August And Everything After

Performer: Counting Crows
Artist: Maria McKee; T-Bone Burnett; Gary Louris; Mark Olson
Engineer: Pat McCarthy
Producer: T-Bone Burnett
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Counting Crows: Matt Malley (vocals, guitar, bass); David Bryson (vocals, guitar); Charlie Gillingham (vocals, accordion, piano, Hammond B-3 organ, Chamberlain); Adam Duritz (vocals, piano, harmonica); Steve Bowman (vocals, drums). Additional personnel: David Immergluck (vocals, guitar, pedal steel guitar, mandolin, mandocello); Bill Dillon (guitar, guitorgan); T-Bone Burnett (guitar); Denny Fongheiser (drums, percussions); Maria McKee, Gary Louris, Mark Olson (background vocals). Counting Crows were nominated for a 1995 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. "Round Here" was nominated for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. Counting Crows: Adam Duritz (vocals, piano, harmonica); Matt Malley (guitar, bass, background vocals); David Bryson (guitar, background vocals); Charlie Gillingham (accordion, piano, Hammond B-3 organ, Chamberlain, background vocals); Steve Bowman (drums, background vocals). Additional personnel: David Immergluck (guitar, pedal steel guitar, mandolin, mandocello, background vocals); Bill Dillon (guitar, guitorgan); T-Bone Burnett (guitar); Denny Fongheiser (drums, percussion); Maria McKee, Gary Louris, Mark Olson (background vocals). Counting Crows were nominated for a 1995 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. "Round Here" was nominated for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. With their stunning craftsmanship and a classic sound DEEPLY rooted in whistlestop America, the anthems and rural overtones which distinguish the songs on AUGUST AND EVERYTHING AFTER evoke the same kind of visceral reaction which once greeted The Band. But AUGUST AND EVERYTHING AFTER is not an exercise in nostalgia. Some listeners have reacted to vocalist Adam Duritz's gruff, ecstatic vocals in the way they once responded to such dark angels of revelation and regret as Van Morrison and Michael Stipe. On "Time And Time Again," Duritz conjures up a startling sense of longing and loneliness, as the listener is drawn in and consumed by a spooky sense of space and solitude. Credit must go to producer T-Bone Burnett, who has gotten a lot of mileage out of similar themes and sounds. He frames Duritz's fervent vocals in Charlie Gillingham's mysterious keyboards and David Bryson's supple guitar, to particular effect on "Sullivan Street," where Maria McKee's harmonies give the tune a forlorn country resonance. All in all, there's a tactile, spiritual air to Counting Crows' tunes, as if by losing yourself in their lyric loneliness, by boarding their "Ghost Train," you could lose your own isolation.

Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.58) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's." Rolling Stone (10/28/93, p.76) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...What's most impressive about AUGUST AND EVERYTHING AFTER is how many such moments [of cinematic worlds] there are..." Uncut (p.94) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Songs such as 'Mr. Jones' and 'The Rain' have a warmth that disguises the more general tone of the lyrics..." Melody Maker (3/5/94, p.43) - "...awesomely assured, a near-perfect example of that exhilarating mix of soul, R&B, folk, country and rock n' roll that Gram Parsons extravagantly defined as `Cosmic American Music'...." Mojo (Publisher) (1/95, p.50) - Included in Mojo's "25 Best Albums of 1994" - "A T-Bone Burnett - produced masterpiece awash with echoes of Van Morrison and R.E.M...." Record Collector (magazine) (p.80) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Singer Adam Duritz's vocals owed a debt to early 70s Van Morrison, not least on the breakthrough single 'Mr. Jones,' while the instrumentation was closer in spirit to The Band."

In the midst of the early 1990s grunge boom, Counting Crows emerged as an alternative to the heavy, alienated sounds of the Kurt Cobain crowd. The California band harked back to the classic '60s folk-rock sounds of the Band, Bob Dylan, and Van Morrison. Poetic frontman Adam Duritz proved quirky and charismatic enough to endear himself to the millions who bought the group's debut album. Neatly avoiding the notorious sophomore jinx, the follow-up album was even more accomplished, if not as commercially successful.

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