Counting Crows | Somewhere Under Wonderland
Did you know the Counting Crows are still making music? Probably not, right? Don’t you lie to me. After bursting on the scene in 1993 with August and Everything After, their popularity has gradually decreased, not surprising since their first album, fueled by “Mr. Jones” (yeah that song is over 20 years old now) sold 7 million f’n albums in the US alone. SEVEN MILLION. From the late 90s on, most people only seemed to remember they were band every few years when they landed on another soundtrack like Cruel Intentions or Shrek 2. But they’ve still been trucking. Their last album of original music was 2008’s Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, a double album of sorts, with six harder, faster songs on the first disc, and 8 mellower tracks on the Sunday disc. Sadly, the majority of the softer side sucked, but songs like “1492” and “Cowboys” from Saturday Nights showed they still had something new to offer.
Their last studio release, Underwater Sunshine, was actually a cover album, and while it was mostly forgettable, it did have some standouts songs, particularly their versions of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” and “Untitled (Love Song)” from The Romany Rye. While doing a cover album at this point in a band’s career normally signals they’re just out of fucking ideas, Underwater Sunshine seems to have helped the band find a new direction yet again. The ‘70s influenced country rock sound displayed here first is also the greatest influence on their seventh studio album, Somewhere Under Wonderland. These nine new songs definitely sound like the Counting Crows, but it’s also a wear-your-influences-on-your-sleeve sort of album. And that’s a good thing. It makes you wonder what the Counting Crows would be like playing in a previous generation alongside Van Morrison, Neil Young, and The Band.
Sure, they’d probably get picked on for their signature weepy ballads like “Possibility Days”, but they might gain some respect for rocking out hard on “Dislocation”. While some songs here are more 70s country rock (“Cover Up the Sun”, “Scarecrow”) they haven’t abandoned their early 90s sound that sold them all those records. Listening to the album’s opener “Palisades Park” will bring you back to the days when snap bracelets were cool and Clueless was the best movie on TV. Just me? Well, moving on. They’ve blended the ‘90s and ‘70s before on 2002’s Hard Candy; check out “Richard Manuel is Dead” and “Up All Night”. No seriously, go check them out right the fuck now. But never before have the disparate songs sounded like they belonged on the same album. You know the whole album vs collection of songs thing? Somewhere Under Wonderland is actually their most cohesive album since their debut a hundred years ago, with the music tied together with Duritz’s renowned introspective lyrics; the biggest draw for their cult fans that kept the band afloat in the down years where no one else paid attention to them. Well, except those damn ogre-loving kids.
Somewhere Under Wonderland is a mostly upbeat album that may not be catchy enough to gain any real airplay (or whatever the modern-day equivalent is) but could hit a certain audience (me) that is enjoying the roots/alt country/Americana revivals spreading throughout the music scene in recent years. The only downers on the album are the previously mentioned “Possibility Days” and the acoustic “God of Ocean Tides” which are low in sound and mood only, not in quality. Most of the songs should make you want to grab your partner and get up in dance in the imaginary roadhouse bar existing within your kitchen.
The Drink: Did you know that Adam Duritz and Ryan Adams used to be roommates? Weird. Well, in honor of them let’s go with the cocktail known as Van Gogh’s roommate. Yeah, it’s a real thing.
Bake
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[…] album containing mostly songs from that era (as well as a Dawes cover) then followed it up with Somewhere Under Wonderland that was influenced as much by the 70s as their own earlier work. Elsewhere, upcoming collaborators […]