Counting Crows

Chip McFlenniganChip McFlennigan Posts: 1,162
edited February 2011 in Other Music
Along with PJ and Alice in Chains, the Crows were in my holy trinity of favorite bands growing up.

Today, they suck ass.

Why?
I knew it all along, see?
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  • They aren't a very good live band and thats being nice. I would never pay to go see them. I don't even think I would go if I was given a ticket for free
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  • jim.barryjim.barry Posts: 41
    If you want a great live experience, skip the counting crows and go see the Black Crowes . By far one of the best bands out and touring today
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  • sarah.psarah.p Posts: 200
    I don't know why

    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.
  • jales22jales22 Posts: 120
    i've seen them twice live and they were amazing..i'm going again in a couple weeks...

    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???
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  • philthehipphilthehip Posts: 2,084
    I love pretty much every album and the truth in my eyes is that they suck live :(
  • markymark550markymark550 Columbia, SC Posts: 5,103
    To me, they are one of those bands where every song sounds the same and because of this every album is seemingly not as good as previous albums. Granted, I haven't heard every song of theirs.....just the overall impression I get from them.

    It's funny to type that out since I know a lot of people who feel the same way about Pearl Jam.....
  • jales22 wrote:
    i've seen them twice live and they were amazing..i'm going again in a couple weeks...

    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???

    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.
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  • Yellow LedbellyYellow Ledbelly Posts: 3,749
    jim.barry wrote:
    If you want a great live experience, skip the counting crows and go see the Black Crowes . By far one of the best bands out and touring today
    Excellent first post and so very true. Welcome by the way.

    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.
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  • August was pretty amazing but, I think Recovering was superior simply because it was a lot more raw and a lot more hopeless, even in juxtaposition to its theme.
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  • dcfaithfuldcfaithful Posts: 13,076
    jim.barry wrote:
    If you want a great live experience, skip the counting crows and go see the Black Crowes . By far one of the best bands out and touring today


    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...
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  • August was pretty groundbreaking. It didn't sound like anything else at the time, either.
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  • gabersgabers Posts: 2,787
    I saw the Counting Crows maybe six years ago opening for John Mayer when John Mayer was still a pop star for 14 year old girls. I agree with their live show being fairly sucky. They played the most lackluster version of Rain King imaginable. I mean, Rain King was one of their most uplifting songs (despite the name) from their early albums, and Adam sang it like Eyore. What a disappointment.

    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.
  • gabers wrote:
    I saw the Counting Crows maybe six years ago opening for John Mayer when John Mayer was still a pop star for 14 year old girls. I agree with their live show being fairly sucky. They played the most lackluster version of Rain King imaginable. I mean, Rain King was one of their most uplifting songs (despite the name) from their early albums, and Adam sang it like Eyore. What a disappointment.

    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.
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  • facepollutionfacepollution Posts: 6,833
    Probably the most frustrating live band around, Adam Duritz would do well to go back and listen to their records and re-learn the vocal melodies. I saw them live a few years back and he basically changed every melody, to the point that it prety much killed any sing-alongs. Now I'm all for a bit of improvisation, but he sounded more drunk and incoherent. Here is Mr Jones from the show I was at, fucking woeful:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8rjGB3lR7s
  • Indifference71Indifference71 Chicago Posts: 14,722
    Probably the most frustrating live band around, Adam Duritz would do well to go back and listen to their records and re-learn the vocal melodies. I saw them live a few years back and he basically changed every melody, to the point that it prety much killed any sing-alongs. Now I'm all for a bit of improvisation, but he sounded more drunk and incoherent. Here is Mr Jones from the show I was at, fucking woeful:

    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.
  • WobbieWobbie Posts: 29,382
    Along with PJ and Alice in Chains, the Crows were in my holy trinity of favorite bands growing up.

    Today, they suck ass.

    Why?
    i don't agree they suck ass now. sat. nights, sun. mornings is a pretty solid record (esp. the faster stuff).

    I've seen them twice and they kicked ass both times :mrgreen: altho i've also heard from many folks who got shit shows. :cry:
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  • gabersgabers Posts: 2,787
    Probably the most frustrating live band around, Adam Duritz would do well to go back and listen to their records and re-learn the vocal melodies. I saw them live a few years back and he basically changed every melody, to the point that it prety much killed any sing-alongs. Now I'm all for a bit of improvisation, but he sounded more drunk and incoherent. Here is Mr Jones from the show I was at, fucking woeful:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8rjGB3lR7s

    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
  • Indifference71Indifference71 Chicago Posts: 14,722
    imalive wrote:
    Along with PJ and Alice in Chains, the Crows were in my holy trinity of favorite bands growing up.

    Today, they suck ass.

    Why?
    i don't agree they suck ass now. sat. nights, sun. mornings is a pretty solid record (esp. the faster stuff).

    I've seen them twice and they kicked ass both times :mrgreen: altho i've also heard from many folks who got shit shows. :cry:


    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.
  • facepollutionfacepollution Posts: 6,833
    gabers wrote:
    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

    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.
  • facepollutionfacepollution Posts: 6,833
    I must however agree, I thought their last record was solid. I loved the songs Washington Square and Le Ballet d'Or
  • WobbieWobbie Posts: 29,382
    clearly....a bit of a tortured artist. :shock:

    0811090547454731110_7980_v1.jpg

    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:

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    If I had known then what I know now...

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  • josevolutionjosevolution Posts: 28,258
    They have allways sucked in my opinion ....
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  • lockedlocked Boston Posts: 3,996
    I loved them up thru the lbum with Mrs. Potter lullby and Hanging round,,

    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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  • goldrushgoldrush everybody knows this is nowhere Posts: 7,258
    Probably the most frustrating live band around, Adam Duritz would do well to go back and listen to their records and re-learn the vocal melodies. I saw them live a few years back and he basically changed every melody, to the point that it prety much killed any sing-alongs. Now I'm all for a bit of improvisation, but he sounded more drunk and incoherent. Here is Mr Jones from the show I was at, fucking woeful:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8rjGB3lR7s
    Hmm, I was just about to post my own video of this exact same performance and say how much I loved it! :D

    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
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  • facepollutionfacepollution Posts: 6,833
    goldrush wrote:
    Hmm, I was just about to post my own video of this exact same performance and say how much I loved it! :D

    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

    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.
  • red mosred mos Posts: 4,953
    I saw the counting crows on their recovering the satelites tour and thought it was good. Saying that though, I have never felt the need to see them live again and that was 14 years ago. One time sufficed.

    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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  • dcfaithfuldcfaithful Posts: 13,076
    red mos wrote:
    I saw the counting crows on their recovering the satelites tour and thought it was good. Saying that though, I have never felt the need to see them live again and that was 14 years ago. One time sufficed.

    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.

    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.
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  • Along with PJ and Alice in Chains, the Crows were in my holy trinity of favorite bands growing up.

    Today, they suck ass.

    Why?

    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.
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  • Seen them twice and thought they were great. I can see where people would get annoyed where they re-work stuff but in my experiences they didn't go overboard with it. I remember seeing 'Omaha' 'Long December' 'Colorblind' and 'Rain King' and they were just like the originals. The shows I saw were just straight Counting Crows shows though so I couldn't give an opinion on the new Travelling Circus stuff. I also got introduced to the Hold Steady through seeing them as a support which was a bonus. I would go and see them again defenitely.

    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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  • facepollutionfacepollution Posts: 6,833
    I think Recovering The Satellites is probably my favourite, some really good stuff on there. Just listening to Have You Seen Me Lately at the moment, his voice from the bridge onwards is AMAZING, I wonder if he's ever pulled that off live?
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