Counting Crows - Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings: 25/3/08

[Sydneyfan]

from Billboard:

After cleaning himself up both physically and mentally, Adam Duritz tells Billboard.com he challenged his bandmates earlier this year when the Counting Crows began recording a new album, "Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings." The set is expected in November via Geffen.

"I told everybody at the beginning of the record, it was my fault," Duritz says. "I took off for the last few years, but there isn't any more free ride here. Everybody's ass is grass. We're (expletive) going to be a great band or we're not going to be a band."

The Crows' first studio effort since 2002's "Hard Candy," "Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings" is full of surprises, according to Duritz. The electric "Saturday Nights" portion of the album, which finds Gil Norton (producer of the band's 1996 sophomore effort "Recovering the Satellites") behind the soundboard, is buoyed by more acoustic "Sunday Mornings" material.

"This album is really starkly divided, not just musically but thematically," Duritz says. "The first half is pretty dark stuff and 'Sunday Mornings' is not a side about redemption either. 'Sunday Mornings' is about sorrow and grief."

He adds, "Whether or not everyone else will like it or not, I don't know. It's not a normal Counting Crows record. It may turn some people off." A full tour in support of "Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings" is expected to begin in early 2008.

Also on the horizon for the Crows is the Sept. 18 double CD release of "August And Everything After," which features a remastered version of the band's 1993 debut along with demos and a complete 1994 concert from Paris.

Buy from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WMGDD4?ie=UTF8&tag=tobeorgryanad-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000WMGDD4)
Download from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00166V65K?ie=UTF8&tag=tobeorgryanad-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00166V65K)

[raisemyglass]

Tracklist:

1492
los angeles
hanging tree
insignificant
sundays
cowboys
when i dream of michelangelo
on almost any sunday morning
washington square
anyone but you
you cant count on me
ballet d'or
on a tuesday in amsterdam long ago
come around

[Kevin McF]

source of the track list?

[raisemyglass]

source of the track list?

me:)

From what I've seen those are the tracks, but not necessarily in that order.

[Kevin McF]

sorry not to come off as an elitest but I dont believe you

[raisemyglass]

sorry not to come off as an elitest but I dont believe you

That's percectly fine by me.:upyours

[Kevin McF]

why would you post something and not say where you got it from? Just seems a bit dodgy to me

[Rob]

we got ourselves a :punch

[raisemyglass]

we got ourselves a :punch

:lol

I've had the list saved on my PC for a couple of weeks now, so don't remember exactly where I got it(a CC message board I presume). I'd be more that happy to remove it if it's that upsetting.

[Sydneyfan]

Wasn't RA involved with writing and/or performing on one of these tracks?

[Kevin McF]

:lol

I've had the list saved on my PC for a couple of weeks now, so don't remember exactly where I got it(a CC message board I presume). I'd be more that happy to remove it if it's that upsetting.
its just something I have been waiting for for a long time and seeing a couple tracks there that were scrapped from the hard candy sessions and have been rumoured to be on the disc, I am just looking for something concrete to trust

[raisemyglass]

On a related note, here is the info from the CC official on the re-release of AAEA.

22.08.07 August And Everything After (DELUXE EDITION)


Counting Crows are re-releasing their 1994 debut album with bonus tracks and a bonus live cd, recorded at Elysee Montmartre - Paris France DECEMBER 9TH, 1994. This deluxe cd package will be released September 18th, 2007. Click to Pre-order August And Everything After Deluxe

Track Details

Disc: 1
1. Round Here
2. Omaha
3. Mr. Jones
4. Perfect Blue Buildings
5. Anna Begins
6. Time And Time Again
7. Rain King
8. Sullivan Street
9. Ghost Train
10. Raining In Baltimore
11. Murder Of One, A
12. Shallow Days - (Acoustic Demo)
13. Mean Jumper Blues - (Acoustic Demo)
14. Love And Addiction - (Demo)
15. Omaha - (Demo)
16. Shallow Days - (Demo)
17. This Land Is Your Land - (Acoustic Demo)

Disc: 2
1. Anna Begins - (live)
2. Omaha - (live)
3. Jumping Jesus - (live)
4. Margery Dreams Of Horses - (live)
5. Perfect Blues Buildings - (live)
6. Round Here - (live)
7. Rain King - (live)
8. Time And Time Again - (live)
9. Ghost Train - (live)
10. Children In Bloom - (live)
11. Muder Of One, A - (live)
12. Sullivan Street - (live)
13. Ghost In You, The - (live)

[raisemyglass]

You can listen to one of the new songs "Cowboys" here:

http://www.myspace.com/saturdaynightssundaymornings

[FrigidRoses]

You can listen to one of the new songs "Cowboys" here:

http://www.myspace.com/saturdaynightssundaymornings

:\

Thanks for the link though.

[ferris wheel junkie]

the august and everything thingo looks fantastic. i love shallow days and love and addiction.
and that live in paris '94 thing looks like it'll be cool too.

as for the album.. i'm keeping an open mind. i loved everything pre- hard candy and this sounds like it'll be at least better than that album was. i'm looking forward to hearing it.

[raisemyglass]

According to a recent Adam journal entry

http://www.countingcrows.com/news/journal.php?uid=2435

the release date for this has been pushed back from November 6th to somewhere in early 2008:downyours

[Raining in Baltimore]

I saw CC live in August and they played 5 of the new songs (When I Dream of Michelangelo, Insignificant, Washington Square, On Almost Any Sunday Morning, and You Can't Count On Me), and I thought they were all magnificent...can't wait for the new album!

