Counting Crows shows are not just shows, they are an experience, a wondrous musical journey. The myriad of emotions the band puts you through is staggering. Echoes of the Outlaw Roadshow captures that feeling so well, that it seems as if you are there, in the audience, witnessing the magic. The recordings on this album perfectly reflect what a Counting Crows show feels like; the guitars, the vocals, the harmonies, Jim's intensity as he counts off for songs, Dan's hat. The only thing that's missing is the "Lean on Me" intro and the "California Dreamin" outro. Recorded over several months (June, October and November, 2012) and multiple cities (New Orleans, Vienna, Virginia, Anaheim, California, Huntington, New York, Austin and Huston, Texas) on Counting Crows' summer and fall tour, Echoes flows as one complete concert thanks to expert mixing by Shawn Dealey.
Opening the record is a favorite of mine, a song that was included as an iTunes bonus track on Underwater Sunshine: "Girl From the North Country". Recorded in New Orleans, Louisiana, "North Country" is just Adam Duritz on vocals and David Immergück (Immy) on acoustic guitar. Though not a song that one would think to open a live album, it is a beautiful example of what this band is capable of; the combination of Adam's voice, delicate yet powerful, and Immy's guitar, telling it's own unique story, is hypnotizing. It leaves you yearning for more, excited for what is to follow.
"North Country" leads into a Counting Crows live staple: "Round Here." This performance of "Round Here" has a trippier intro than I'm used to, but it works, I dig it. One of the mysteries of a Counting Crows show is not only what songs they are going to include in the set list that night, which is usually made up after sound check, but also what songs, what lyrics to other songs, are they going to weave into their own. There are a handful of songs which Duritz will slip into other songs in the middle of his own, and "Round Here" is one of them. On this track he includes lyrics from Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing" and also the "come outside with me..." lyrics I've heard before in a few other performances of "Round Here". I love when Duritz does this, with any song. He adds a different feel, a different personality to the song each time he sings it. It may be a song you've heard live a dozen times, but he keeps it changing, he keeps it unique."Untitled (Love Song)," also one of my favorite songs from Underwater Sunshine, follows "Round Here." I've heard this song live many times, and I have to say, this is one of my favorite performances of the song. It is so full of energy, so full of life here.
I think what I like best about this live album is that the songs that were chosen to be on it are not your standard Counting Crows songs, there are songs on here that one wouldn't hear often, songs that the casual listener may not really know. Sure, there's the absolutely amazingly brilliant rendition of "Rain King," with lyrics from Elbow's "Lippy Kids," a song which since hearing it here has become a favorite, and Elbow becoming a favorite band, you've got "Round Here," you've got other tracks from Underwater Sunshine, including the harmonic "Start Again," and "Hospital," showing off Immy's bass skill and Millard Powers' acoustic guitar, and the album closer "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere." But this time in the mix we get some deep cuts, we get songs that fans love, songs that fans like me hope to hear someday live, songs that we include on our perfect set lists.
One of these happy they're there, but somewhat unexpected songs is "Carriage." A track from the 2002 album Hard Candy, "Carriage" features a trumpet line, which without a trumpet player is difficult to replicate onstage. For this show, the band was joined by Andre "Don" Carter, who takes the trumpet line and makes it his own. This Desert Life's "I Wish I was a Girl" and "Four Days" pop up in the set. "Four Days" precedes "Hospital," and like on "Hospital" Immy takes the bass, and Millard plays the distorted electric guitar.
Also appearing on this recording is the Recovering the Satellites track "Mercury," the Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil", another favorite of mine, from Hard Candy, "Up All Night (Frankie Miller Goes to Hollywood)" with members from the other Outlaw Roadshow bands on backing vocals, and two of my favorite songs from my favorite Counting Crows' record, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, "Sundays" and "Le Ballet d'Or." "Le Ballet d'Or" is on my list of all time favorite songs, not just Counting Crows songs, but all songs. I was very excited to see it on the track list for this album, and upon hearing it was completely blown away. Adam Duritz brings great emotion and feeling to the song, and of course, being me, I really, really love Immy's acoustic guitar work in the song (the man is fan-damn-tastic.)If you were lucky enough to catch one of these Outlaw Roadshow's last summer, get this album to relive the magic. If you didn't get to see one, get this album to see what all the fuss was/is about. This band is truly amazing; they have a stranglehold on the top spot in my life (especially after that show that was streamed live via YouTube from Sydney last week)
The album right now is only available in the UK, but you can order it through amazon.co.uk or the UK iTunes store, and will be released in the US on 11/11/13, again you can order it on CD or vinyl from Amazon or Counting Crows's merch page.
No comments:
Post a Comment