RATING: ***½
Catapult |
COUNTING CROWS Recovering the Satellites (1996) Geffen Records by Kelvin Ha Adam Duritz, the frontman of Counting Crows, seems to have an obsession with the rain. On their last studio album, AUGUST AND EVERYTHING AFTER, Duritz calls himself The Rain King. On the track of the same name from that album, he sings: "I've been there before and I deserve a little more/I belong in the service of he Queen/I belong anywhere but in between". The hunger for the glamour and the fame that comes with stardom\pervaded the whole of that album. On "Mr.Jones," their hit single from the same album, Duritz proclaims that "We all want to be big stars, but we got different reasons for that." Whatever reason they must have had for wanting to be big stars back in 1993, their latest album, RECOVERING THE SATELLTES, reveals a dissatisfaction with the fruits that fame brought. Where AUGUST AND EVERYTHING AFER reflected a craving for everyone's attention and love, as in "Mr. Jones" ("When everybody loves you, son, that's about as funky as you can be"), RECOVERING THE SATELLITES shows a desire to leave it all behind and become anonymous again. On "Daylight Fading," a fairly strong number, Duritz sings, "She said `Everybody loves you'/She says `Everybody cares' But.../I want to say goodbye to you/Goodbye to all my friends/ Goodbye to everyone I know." Perhaps th title track, "Recovering the Satellites," best relects the band's sentiment about the hollowness of fame. The song opens with "we were gonna be the wildest people they ever hoped to see" and ends with an ironic refrain that goes "all everybody really knows for sure is.../that you're gonna come down." Musically, they sound tighter and more composed, and there are a fair number of more upbeat numbers than before. But lyrically, they have remained just as melancholic. There are the songs about failed love affairs and broken hearts, and Duritz's lyrics and voice lend them a painful, heartfelt wistfulnes that makes the slower numbers on this album perfect listening material for that midnight hour when one is alone in the room on a Saturday night. But in their evocation of the hollowness of Hollywood life, they fall short of capturing it with full effect because all the songs are very personal and subjective. RECOVERING THE SATELLITES is perhaps a personal critique of the fame and glamour of Hollywood, but for a real critical picture of the whole fast life scene, perhaps the Eagles album HOTEL CALIFORNIA best captures the essence of how fame is easily won and then just as easily lost. Listen to this album for the wonderful music, but try not to let the lyrics get you down.
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