New Counting Crows - "Cowboy"
For the sake of August and one thing after (read: Recovering The Satellites), we're keeping our ears open to hear what the new Counting Crows material sounds like. And that curiosity was punished by the utterly forgettable bland-jam "Come Around." For some reason, when another cut came down the track, we lined up with our best thank-you-sir-may-I-have-another grimace and clicked play. And guess what? It's ... not terrible! Congrats. Infinitely more interesting than the last taste, anyway.
The new Crows album's allegedly a double entitled Saturday Nights, Sunday Morning: the Saturday side's meant to rock, and Sunday's for the Adam's acoustic laments. Well, "Cowboy"'s undoubtedly meant for the rock side, the band flashing some Recovering style rock, keeping things equal so Duritz doesn't get carried away with the pathos. It's a good look for both parties (the patented "Come on! Come on! Come on!"s in time with the band's hits, the rimclick breakdowns, tempo shifts, etc.). For your analysis...
Counting Crows - "Cowboys"
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings is out 11/6 on Geffen.
UPDATE: Download it at MySpace
Posted at 2:55 PM in MP3
Tags: Counting Crows
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Is Duritz going for a Destroyer level of self-reference here? Good song, confusing amount of recycled imagery.
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This CD is true Counting Crows. TRUE! Cowboys is an amazing song. I wasn't keen on "You Can't Count on Me" the first few times I heard it, but then they did it on Letterman and now I dig it!
Adam's lyrics and song writing is back!
No one can fault them for Accidently in Love or Big Yellow Taxi....everyone has to give in to the man once and awhile. The most important thing is---they are sticking it to the man with this record.
Great work!
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I wish I could take them seriously enough to be fair to this song. I can't. Seriously, how many times is the word "love" mentioned in "Accidentally In Love"? That's not writing, that's Tourettes.
And that godawful cover of "Big Yellow Taxi". There's only one person who should be doing that song & that's Joni Mitchell, and I can't really stand it by her either.
DwD
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This sounds VERY promising...glad to hear them rocking again. Recovering The Satellites producer Gil Norton produced the "Saturday Nights" part of the record!!
It bothers me how people don't give this band ANY credit. Yeah, "Big Yellow Taxi" sucked...but jeez man, this is a great band, no matter which way you cut it.
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Is that Side Show Bob?
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Don't try to dig it out with a bone.
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The new track doesn't really work for me. But I wanted to add my two cents by saying that This Desert Life is a classic, far better than Recovering the Satellites, which is just okay. So it's more like "August and the two things after" or "August and the album after the next".
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That look isn't so much Sideshow Bob, but Trustifarian.
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I agree with Matt. We can all agree that August is classic, but where Recovering was just decent, Desert Life was great. I have low expectations for a come back. A double album is very risky right now, I'm impressed that they are trying. However, I really think they have nowhere else to go.
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Aw, no love for "Hard Candy"? I like all four albums. August is obviously the masterpiece. Recovering is awfully impressive for a sophomore outing. Desert Life is the most mature and intelligent stuff they've done. Hard Candy is very poppy, but has some nice standout tracks where they do stuff you'd never expect.They've also done two great live records that I enjoy quite a bit.
Their worst stuff has always been the covers and soundtrack stuff. "Accidentally in Love" and "Big Yellow Taxi" both suck big time. But those have also been big Top-40 radio hits, so I'm sure it helps make the label happy.
Bottom line, I bet there's a ton of "indie" fans who nurse a secret love for the band, but they're never sure if they're cool enough to openly praise. Kinda sad, really. A couple different career decisions, and these guys might be more respected but less rich.
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Speaking as an "indie fan" this band was great - far beyond August... too. In regards to the notion that a double album is risky, I disagree. What are they risking? They play with Live and Hootie! Anyone who has followed the band, and seen them perform live over the past few years might agree that Counting Crows have nothing to risk, and are just having fun doing what they're doing. I don't think they have any delusions of grandeur here- they will never see success like they once had, and i'm sure they know it. They're still producing some gems, and i say the more material they release the better - let the fans decide. For those who liked "Big Yellow Taxi" - im sure they can find something on the new double disc. For those who like good Counting Crows (and there's been gems on every album) - i'm sure we'll all find our favs and then some (hopefully)!
!Viva pop music!
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this song is awesome... where is this so called 'utterly forgettable' song Come Around? I want to hear it
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DwD- 0 pts.
Chris Batten- 46 pts.
Nick, Matt, and Zayin_451- 22 pts- you have been docked 12 for hyping Desert Life and that Taxi shit
EVERBODY ELSE- 19!! Good hustle! Hit the showers!
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I love how Adam's fist covers that guys whole face in the picture. That guy is thinking "First this asshole bangs Aniston and Courtnry Cox back in the hey day and freaking 20 years later he can't even let me get my face in the promo pictures....Fuck this band"
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i guarentee you though i am admittedly not looking at the comments that nobody but nobody reading this site fives a f-u-c-k about counting crows.
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I gotta say, this is a pretty great song. August and Recovering are both solid albums, and the other two have a stray good song or two. So, after hearing this little bit, I'm actually kind of interested in the new record.
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Fuck Adam Duritz and to hell with these guys. White people with dreads are lame. Last time I checked these guys haven't been relevant since 1995 when I was at Ocean City, MD trying to get on some immature drunk girl who wore a natty shore-made pullover. She probably listened to the Counting Crows.
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Umm, counting crows? God, are you serious? This site man, christ...
