translate songs in live setting (which used to be their strong suit) is gone , fini.
The reason, Adam Duritz... he can't sing like he used to seems to be burned out with touring and has taken to wearing wig of fake dreadlocks.
Not sure why people hve been raising the "he doesn't sing the songs like the originl version" he hs been doing tht since 1992 ever since Van Morrison told him it was the only way not to "get bored" singing the sme songs every night (another gret vocalist who butcheres his orginals live)
its suppose to be some kind of jazz ethic.
school dismisseed!
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10/25/13 Hartford
I've seen them 4 or 5 times over the years and I have always been blown away by them. I love the fact that Adam changes the melodies and lyrics live, it's part of the theatrical way that he performs and it makes each performance unique in my opinion.
He's been doing it since the early days (on the Across a Wire album "Round Here" has lyrics from "Have You Seen Me Lately?" and the introduction to "Mr. Jones" includes lyrics from "Miller's Angels" and "So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star") and I guess it's one of those things that you either love or hate.
For what it's worth, this is my Mr Jones video and I'm only posting this to show how much energy the crowd put into singing every word. It certainly didn't feel like he killed the sing alongs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb__16I4RcM
(Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)
“Put yer good money on the sunrise”
(Tim Rogers)
He's clearly drunk or high in that performance. I've seen them about five times live including both festivals and their own shows, and that was by far the worst. Like I said in my first post, some improvisation is cool, I don't mind him putting bits of other songs in there, I mean Ed does that all the time and it sounds great. However, in that Mr. Jones video he is nowhere near the melody, it doesn't sound special or unique to my ears, it sounds like he's rambling and can't keep up with the song. I was in that crowd and sure everyone was trying to sing along, but they were singing the original melody, it would have been nice if Mr.Duritz had joined us for at least some of it.
Imagine if Ed started singing Alive in the same dis-jointed way, like it or not, some people want to hear those big songs, and I think it's down to the artists to do them some kind of justice.
Like many, just lost interest or the connection. However, they still have a solid fanbase that probably think "Hard candy", "saturday nights, / Sunday mornings is the holy grail of the Coubting crows catalog.
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I actually don't think Hard Candy is too bad. "If I Could Give All My Love To You or Richard Manuel Is Dead" is a pretty awesome song, mind you this is only my opinion.
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
cuz Adam Duritz has fake dreads :x
and there are like 8 band members...and the only original member left is fake dreads
and because Adam Duritz feels the need to change the way he sings songs live, which in turn makes them suck ass.
I used to like them too...i know...its sad.
As for the albums I find Hard Candy up there with there best work. SNSM took a while to get into but I certainly enjoy it now. IMO Desert Life is probably their weakest effort. August is a masterpiece.
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