Counting Crows

It's perhaps fitting that my prevailing memory of this year's Isle of Wight Festival will be guitars. This was after all the 45th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's legendary performance on the Island, something that was being widely celebrated by festival organiser John Giddings and his team across the site. Fender, for example, brought some specially designed guitars to the party for artists including You Me At 6 to play, and there was also a world record attempt for the most number of people in one place to be wearing a mask, the face in question was naturally Hendrix himself. Despite that backdrop, it was some of the guitarists who played across the weekend that demonstrated the power of the instrument and reinforced that guitar based rock isn't on its last legs as some have speculated over the past few years.

The festival got into full swing with a Stones-esque swagger on Friday afternoon when The Struts took to the Main Stage. Their enthusiasm signalled a continuation of their set from the previous year's festival, indeed they are an ideal opening act when you want to energise a crowd. Their appearance at Download the following day, will no doubt have had a similar effect. There seemed to be a Rolling Stones theme to many of the acts getting the festival underway. Over in the Big Top The Ruen Brothers covered 'Miss You' during their rousing set that was well received.

The first moment that sent a shiver down my spine this year was the Counting Crows though. The guitar line to 'Round Here' sent a wave of excitement across the main arena. It was a strong opening statement in a nine song set that featured the likes of 'Mr Jones', 'Miami', and 'Rain King' into which singer Adam Duritz dropped some Elbow lyrics as a nod of the hat to Guy Garvey. If Counting Crows' guitars weren't haunting enough, it was actually The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach whose riffs were the most powerful and elemental of the day. The dirty Blues grit of Auerbach's playing was like a roll of thunder that saw the heavens open to drench the crowd in torrential rain. While much of the set was dedicated to material culled from 'El Camino' and 'Brothers', rather than recent record 'Turn Blue', the band's graduation to a headlining slot was well deserved and warranted. The final song of the set 'Little Black Submarines', which builds from a delicate solo performance to a dramatic climax, utilised every trick in the book for The Black Keys' expanded touring band. If Patrick Carney's drums and Auerbach's guitars are the perfect union on record, it seems their live shows rightly now have the power to command top billing with the inclusion of bassist Richard Swift and keyboardist John Clement Wood. 

Continue reading: Isle Of Wight Festival - 2015 Live Review

Counting Crows' seventh studio album 'Somewhere Under Wonderland' is a welcome return for Adam Duritz's band. While it's certainly not a record that's taken six years to write ('Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings', the Crows' last full length batch of original material was released in 2008), this new release has been worth the wait. The tracks here have been informed by the intervening years of touring and switching record deals. There's a more independent spirit evident in these nine songs and, although they've never bettered their mercurial debut in the studio, some moments here certainly come close.

It's also a bold album. Take, for example, opening track and lead single 'Palisades Park'. At eight and a half minutes, it's not the instant choice for an opening statement, but somehow it works and remains one of the best compositions here. It opens with an elongated instrumental section of gin-soaked trumpet and piano, which sounds like a piece of Tom Waits reportage from the gutter. Suddenly, a bolder piano line takes over accompanied by Duritz's urgent delivery of fever dream lyrics, featuring friends and lost love. His words are littered with pop culture references. A personal favourite is the veiled compliment of, "You're a downtown pride, fully amplified Clyde. Gin-tight and ageing, but well preserved". The bar-band sing-along chorus takes you into more familiar Crows territory and there's an unmistakable feeling of self-reference throughout. At times, 'Palisades Park' strikes you as a companion piece to 'Anna Begins', while seemingly echoing the lyrics of 'Have You Seen Me Lately'. But this isn't a way to re-live past glories, rather a successful attempt to embed the track into Duritz's existing songbook.

Despite the perceived excess of the running time of the opening track, the remainder of 'Somewhere Under Wonderland' is surprisingly concise. Clocking in at just over forty minutes, the nine songs develop the themes of lost protagonists and their redemption to an increasingly impressive soundtrack of guitar solos and thundering organs. Duritz's often humour-tinged tales of alienation are densely packed with diverse references that take some time and attention to unpick (for example, 'Elvis Went To Hollywood' manages to mention Alex Chilton and Victor Frankenstein in the same line). However, whether narrating traditional rock songs or country ballads, Duritz's approach is hardly pretentious, rewarding is a far more suitable description.

Continue reading: Counting Crows - Somewhere Under Wonderland Album Review

Counting Crows
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
Geffen
Album Review

Continue reading: Counting Crows, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings Album Review