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i have always loved the crows. They were great in 94 and their last record hard candy was great. Adam wears his heart on his sleeve. Its hard to define any bands relevance anymore. time will do that, we live in a fast changing culture. so im not sure you can say they are or arent the same band they use to be... this is true with any band.
however, i saw them in manchester nh with collective soul and LIVE. Adam was solid, the band was tight, and both the new and the old songs went over great.
They've done lots of covers over they years. for those of you here who are dissing the taxi song.. you have no idea how many songs they've covered over the years. Madonnas borderline is another odd cover. check out the shim sham club shows...
whats up with this link. i cant download the song now? its been one day. gone?
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Hey dudes - I'm pretty sure there is no proof the new album is 2-discs. I think it is 2 "sides" where the first half is a certain theme & the 2nd half another. I am a big fan of the band but due to their lacking prolificness I can't imagine them putting out 2 discs' worth of new material at once.
I like the "Cowboys" song - and saw CC live last weekend and they played an even more rocking song called "Hanging Tree" which was my favorite of the night.
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Since the song link disappeared - here's a myspace page with the song: http://www.myspace.com/saturdaynightssundaymornings
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This Desert Life could have been named This Jumped Shark. It and everything after lacked emotional integrity. From where I stand at least in August and Recovering Adam's whining sounded like it came from somewhere. "Colorblind" et al kind of took it too far. August has been in my top 10 forever and probably will remain.
My two cents anyway.
Where's the straight edge tat guy? I feel ripped off.
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everyone here is on "jump the shark" restriction starting.............................................................................................................now
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August is my favorite record of all time. My other favorites are by Red House Painters, Radiohead, Wheat, Flaming Lips, etc. So, it's fair to say that fans of music with integrity can still hold on to this band. Recovering The Satellites was good, but in retrospect it was very pale in comparison to August.
This Desert Life has the most vague and pathetic lyrics and the music is pleasant at best. Hard Candy is freaking awful. Shrek song and Big Yellow Taxi (and I would argue "Hanginaround") ruined the integrity of this band.
Normally, I would give up on a band who put out a series of shitty records (i.e. Weezer after Pinkerton), but August was so important to me, I haven't really been able to.
This song is EASILY the best thing they've done since Satellites. We'll see if the whole record is worth a damn.
Thank you Stereogum for posting about this. It makes me feel less retarded for secreting being excited for this record to come out.
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My vote on this song is "no."
August is easily one of the best albums of the 90s. Recovering -- eh. Others songs on various other albums are ok.
The main problem with the Counting Crows is not their music primarily. It is Adam Duritz's ego which is so front and center that it is hard to appreciate the music.
That is also the problem with their music: Adam's ego prevents it from happening. I'm not trying to be mean to him, but I do feel like he's in a Gap commercial all the time but just can't see it.
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AmR, I would give "This Desert Life" a few more listens. Maybe it will grow on you, if you havent already tried. It really is a great and beautiful album, especially to come after two albums like august and sattelites.
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to say that nobody gives a fuck about counting crows on this site would be to ignore the number of comments already on this post.
also, this desert life blows a lot of albums under the water. indie rock's constant problem - and also its draw to disaffected hipsters who don't need to take anything from their music but the ability to SAY they're listening to it - is that it can be, at times, decidedly non-confrontational.
duritz may be old (he has been for a while), but the guy wrote one of the (almost unanimously
undisputed) best albums of the nineties, and then some. give credit where credit's due.
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Wow. Stereogum has some serious balls. I mean, can you imagine Dusted reviewing a song by Counting Crows? For the record, though, if I ever read anything about Keane here, I'm signing off for good. (And I'm sure you'll be heartbroken) Okay, I'm doing a search for The National to restore my sense of superiority over the people I work with.
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I completely get it, I think it's highly inspired and charged and at points heavy, up and down, neurotic. I give it 5 stars so far. Although come around does sound contrived like there fm attempt, much like american girls from hard candy.
I bet its going to be a highlight record for them, I missed them in atl. last month, if anyone has any good shows for $, hwoppenheimer@yahoo.com.
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My only issue with this site is the indie-rock poser commenters who can't like any song or band that was or is actually popular. The Crows have put out solid albums their entire career and had commercial success, so that makes them horrible? No. It doesn't. If a website like this wants to report on news about a band they can and should be able to do it without a bunch of narrow minded idiots slamming them for it. If you see the post, and you don't like the band, DON'T READ THE POST! Keep going down the page until you find some reference to a band that only 3 other people have ever listened to and feel your self-importance for knowing who they are and the dates of their first three overdoses.
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idiots. listen to a damn album & decide if u like it based on its lyric & musical content...imo this band, & adam, play where they are in the moment...his writing shows this. and kudos if ya gotta put ac ouple of songs "radio" per cd in hopes an illiterate music fan will buy, & get exposed to real music thru this. adam's ego? read the lyrics- he doesn't have one!! his views on self are tattered at best...the substance in most his work.
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idiots. listen to a damn album & decide if u like it based on its lyric & musical content...imo this band, & adam, play where they are in the moment...his writing shows this. and kudos if ya gotta put ac ouple of songs "radio" per cd in hopes an illiterate music fan will buy, & get exposed to real music thru this. adam's ego? read the lyrics- he doesn't have one!! his views on self are tattered at best...the substance in most his work. u hafta actually be able to listen...the august deluxe cd is double, sat/sun is as ingle disc split in 2 sections
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I LOVE LOVE this band! The only cd I havent been all about was Hard Candy... just didnt dig it but everything else is amazing... Hazy on New Amsterdam- LIve at Heineken seriously brings me to tears everytime!amazing keep it up crows ill always be a fan!!!
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