On the New Album of Counting Crows

Sa Ugoy ng Musika

by aLfie vera mella

The Crows Are Back with Old Emperors Dressed in New Clothes

(On the New Album of Counting Crows)

One of my favorite Alternative Rock bands that shot to popularity in the 1990s is back with a new album. In April 2012, Counting Crows releases its sixth studio album, entitled Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation). The only downside is that the album consists entirely of cover songs. Regardless, the band presents the old songs dressed in freshly different flavors, so it compensates for the album’s lack of original materials. The Crows’ sound is unmistakeable—Postpunk-influenced with a touch of Folk and Pop. Worth checking out are their versions of songs by Teenage Fanclub (“Start Again”), Travis (“Coming Around”), Fairport Convention (“Meet on the Ledge”), and Faces (“Ooh La La”).

Counting Crows’ debut album contains their most commercially popular songs, “Mr. Jones,” “Round Here,” and “Rain King.” The band's complete studio discography comprises of August and Everything After (1993), Recovering the Satellites (1996), This Desert Life (1999), Hard Candy (2002), Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (2008), and Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation) (2012). Other songs that I personally recommend are “Angels of the Silences,” “Daylight Fading,” “Holidays in Spain,” “If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead),” “When I Dream of Michelangelo,” “On a Tuesday in Amsterdam Long Ago,” and “Insignificant.”

Final Note

Fronted by lead vocalist and occasional pianist Adam Duritz, Counting Crows was formed in 1991 in California, United States. Currently in the band with Duritz are David Bryson (guitar, vocals), Charlie Gillingham (accordion, clarinet, keyboards), Dan Vickrey (guitar, vocals), David Immerglück (guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo, mandolin, vocals), Jim Bogios (drums, vocals), and Millard Powers (bass, vocals).