repulsemonkey's Full Review: August and Everything After by Counting Crows
My girlfriend is slowly stealing every last piece of my clothing. It started with the T-shirts. She’d put on my "Girls Are Evil" shirt before she went to bed, decide it was cool, and wear it the next day. Two weeks later I’d find that "Girls Are Evil" T-shirt hanging in her closet. "I was just going to wash it and give it back to you," she’d say. "Then why is it hanging in your closet, all clean and smelling like your perfume, and not in the laundry?" "Um… I forgot."
Now, she’s moved on to the boxers and the jackets. No doubt, in a couple of months I’ll be missing ties and belts and pairs of shoes—even though she’s a woman’s size five and I’m in a 12 for men. Things that she couldn’t possibly be wearing will go missing only because she can dismiss the thievery with "Oh, you left it at my house," or "I thought it might be nice to clean it for you." And I fall for it every time, convinced that she actually wants to do something nice for me and not just rid me of all my earthly possessions.
Love. It’s a beautiful thing.
I’ve probably listened to Counting Crows’ August and Everything After more than any album I own. To me, it’s the soundtrack to any relationship—whether it be with the Juliet you’ve developed the innocent crush on, even though the two of you have never spoken and you only glimpse her twice a week at the bus stop across from yours or the high school sweetheart that’s grown up to be your loving wife.
Adam Duritz, lyricist and front-man for the Counting Crows, has this insane knack for pinpointing those ingratiating nuances that flavor any love affair, imaginary or otherwise. In "Anna Begins," he sings, "She’s talking in her sleep/ It’s keeping me awake/ And every word is nonsense/ But I understand" and nails one of those T-shirt stealing moments that indelibly brand your lover’s face on your memory.
Don’t Believe the Hype
Counting Crows have too often been dismissed as whiney, influence biters—unfairly lumped in with the Hooties and the Rob Thomases of the world. What these comparisons inevitably forget to mention is the band’s TALENT. Counting Crows practically invented a genre for folk-tinged 90’s classic rock when they burst out with "Mr. Jones" back in ’93, paving the way--for better or worse—for those Hooties and Rob Thomases.
(Admittedly, one song on August and Everything After lives up to the whiney reputation Counting Crows have been branded with: On "Ghost Train," Adam Duritz, incessantly repeating the idiotic refrain "How do you do?", manages to make the same sounds as my cat when she’s in heat and locked in my closet.
I harbor a strange but distant fondness for that track.)
The Love-Bug Has Bitten
For the most part, Counting Crows lay down a versatile and endearing set of tiny masterpieces which, if listened to closely and correctly (that is, the repulsemonkey way) provide a step-by-step handbook for the phases of any romantic relationship, easily devoured in chewable, bite-sized chunks:
(WARNING: Love is a powerful drug. repulsemonkey hereby absolves himself of any and all responsibility for self-examination caused by the following relationship dissection. Read on, brave Romeo.)
PHASE I: Searching For the Soul Mate
THE SONG: Mr. Jones (Track 3)
The hip-shakin’ story of a boy hangin’ out downtown and staring at the dancers, wishing he were a big star in love with a beautiful woman, Mr. Jones may re-enforce the myth that rock stars only sing for the ladies’ attention, but Duritz is too good not to hint at the need for acceptance underneath the prowling exterior as he sings, "When everybody loves you/ Man, that’s just about as funky as you can be."
PHASE II: The Yearning
THE SONG: A Murder of One (Track 11)
Okay, it took the monkey a while to figure out that the title actually refers to "Murder" as the term for a group of crows. The title only adds to the sense of reaching out for that elusive Juliet, wed to Paris and out of your range as Duritz wails: "Are you happy where you’re sleeping?/ Does he keep you safe and warm?/ Does he tell you when you’re sorry?/ Does he tell you when you’re wrong?"
PHASE III: Falling In Love
THE SONG: Anna Begins (Track 5)
Duritz nails that anxiety ridden but roller-coaster-esque fun ride when "Seconds when I’m shaking leave me shuddering for days."Anna Begins is a relentless, percussion and vocal rhythm driven track that makes the listener almost schizophrenic, feeling that eternal "This is wonderful!/ But what if I get hurt?" debate. Duritz repeats "I’m not ready for this sort of thing…"
Are we ever?
(CODA: Omaha (Track 2), a James Taylor influenced examination of a stagnant small town which still has time to "Roll a new love over" and declare "It’s the heart that matters more.")
PHASE IV: The Morning After
THE SONG: Rain King (Track 7)
And all of a sudden we find ourselves in the T-shirt stealing, find-more-time-to-bicker-than-we-do-for-good-lovin’ era. Seems like it always comes on so suddenly, doesn’t it?
I’ve actually inserted my own call and response to this song:
Adam (on T-shirt stealing) says, "I’ve been here before and I deserve a little more."
repulsemonkey replies, "Yes, Adam. I know. We’re all the Rain King."
(CODA: Round Here (Track 1)—as in, "’Round here she’s slipping through my hands." Tell us like it is, Adam. Tell us like it is.)
PHASE V: The Misery
THE SONG: Sullivan Street (Track 8)
"I’m almost drowning in her sea/ She’s nearly crawling on her knees/ It’s almost everything I need."
No more needs be stated. Move along, there’s nothing to see here.
PHASE VI: The Break-up
THE SONGS: Perfect Blue Buildings (Track 4) and Time and Time Again (Track 6)
I know, I know. It’s tragic. I’m right there with you. But it was bound to happen. Fortunately, our man Adam takes some time with this one. "It’s 4:30 a.m. on a Tuesday/ And it doesn’t get much worse than this," he sings on the former. On Time and Time Again, it’s "I wanted to see you walking away from me/ Without the sensation of you leaving me alone."
PHASE VII: The Yearning (Part Two)
THE SONG: Raining In Baltimore (Track 10)
Underscored by a simple piano, Duritz finally lays it all down: the heartache, the desperation, the adoration, the loneliness, the remorse for the lost clothes—it’s all right here in one ode to a long-distance lost love. "There’s things I remember and things I forget/ I miss you/ I guess that I should/ Three thousand five hundred miles away/ But what would you change if you could?
THE MONKEY’S ADVICE: Go back and listen to Anna Begins now. Remember falling in love.
Sure, listening to August and Everything After leaves you exhausted, but, like any good romance, the Counting Crows explore the spectrum of emotion which accompanies love—from joy to sorrow—and leave you a little bit more experienced when you’ve finished. And they don’t even try to sneak off with your boxers…
Not to be outdone, cheekylass (aka the girlfriend of whom I speak so charmingly in this epinion) has written a rebuttal to this review. Please check out "...on why I steal my boyfriend's clothes..." at http://repulsemonkey.epinions.com/musc-review-49A-59D0BDE-39FB66A0-prod1
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