Counting Crows - August & Everything After: Special Edition

Once touted as the saviours of mainstream American rock

When Counting Crows’ debut first appeared in 1993, they were quickly saddled with the “next big thing” tag, their rootsy, Americana-slanted rock tipped to make them REM’s natural successors. Although there are a few parallels to be made, August & Everything After trawls deeper waters for inspiration. Singer Adam Duritz’s vocals owed a debut to early 70s Van Morrison, not least on the breakthrough single Mr Jones, while the instrumentation was closer in spirit to The Band. A multi-million seller it might have been, there was nonetheless a little too much cosiness in the group’s expertly-crafted sound. Clearly musicians of some clout, the Crows never sounded like they were stretching themselves, save for the intensity of Round Here and Sullivan Street. That the media quickly honed in on Duritz’s string of romantic liaisons with high calibre Hollywood starlets also detracted from the cause. This bumper edition adds a handful of demos (including a version of Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land), plus a second disc of a live Paris gig from 1994, on which the album’s songs get a tougher workout than they ever did in the studio. Still the Crows’ most pleasing release, but lacks that extra punch to make it truly special.

Universal/Geffen | 1743031

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
<< Back to Issue 344