The Counting Crows have done something different with their latest album, "This Desert Life." They've combined the somber, soul-searching vocals of Adam Duritz from their two previous albums with the up-beat, feel-good flavor of songs like "Mr. Jones" and "Rain King" from their first hit album, "August and Everything After."
Still singing about some of the dreariness of life as if he were sulking away in a lonely California bar, Duritz experiments here by coming into the recording session with a clean slate and letting the Counting Crows come together to write the music.
The album is overall very well constructed -- the songs flow, and there's a great beat to the catchy tunes like "High Life" and "All My Friends," with opening lines that make you want to hear those songs again. "Hangin' Around" just cuts loose a care-free attitude, unusual for Duritz.
But don't be fooled by the whimsical nature of the first song. Duritz does his share of sulking, and you won't want to skip those songs either. "There's a piece of Maria in every song I sing," contends Duritz in "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby," a ballad whose fresh piano keeps you smiling.
"Four Days" and "I Wish I Was a Girl" are heartfelt tunes with the Duritz voice that can't be replicated, and the mandolins and drum beats make such a great addition to this album that you can't forget just how good the Counting Crows are.
The Crows broke up a two year hiatus with their live album, "Across a Wire: Live in New York," but the slowed-down tone of the mostly acoustic album of old material could have been distressing to the Crows fan awaiting something new. Well-received when they played some new tunes at Woodstock in July of 1999, the band released "This Desert Life" this past November, and DJs keep spinning "Hangin' Around" on the radio.
"I had a lot of fun making it," Duritz said in a Rolling Stone interview. "Am I a happy guy, period? No, but I'm happy when I'm playing music."
That Adam Duritz dichotomy is what relates his songs so well with the down-and-out while simultaneously saying, "Hey man, there's more out there, just keep on keepin' on." Such a balance is what made Dylan songs like "Tangled Up in Blue" a success, because even though she's gone and you're left seemingly alone in a big empty world, there's hope. And that's the message that the Crows so honestly profess.
The Counting Crows are currently wrapping up a tour in the UK and Europe. Expect them to return to the States with a summer tour, and expect Duritz to be jumping up and down with his microphone in hand, singing the music that makes him so happy.
