Films About Ghosts: The Best of...

by

Counting Crows

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I am not the biggest fan of Counting Crows, feeling that the two albums after "Recovering The Satellites" were inconsistent at best and never added them to my collection. I also dumped the live album into a used store bin soon after I'd bought it. But for "August and Everything After," Adam Duritz and company struck a chord in the year that Nirvana was king of the world (and Kurt closed the window on that chapter at roughly the same time), and radio was being ruled by the likes of Whitney Houston and Toni Braxton. It didn't hurt that Counting Crows were making music that echoed the best of Van Morrison or Bob Dylan. Another plus was having a producer like T-Bone Burnett, who understood the traditional intimacy of the Crow's sound. He helped make "August" sound like a bridge between the rage of grunge and the introspection of R.E.M.'s then hugely successful "Automatic For The People."

Like the Autumnal tree that graces the cover of "Films About Ghosts," the best work of Counting Crows gives one the feeling that some sort of somber change is always lurking nearby, often with a chill to accompany it. Think of how "A Long December" resonates long after the song ends. Same with "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby," which was the best song on "This Desert Life." Again, the comparison to Van Morrison is an apt one as Adam exorcises a certain amount of pain during his best songs.

This has often led to a criticism of the Crows in that a lot of their music sounded "whiny." That argument is easily dispelled by "American Girls," "Angels Of The Silences" or the statement of band unity, "Hanginaround." Each of these songs are concert pleasers and show the Crow's more playful side, something each album had for those that waited for the simple pleasures of a buoyant rock song.

The new songs here are worth having as well. "She Don't Want Nobody Near" is a close cousin to "Anna Begins," maybe to the point that you wonder if it's the same woman ten years later. Choosing San Francisco legends The Grateful Dead as their second source for a cover is a clear nod to the Crow's Bay Area roots, and they pull off "Friend Of The Devil" with flair. By maintaining a continually assured quality of musicianship and a sort of insider's effacing sense of self, Counting Crows may not have maintained the levels of success that the six-million selling "August and Everything After" dropped into their lap on the first try, but "Films About Ghosts" also proves that they have nothing to be embarrassed by. At 72 minutes and no duds in the bunch, it's as strong a collection of folk influenced popular music that one could hope for from the nineties.