With their angst-filled hybrid of Van Morrison, the
Band, and R.E.M., Counting Crows became an overnight
sensation in 1994. Only a year earlier, the band was
a group of unknown musicians, filling in for the absent
Van Morrison at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony;
they were introduced by an enthusiastic Robbie Robertson.
Early in 1993, the band recorded their debut album,
August & Everything After, with T-Bone Burnett;
it was released in the fall. It was a dark, somber record,
driven by the morose lyrics and expressive vocals of
Adam Duritz; the only up-tempo song, "Mr. Jones,"
became their ticket to stardom. What made Counting Crows
was how they were able to balance Duritz's tortured
lyrics with the sound of the late '60s and early '70s;
it made them one of the few alternative bands to appeal
to listeners who thought that rock & roll died in
1972.
Recovering the Satellites followed in 1996, and in 1998
they issued the two-disc Across a Wire--Live in New
York. Counting Crows' third studio album, This Desert
Life, appeared in 1999. In the midst of recording and
collaborating with Ryan Adams on his sophomore album
Gold, Duritz joined his band in the studio as well.
The fruit of those sessions was the Steve Lillywhite-produced
fourth album Hard Candy. |
