Counting Crows “New Amsterdam: Live at Heineken Music Hall, February 6, 2003”
POP|Geffen, released today
Did Counting Crows really just release a live record sans “Mr. Jones” or “Round Here?”
The band did, and it’s a bold move that fans and nonfans will likely applaud.
Counting Crows is one of those bands … the kind that is really easy to hate, while fans say singer Adam Duritz is simply misunderstood. While that may be the case, “New Amsterdam” finds Duritz at a much-talked-about period in his life – a rough spell in his personal and work realms – and it’s a potent aural account of this battle of more than three years ago.
The band is on point throughout – kept in clear check here in Bob Clearmountain’s mix – and Duritz sounds only slightly more tortured than usual. What matters on this record is the first track, “Rain King.” Originally an uplifting rock ‘n’ roll sigh, it’s a meditative dirge – a suicide contemplation – on this live record. It makes a listener wonder if it was a surface reworking of a song or a portrait of an artist and his psyche. |Ricardo Baca
Old 97’s “Hit by a Train: The Best of the Old 97’s”
ALT-COUNTRY|Rhino, released today
Old 97’s sound exactly like their name implies: twangy and jagged with hints of whiskey and tar. On “Hit by a Train,” the alt-country group’s best-of compilation, they display a versatility earned through 13 years of touring and recording. Singer-guitarist Rhett Miller evolves noticeably over the course of the 18 chronologically arranged tracks, reaching into the music for inspiration and coming up with handfuls of heartbreak and mirth.
Early songs like “Victoria” and “Doreen” (anyone see a theme here?) progress from rust-flecked and jaunty to the more polished pop-rock of “King of All the World.” The songs hold their ground, although the raw stuff goes down smoother than some of the affected later tunes. “Question,” for example, strikes a wistful, Beatles-esque tone that feels forced after a few listens. Still, this Dallas band has proven itself a worthy peer of better-known acts like Wilco and Son Volt. |John Wenzel
Other releases today:
Guster, “Ganging Up on the Sun” (Reprise) College kids love them some Guster. And here’s the bands first record with new member Joe Pisapia and producer Ron Aniello.
Gram Parsons, “The Complete Reprise Sessions” (Rhino) Here are three essential country-rock records – including the legendary “Grievous Angel” – in one slick package. Parsons started playing when he was 14, and he died 12 years later. Retrospectives such as this make you wonder what would have happened were his career, and life, not cut short.
Willie Nelson, “The Complete Atlantic Sessions” (Rhino) Another three-disc country boxed set, this one looks at Nelson’s early years – before his career took off on Columbia Records. While the songs aren’t as familiar as Nelson’s later work, they’re every bit as important.
