Counting Crows

clearly....a bit of a tortured artist. :shock:



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:

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!

goldrush wrote:

Hmm, I was just about to post my own video of this exact same performance and say how much I loved it!

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 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.

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.

satans kitchen wrote:

johnny america 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?

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.

Actually, of the seven members that are in the band now 3 are originals (Adam, Charlie and David Bryson), Dan has been with them since just after "August And Everything After" out and, although he didn't officially join until 1999, David Immerglück has played with them since the beginning (including playing on "August And Everything After"). Sorry to be picky but...

Like I've said before, I like the way that Adam changes the way that he sings the songs live. I'd rather that than he forgets the words to his own songs like a certain other singer that we all love so much...

facepollution wrote:

goldrush wrote:

Like I've said before, I like the way that Adam changes the way that he sings the songs live. I'd rather that than he forgets the words to his own songs like a certain other singer that we all love so much...

What and Adam doesn't ever forget words to his songs? Sorry but that seems like a really odd statement you're making there - a rambling tuneless vocal performance can ruin a song, far more so than someone forgetting the odd word here or there. I don't want to sound harsh so please forgive me, but it sounds a little bit fanboy-ish, like you'll accept any old shit just because it's 'unique'. Sure some improvisations can work, but some aren't going to work so well. A lot of the time it just sounds indulgent, like he's forgotten who he's there to sing for.

We've all seen singers butcher the National Anthem trying to be 'unique' or in the name of spicing it up or showing off....from what I've heard of the Crows live....Adam pretty much slaughters every song at some point or another and it is bad....very bad.

eyedclaar wrote:

Mr. America, real men listen to the Black Crowes, not the Counting Crows. You'll thank me on your wedding night. Carry on. This has been a public service announcement.

:thumbup:

eyedclaar wrote:

Mr. America, real men listen to the Black Crowes, not the Counting Crows. You'll thank me on your wedding night. Carry on. This has been a public service announcement.

The Black Crowes fucking own...

dcfaithful wrote:

eyedclaar wrote:

Mr. America, real men listen to the Black Crowes, not the Counting Crows. You'll thank me on your wedding night. Carry on. This has been a public service announcement.

The Black Crowes fucking own...

...yes sir, they certainly do!