[raisemyglass]

According to Adam's voicemail

http://www.countingcrows.com/news/news.php?uid=2454

they will be releasing a digital 45 for free via their website shortly that will contain 1 song from each side of the album. The songs are supposed to be:

1492
When I Dream Of Michelanglo


Oh and BTW the new release date is March 25th 2008.

[Sydneyfan]

EXcellent, I am looking forward to this album.

[raisemyglass]

Free digital 45 now available here:

http://countingcrows.com/digital45.html

[Sydneyfan]

Getting this right now, ta.

[raisemyglass]

"1492" is quite a bit more rocked out than it used to be when they played it live a few years ago. Much better now IMO.

Based on these two songs the record is showing more promise than "Hard Candy".

[Sydneyfan]

I really liked When I Dream Of Michelanglo. 1492 I think I will like after a couple more listens.

[blueone]

Phwoar. That's a faceful of rawk.

[raisemyglass]

Tracklist:

1492
los angeles
hanging tree
insignificant
sundays
cowboys
when i dream of michelangelo
on almost any sunday morning
washington square
anyone but you
you cant count on me
ballet d'or
on a tuesday in amsterdam long ago
come around




http://www.yourstandardlife.com/images/SNSM-Tracklist.jpg

[raisemyglass]

Somebody wrote this on the official regarding the first single.



work in radio and got this email this am from interscope/geffen:


Counting Crows "You Can't Count On Me"

will land via UPS overnight on Monday 1/28/08

Officially Impacting on 2/04/08

From their forthcoming album “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings”

in stores 3/25/08

[Sydneyfan]

This is out tomorrow in the US. It'll be interesting to see what people think.

[of_the_girl]

Anyone heard this yet?

[raisemyglass]

I've listened to it a couple of times now. I'd say it's decent, but nothing outstanding.

I was probably expecting too much since it's been six year since Hard Candy, which is my least favorite of thier records. It has a little more of a rock edge to it, which I thought was missing from Hard Candy.

Ryan Adams did get writing credit on "Los Angeles", which was an old song that made the album (as was 1492 and Washington Square)

[Sydneyfan]

Yeah, the reviews I've read seem pretty mixed. I'm still going to buy it, but I'm not exactly in a huge rush anymore.

[Sydneyfan]

Really interesting article here from Rolling Stone about Adam Duritz. He talks quite frankly about his ongoing battle with mental illness, his weight problems and yes, even his infamous hair extensions.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/19551179/why_cant_adam_duritz_get_any_respect

[raisemyglass]

Here is a follow up interview where Adam complains about the original interview.
RS claims in the article that it's there best album in a decade, and them procede to give it 3 out of 5 stars.:lol

http://www.rollingstone.com/blogs/caprilounge/2008/03/counting-crows-loved-hated-sti.php

[Sydneyfan]

"If you see my picture in a magazine/I'm just tryin' to make some sense outta me," Adam Duritz apologizes on the Crows' first studio album in six years. We know, dude: Life in L.A. is tough. A record about holding on to your soul amid delusions (of celebrity, masculine vanity, nationalism and love), Saturday Nights has something to prove, opening with bare-knuckle riffs and veering between outsize, Gil Norton-produced rock-radio fare and introspective balladry. The hair-shirt single "You Can't Count on Me" and the cheerily grim "Hanging Tree" are little masterpieces of pop craft, their arrangements and Duritz's invitingly petulant wail often echoing golden-era R.E.M. Sometimes that craft is enough: The latter song is so packed with guitar fireworks that its buzz-killing lines about freezing to death barely register. But sometimes that's not enough: The spiritual emptiness of getting Italian disco hotties to go down on their knees before you — which Duritz bemoans in "1492" — is an existential crisis many people would love to have*

I thought the reprinting of the pro-Bush letter from the former CC member was drawing a pretty long bow though. It's not as though Duritz is to blame because his bass player was a Republican.




*snotty but funny :lol

[raisemyglass]

I thought the reprinting of the pro-Bush letter from the former CC member was drawing a pretty long bow though. It's not as though Duritz is to blame because his bass player was a Republican.




*snotty but funny :lol

Adam actually laid into Matt pretty heavily at the time he made those comments.

[Sydneyfan]

Just picked this up and need to listen to it several more times. After only one listen through though....it's better than I thought it would probably be, but not great. Funnily enough, I enjoyed the rock tracks more than the ballads, which is seldom the case for me with Counting Crows.
Hanging Tree and Sundays in particular are both really solid tracks.

btw- just saw this on another board....they are auctioning off Adam's journal of handwritten lyrics on Ebay with 100% of the money going to charity. Very nice.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Counting-Crows-Adam-Duritz-Handwritten-Song-Lyric-Book_W0QQitemZ320235045775QQihZ011QQcategoryZ85974 QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

[maddiehope]

I've given it a cursory listen, and thus far I think I like it. It's still nowhere near the caliber of August, and I suppose I just need to resign myself to the thought that it'll probably never be that good again.

Anyway, I do like how the album is kind of divided up into moods. You have the Saturday night mood (which is all right for fighting) and the Sunday morning mood on their respective halves of the album. Just for that, I dig it.

I'm just thankful it's not as bad or worse than that damn "Accidentally in Love" song.

[Sydneyfan]

I've given it a cursory listen, and thus far I think I like it. It's still nowhere near the caliber of August, and I suppose I just need to resign myself to the thought that it'll probably never be that good again.



That's what I have done as well. And I've found that I've enjoyed their other albums far more since.

[raisemyglass]

I definitely like the first half of the record better, although I really like Ballet D'Or as well.

[Sydneyfan]

I definitely like the first half of the record better, although I really like Ballet D'Or as well.

Ballet D'Or is probably my favourite ballad as well, it just sounds different from the rest of the album. You Can't Count On Me is catchy as well.