Counting Crows: Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings

First of all, let's just say that the Counting Crows are officially out of the dog house. Tour dates here (including Marcus Amphitheatre in Milwaukee).
As requested, here are my initial thoughts about the new album.

Actually, for fun, I'll just blog as I listen to it (and try to do some Law Review work).

Opening Lyrics: "I'm a Russian Jew American, Impersonating African Jamaican, What I wanna be's an Indian, I'm gonna be a cowboy in the end I guess, I bought a gun cuz it impresses, All the little girls I see, And then they all wanna sleep with me." Um, okay...if that's what you say.

Saturday Nights

Okay, I'm through the Saturday Nights portion of the album and my first thought is this: If you think that "Recovering the Satellites" is the Counting Crows' best work to date (as I do), you will like this album. They are definitely taking a few more chances than they have recently - the music is more raw and emotional. I have a feeling there will be nothing on this album that could possibly be on the soundtrack for Shrek 12, whenever that comes out. I must confess that I thought I might be through with the Counting Crows when they had that terrible song on Shrek 2. This album may redeem them.

Favorite overall song: Los Angeles.
Favorite Music and melody: Sundays.
Worst Music and melody: Cowboys.
Favorite Lyric: Insignificant (Classic Duritz).
Worst Lyric: Hanging Tree (tired of Duritz describing life - dizzy, desert, etc. - we get it, life is hard for you).

Speaking of life being hard for Duritz, great little piece over at Rolling Stone about his mental illnesses and hair (spoiler: his dreads are fake, in case you didn't know). There's actually a list of good articles on the Counting Crows website for anyone else who might be interested in this much reading (i.e., Brad). Note that Duritz shrares my love of Justin Timberlake's first album.

Sunday Mornings

Initial question: Why 8 songs for Sunday morning and only 6 for Saturday night? Shouldn't a rock band be more focused on Saturday night?

You definitely sense the move from Saturday to Sunday. Not sure if I like how abrupt the change is, but at least they warn you.

Favorite overall song: Le Ballet D'Or (acoustic guitar is great on this song)
Favorite Music and Melody: On a Tuesday in Amsterdam Long Ago
Worst Music and Melody: Anyone But You (the Ba Ba Ba's at the end are just annoying)
Favorite Lyric: When I Dream of Michelangelo ("I see god upon the ceiling, I see angels overhead, And he seems so close as he reaches out his hand, But we are never quite as close as we are led to understand.")
Worst Lyric: Is it a cop out to say I don't have one? I guess On Almost Any Sunday Morning, if I had to choose.

Overall

This is the best "first reaction" I've had to a Counting Crows album since "Recovering the Satellites." I remember not really liking "Hard Candy" and parts of "This Desert Life" at first listen, but later appreciating the albums for what they were.

I've also decided I like the transition from Saturday to Sunday now that I've heard the whole thing. It's a nice concept, and shows the band's diversity better than other albums.

Of course, the one thing I've learned about Counting Crows albums is that my initial thoughts are never the thoughts I have in the future. The album always grows on you...the songs you don't like at first become your favorites (best example: "Time and Time Again" from "August and Everything After").

I expect a new album from the Counting Crows in 2024, so we had better enjoy this one while we can.