First Listen: Counting Crows, Underwater Sunshine

On April 10th, Counting Crows will release their sixth studio album, Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation), an album of fifteen cover tunes. Today, we've got two songs from the upcoming collection.

First up is The Romany Rye's "Untitled (Love Song):"



Up next is a cover of Richard Thompson's "Meet On The Ledge:"

DVD Review: Counting Crows, August And Everything After: Live At Town Hall

I've seen Counting Crows live several times. I admit fully to being a fan and there are several reasons for that. (See how "Mr. Jones" is already slipping into this piece?) I was quite pleased to receive a copy of the Counting Crows' concert DVD, August And Everything After: Live At Town Hall. This particular concert is unique because for this one show, the set list was the album August And Everything After, (and is there a fan out there who doesn't love this album?) played beginning to end. After watching this DVD, I think I would have given my right leg to be at that show.

I've always loved Adam Duritz's lyrics because his metaphors have always spoken to me. Sitting at home listening to a Counting Crows album makes me want to write. But watching Duritz and the Counting Crows perform is an entirely different experience. This DVD captures their phenomenal performance experience in a way I didn't expect. Duritz is amazing on stage and I'm always blown away by the depth and range of emotion he can project while performing. He is at times tortured, angry, melancholy, exuberant, or playing the clown. And it never feels practiced because I have literally seen him in concerts play one song incredibly angry and then at another performance sing the same song full of sorrow. But this concert is not solely an Adam Duritz act: the musical adeptness of the band is astounding. Counting Crows is a band known for its improvisation on stage, which they do extensively in this concert, and the way the band can keep up with Duritz' change-ups is impressive. But more than that the inherent joy the band obviously feels performing this concert simply leaks out of the TV screen and infects the viewer.