Music: From gold to crap - Page 2

I haven't heard any Everclear since that AM Radio song but I would assume every song they have now is Alexakis saying "daddy issues, daddy issues" over the same two or three chords.

The thing with DMB (ignoring the "they've always sucked" trope) is that they have been controlled too much by whichever producer they've worked with. Lillywhite seemed most in tune with the band if you compare the early stuff with the Lillywhite records. And I think you can hear a pretty clear refinement of the sound up through "...Crowded Streets". Then there were all the personal problems and stuff that led to Ballard being brought in for "Everyday", a record that sucks on pretty much every level. They've been very inconsistent in their studio stuff since that point. The material written during the "Stand Up" sessions that didn't get recorded is uniformly better than what made it on the album.

Wow. I've always thought that Counting Crows were employed by Satan. I can't remember one popular Counting Crows song that I've ever not hated. But OK, you're saying there was a time they weren't punishing horror to all eardrums. Maybe I'll check this out and be surprised like I was back when a friend proved to me that Soul Asylum was a good band once upon a time. I was seriously taken aback.

I think of Grave Dancer's Union as a weird burp between ... And the Horse They Rode In On and Let Your Dim Light Shine. Most of the songs don't hold up nearly as well as what came before or immediately after (not too much after, though), but I guess something just resonated with the public at the time.

Counting Crows got off to a bad start in terms of public perception. "Mr. Jones," which you may be surprised to know works pretty well in context, was probably the best possible song they could have released to get on the radio and the worst possible song they could have released to gain any sort of cred from critics or more well-listened music fans. There's a fatalist note to the lyrics that don't come across when it's not surrounded by songs about loneliness and suicide, so it comes off like a happy-go-lucky paean to impending fame. "Round Here" also sounds shallow and vaguely uplifting until you give it a listen or two; it may be one of the most depressing songs to ever hit pop radio.

Of course all enjoyment here is contingent on getting past Duritz's idiosyncratic vocals (which shouldn't be all the much of an obstacle if you can get past Van Morrison and early Springsteen's* tendency to sing over everything and whining, cracking vocals of the aforementioned Will Scheff, or, for that matter, Isaac Brock) and public image (the less said, the better).

But, seriously, Recovering the Satellites. It's the heavier, more complex cousin to the first album. Heck, take off Duritz's vocals on "Angels of the Silences" (although they're quite good), and it's not all that removed from a particularly good Sugar or Foo Fighters song.

* Speaking of Springsteen, I think what really made me enjoy August and Everything After initially is that the lyrical vibe is about as close to Greetings from Asbury Park/The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle-era Springsteen as I've ever heard anyone come. So a taste for early Springsteen might help you appreciate what they were doing.