Clap Hands 
factories and smoke
tirsdag, august 20, 2002
Review of Counting Crows' "Hard Candy"
 Apparently somewhere in between "This Desert Life" and the present, the band known as Counting Crows became personified into one being: Adam Duritz. Out of 18 total photos placed on the CD case and in the liner notes, Adam has 6 all to himself. There are 8 pictures of the entire band, and Adam is always in front...or doing something just… crazy! Like jumping in the air and making a silly face! Or wearing his dreadlocked hair in pigtails! There is 1 picture of Adam with two band mates (heh...who really needs to know the names of other members than Mr. Duritz) and 1 with Adam taking up most of the frame with another guy kind of peeking out from the corner. And Adam always has that grin...that grin that says..."They put me put front and center again! How bout that!" There are 2 pictures of jelly beans.
But don't get me wrong. I think Adam Duritz is the force behind the Counting Crows. When I thought about why Counting Crows was the only band that still kept my interest over the years while I watched past favorite bands like Goo Goo Dolls (yes, the Goo Goo Dolls) and Green Day put out new albums that I didn't buy, I had to wonder what exactly was it about them that I still liked. And I have to owe it to the song writing and vocals of Duritz.
Their new album "Hard Candy" contains 13 new songs plus 1 (ooo don't tell!) bonus track. It has your average happy:sad/slow:pensive song ratio as most other albums.
The "happy songs" (“Hard Candy,” “American Girls,” “If I could give all my love,” “Why should you come...”) all sound a little similar but probably could not all earn radio air play. Maybe if they had similar USA-related titles too...
Duritz writes like a teenager coming back from a fantastic camping trip: he won't stop talking about getting laid. It seems that in almost every song there's an allusion to getting busy. My favorite is “Hop on my choo choo/ I’ll be your engine driver in a bunny suit/ If you dress me up in pink and white/ We may be just a little fuzzy bout it later tonight” (“Holday in Spain.”) Who with? Courtney Cox? Maria? Oh well. But I can’t criticize this guy as much as I’m trying. He puts his songs together well, not just with the lyrics, but the way his voice seems to dance with melody variations.
I have the bad habit of judging each Counting Crows song against each previous album. (“Is this more of a ‘Recovering the Satellites’ or ‘August and Everything After?’”) The last album, “This Desert Life” was a small disappointment for me, probably due to the mediocre songs and short track list. Ok, I’m being picky, it’s probably just the short track list. “Hard Candy” captures my interest more. Like fellow pianist Ben Folds, Duritz is a storyteller who is able to convey extremely descriptive emotion in every song, whether it’s depression, love, loneliness, or boredom.
For some reason, it seems really obvious when Duritz uses his signature stylings, possibly because they are signature. The use of weather, time (usually early morning…) and the names of cities re-occur throughout the record. Also repeating some phrase that we don’t understand at the end of songs (“Good Time”) is reminiscent of “August and Everything After.” Are such techniques becoming too cliché or am I just being a jerk?
Maybe what you don’t understand from this review is that I do like the album. My favorites being “Black and Blue,” “Miami,” “Holiday in Spain,” and hell, I like that damn single. One thing I think we’ve all noticed is how the Crows have aged. Yes, yes they have. Looking at the double-leafed picture of the band, it would be hard for even the oldest teeny-bopper to call them pop stars. But these men make good music. Maybe too much emphasis is placed on the front man (though I can definitely see him going solo) but hopefully they won’t quit what they’re doing anytime soon. As long as there are lonely nights in California and Duritz keeps getting frisky, I think they will.
“So I put my head on the ground
And the sky is a wheel
Spinning these days into things that I’ve lost
But you can keep all the years
But I don’t mind the days gone rolling away
Cause this sunlight
Feels warm on my face today.” (Goodnight L.A.)
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