INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Counting Crows focus on being catchy
When the talk turned to songwriting, Duritz had a confession for McCartney. And out of this brief exchange came a thought that helped shape the music Duritz wrote for his band's current CD, Hard Candy.
"If you listen to the first notes on Recovering the Satellites, the beginning of [the song] "Catapult," it's very similar to the first notes of "Venus And Mars," the beginning of that song," Duritz said, mentioning the lead track on Counting Crows" second CD.
"I was telling him [McCartney] how we copped this lick, copped this melody line accidentally without thinking about it and realized we had to change a little bit of it," Duritz said.
"He asked about it. It's funny how songs can stick in your head so long. And as I was leaving I was thinking, "Oh my God, how many of that guy's melodies have just stuck in your head 20 years later, 30 years later?" That's a pretty wild thing. I kind of got it in my head to concentrate on that for this album."
So it's no surprise that Hard Candy is arguably the catchiest of the four Counting Crows studio CDs. The hooks are especially plentiful on such upbeat tunes as the sunny recent single "American Girls" (which boasts some sugar-sweet harmonies from Sheryl Crow), "If I Could Give All My Love" (also known as "Richard Manuel Is Dead"), a rootsy power pop tune, the new-wavish "New Frontier" and the song "Hard Candy," which evokes echoes of the Byrds with its ringing guitar tones. But even more introspective songs, such as the bittersweet ballad "Goodnight L.A.," the melancholy "Butterfly In Reverse" and the darkly luminous "Miami," also boast graceful, full-bodied melodies.
In addition to trying to build an extra bit of melody into the songs, the Hard Candy project found the Counting Crows taking a new approach to recording. Where the previous studio CDs - August & Everything After, Recovering the Satellites and This Desert Life - had been done in single recording sessions, generally with an eye toward capturing the spontaneity of a live band recording, the band took a more studied approach to Hard Candy. The CD was recorded over the course of several studio sessions, which were scheduled around brief runs of tour dates.
For the first time, the Counting Crows used the concerts to road test some of the material. Several producers were involved. A session with Smash Mouth producer Eric Valentine never meshed. Another session with Ethan Johns (known for his work with Ryan Adams and Rufus Wainwright) yielded a few tracks. The bulk of the CD was finished with Steve Lillywhite, the acclaimed producer of CDs by U2, Talking Heads and XTC.
What emerged was a mix of tracks, some of which (like "Up All Night," "Carriage" and "Goodnight L.A.") were nailed quickly and recorded mainly with the band playing live in the studio, and others which underwent considerable molding and tweaking on the road and in the studio before the group got satisfactory versions.
"There are definitely songs on Hard Candy that wouldn't have worked without the work that we put into it," Duritz said. "They were just harder. "American Girls," "Miami" and "Richard Manuel Is Dead" all benefited greatly from taking them out on the road. There are things we learned touring that you couldn't get in the studio. And like on other albums, those might have all been songs that didn't make it on a record. I mean, "American Girls" was getting cut all the way up to the end. It wasn't until Sheryl [Crow] put the vocals on that it worked. One by one we worked out all the problems of the song. And the last thing left was that the choruses didn't work. It wasn't until Sheryl came along that we made it work."
Duritz also took considerable time crafting the lyrics for the CD, writing much of the material during an extended period where he kept to himself at his home and didn't have much of a social life.
"I had come out of a particularly poor performance in a relationship, and I just didn't go out after that," Duritz said. "And if you"re not going out, you're not meeting new people. You stay home a lot or at work. The next thing I know, a year and a half had gone by."
The isolation had a direct effect on Duritz's lyrics. "I think songs for whatever reason ended up being about memories, about things that are further in the past because I wasn't having a lot of experiences right then," he said. "I was doing more remembering than living right then. I think it had a big effect in that way."
The catchiness of the songs - not to mention the evocative nature of Duritz's lyrics - would seem to give Hard Candy a chance to bring the Counting Crows closer to the massive popularity that followed 1993's August & Everything After, which topped 5 million in sales behind the hit "Mr. Jones."
Sales have slipped since, with Recovering the Satellites topping out at about 2 million and This Desert Life sneaking just over 1 million in sales. And so far Hard Candy has not been a huge hit. But Duritz and the other band members - Ben Mize (drums), Matt Malley (bass), Charlie Gillingham (keyboards), Dave Bryson (guitars), Dan Vickrey (guitars) and David Immergluck (guitars) - have ratcheted up their promotional efforts to turn Hard Candy into a major hit.
There are positive signs in the marketplace, too. Duritz said ticket sales for Counting Crows shows are stronger than ever, and radio has responded to a new single, a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi." The latter track, which guest features vocals from Vanessa Carlton, has hit the top 10 Billboard magazine adult top 40 chart. A version of the song without Carlton appears as a hidden track on Hard Candy.
That Duritz would crave mass success again might surprise those who knew of the difficulties he encountered with the Counting Crows' first wave of popularity. Privacy became rare, as fans camped out on the lawn of his house, his personal life became a topic for tabloids and he was often followed by zealous fans whenever he ventured outside.
"I've made that adjustment," he said. "And the world is never going to be as obsessed with me as it was then. It just won't happen again. But also I'm OK with it now. I'm adjusted to it. I want all of our albums to be successful. I want them all to be huge. I never wanted any of our albums to be less successful. I would like people to act like less of an idiot around me."
"I'm not complaining about fame. I'm not complaining because my life got bad," Duritz said.
"I'm complaining because you [certain fans] act like an idiot. If you don't act like an idiot, I won't complain about these things. That's the only problem I had, those idiots who slept out on my lawn, the people coming up to me everywhere. Why it turns people into morons, I don't know. If it didn't, I wouldn't complain about it, because the money's great."
Counting Crows, with special guests Sixpence None The Richer, will appear at Clowes Memorial Hall on Thursday, April 17. For ticket information, call 239-5151.