Counting Crows - August And Everything After - Review

Counting Crows - August and Everything After

This incredible album is the Counting Crow's debut album. It was released in 1993 and a few of the singles such as Mr. Jones and Round Here jump-started this band's career.

The opening track, creates a world of it's own with great lyrics and haunting guitar. It is followed by Omaha, which is very catchy and the music is incredible. I particularly like the line in the chorus- “get right to the heart of matters/it's the heart that matters more/think you better turn your ticket in/get your money back at the door.” The next song is arguably the best song on the album- Mr. Jones. It has a great rhythm and is very upbeat, with lyrics that tell an interesting story.

The next song, Perfect Blue Buildings is very depressing and melancholy, and Duritz's voice adds lots of emotion and meaning. Anna Begins follows, and it's a bit more upbeat. I like how they show the complexity and intensity in relationships and definitely nails it in this song. The next song is Time and Time again, and it is very cool with the organ and the drums in the chorus. That is followed by The Rain King - the band's 4th single - which is similar to Mr. Jones in that it's very upbeat.

Sullivan Street is the 8th song on the album and is a great ballad with wonderful piano that adds a great tune to this slow song. It's followed by Ghost Train, which is fine but doesnt really compare to the other classics on this album. The organ is nice though. The next song is beautiful, and depressing. The piano absolutely shines on this song. The final song on the album is great. Incredible drumming and guitar, and closes the album very well.

All in all, this album was definetly one of the best of the 90's, and probably the band's best. If you don't already own this, go out and buy it please. It will improve your life, I promise! (See, who needs self-help books when there's music available??)

All the best,
Avi