There was a time not too long ago when I considered the Counting Crows to be purely light rock material. Many of their top selling singles were family friendly and overall pretty mellow. After all this is this is the same band that made “Accidently in Love” a song that, while good, is as pop music favorite.
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Counting Crows
|  Entertainment
Art
“Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings”
(Geffen)
Released March 25, 2008
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“Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings” is, for the most part, a step in a new direction for the band. The Counting Crows have not released a major studio album in over five years plenty of time for the band to reassess where they see themselves musically. The result is a little schizophrenic but good.
The first half of the album is loud and uproarious. Strangely punk rock considering what the band usually produces. The first track on the album immediately destroys any notion you had of the Crows as a family friendly band. Filled with some great guitar shredding and a defiant take on the Christopher Columbus story the whole song becomes an adrenaline rush. Without a doubt one track that will never hit light rock stations.
The same can be said for the song “Cowboys” about halfway through the album. While the overall sound of the song is reminiscent of the bands early work, the lyrics are decidedly different. Filled with images of killers and even talk about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln it will take many by surprise.
Sadly, as the album progresses the band regresses back into their natural musical state. The Counting Crows are a great band, all good musicians with a lot of talent, but something about their music usually gets the listener depressed. Not depressed in a Nine Inch Nails sort of way just enough to kill any high you might have had.
The last half of the album is just begging for a light rock station to find a single and play it to death. Slow and melodic songs like “When I Dream of Michelangelo” could have literally come of any of their previous albums.
While “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings” will not blow the minds of the music community it is still a quality album. The few standout songs on the album are good enough that it is clear the Counting Crows still got it.
The album itself is slightly longer then most released recently. With 14 songs all clocking in at just over four minutes each the listener is in for a bit of a musical rollercoaster ride. It is as if the band was in some sort of disagreement with each other on how they wanted many of the songs to end up. Tracks one through six could have easily been done by a completely different band.
Based on album sales so far the album is a bestseller. No surprise, the Counting Crows are a workhorse style band that will probably be around forever. They are musically strong and dependable. It would be nice if they could break out of their standard structure and let loose every so often, the results are fantastic.
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