Counting Crows, a popular band, formed in California’s Bay area in 1991, originally contained the duo of vocalist Adam Duritz and guitar player Dave Bryson. The pair performed several acoustic performances in coffeehouses around San Francisco while also writing songs together. By 1993, Counting Crows had included bassist Matt Malley, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham and drummer Steve Bowman. After distributing their demo, “The Flying Demo,” around to local labels, the band was soon signed by Geffen Records.On March 25, 2008, Geffen Records released “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings,” the fifth studio album by Counting Crows.
This album is filled with complete emotion and feeling. This album begins on a very slow beat tempo and then is immediately increased to a fast paced tempo filled with emotion in each and every note that is played on the guitar.
The loud rock guitar fills the fans with the sound of rock that they know and love. On the other hand, the album ends with soft acoustic guitars and pianos to create a more soothing and enjoyable sound.
As it has never been done before, this particular album by Counting Crows receives its name from each half of the album being produced by two different producers.
The first six tracks (Saturday Nights) were produced by Gil Norton, who also worked on the Crows’ most hard rocking album, “Recovering the Satellites.” The first half is reminiscent of that album.
The second half of the album was produced by Brian Deck.
Considering all the songs of the album, I found “On a Tuesday in Amsterdam Long Ago” to be extremely soothing to the ears. The particular track, although very heartfelt and somewhat depressing, the melodies play on a note that it very easy to relate to and are extremely calming. Another song that I would recommend is “Hanging Tree” that is the second track on the album. This song is enjoyable because the track starts off slowly for a few seconds and then turns into a loud rock tune that almost sounds more pop than it does rock.
Also, the lyrics to “Hanging Tree” seem to be something that many individuals can relate to because everyone has moments in their life where it is just not going in the direction that they would have wanted to go.
Excluding the first two tracks, the rest of the album was only alright. Nothing else really stood out on its own, however, I do think the concept of creating an album with two different producers is intriguing and very original.
The fact that one half of the album is extremely alive and loud versus the second half that is calm and soothing, is a good idea and it allows the listener to have more of an option of what they may be interested in hearing during that time, especially depending on his/her mood.
Overall, Counting Crows fifth album, “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings,” is an album that I would recommend to anyone who is interested in rock and pop on the same album. It has some very interesting acoustic guitars while also accompanying soft, mellow piano tunes.
The lyrics of this album speak of many different situations that each individual has encountered as well as overcame, but are spoken in a way that only Counting Crows could express.
This album could also be seen as the first half being the crazy party on a Saturday night and the second half as the Sunday morning after the party.
In the process of recovering from a night of partying the night before, this is definitely an album that could help ease the pain.
Shaakira Abdullah-Johnson is a third-year student majoring in communication studies with a minor in spanish. She can be reached at SA608674@wcupa.edu.