Back When They Were Good: Counting Crows
now
Tepid power ballads and rehashes of past glories.
then
One of the most enjoyable things about Counting Crows was that they were one of the few really agreeable radio friendly bands. All of their songs could quite happily be played on daytime radio, even on bland-o-rama stations and not bother anyone. Even then though, they were never a band to talk down. Just because they were easy to listen to didn’t mean everything was simple. The songs always retained more depth than they appeared to. It’s this that keeps their debut August and Everything After as one of my favourites even now.
I don’t even know what changed. Something did though, and little after their first few albums interest me. The music seems far more by the numbers now. Understandable I suppose for a band once it finds a formula that works. But it takes away any excitement for new material. Nothing is really all that bad now, but nothing grabs either. Before you even start listening to a new record, you know exactly what you’re going to get. I’ll just stick to those early releases if it’s all the same.
T Bone Burnett definitely brought out something very cool in these guys on “August…”.