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Hard Candy is the sound of a band at a creative and poetic summit. Over three previous studio recordings, Counting Crows have moved through varied musical territories as a way of conveying emotion through performance, texture, and nuance, the place where the mood meets the heart meets the mind. Hard Candy is both a radical departure from the band's previous method of recording, and contextually an affirmation of what sets them apart from virtually every other band on the rock & roll scene: their commitment to songwriting as craft. These 13 tracks are strongly committed to conveying a song in the hook rather than in the lyric. They are tight, crisp, and razor-sharp pop songs on a bright, shiny, rock record. Every backing vocal, every lilting string, trumpet line, or piano run, was meticulously crafted and scripted into this invigorating musical architecture -- and lyrically, Adam Duritz offers at least as much as he's given on any other album. The set opens with the title track, a wide-open 4/4 rocker illustrated by shimmering piano lines and ringing Byrds-like 12-string electric guitars punching up the middle. Duritz sings with an Allen Ginsberg-like heroic candor: "On certain Sundays in November when the weather bothers me/I empty drawers of other summers/where my shadows used to be...You send your lover off to China and you wait for her to call/You put your girl up on a pedestal and you wait for her to fall/I put my summers back in a letter/All the regrets you can't forget are somehow pressed upon a picture in the face of such an ordinary girl." These lines reflect the entwined themes that run through virtually every song on the record: memory, the regret of loss due to ignorance, and pervasive loneliness in everyday life. Even the humorous songs here, such as the first single, "American Girls," offer candid meditations on these subjects. Other tracks, such as "Butterfly Reverse," co-written with Ryan Adams, offer stunningly textured instrumentation and wondrously pastoral pop melodies accented by a grand piano holding the middle against a huge wash of fawning strings and rim shots as the lyrics drip like dirty rainwater into a puddle in the middle of the street. Ultimately, this record, with its many seeming aberrations, will no doubt attract new fans without alienating the old. These 13 stories are as wondrously accessible in their sheeny glory, yet as moving and profound as anything pop music has to offer.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo
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Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Matthew Sweet, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Dan Vickrey, ComposerLyricist - Counting Crows, Background Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist - Charlie Gillingham, ComposerLyricist - David Gibbs, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Sheryl Crow, FeaturedArtist - Jack Joseph Puig, Producer, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist - Carl Glandville, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Dan Vickrey, ComposerLyricist - David Immergluck, ComposerLyricist - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist - Matt Malley, ComposerLyricist - Charlie Gillingham, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jerry Hey, String Arranger, Flugelhorn, AssociatedPerformer - Steve Erdody, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Ryan Adams, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Ethan Johns, Producer - Brian Dembow, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Cecilia Tsan, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Ed Meares, Bass Guitar, AssociatedPerformer - Richard Feves, Bass Guitar, AssociatedPerformer - Paula Hochhalter, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - John Scanlon, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Counting Crows, Background Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist - Charlie Gillingham, ComposerLyricist - Carole Castillo, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Karen Elaine-Bakunin, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Tina Soule, Cello, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jerry Hey, Unknown, Other - Steve Erdody, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Brian Dembow, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Cecilia Tsan, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Ed Meares, Bass Guitar, AssociatedPerformer - Richard Feves, Bass Guitar, AssociatedPerformer - Paula Hochhalter, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - John Scanlon, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - David Immergluck, ComposerLyricist - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Adam Duritz, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Charlie Gillingham, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Carole Castillo, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Karen Elaine-Bakunin, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Tina Soule, Cello, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist - Andre "Don" Carter, Trumpet, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Leona Naess, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist - Charlie Gillingham, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Ethan Johns, Producer, Percussion, AssociatedPerformer - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jack Joseph Puig, Producer - Steve Lillywhite, Producer - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Adam Duritz, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Jeff Trott, ComposerLyricist - CARL GLANVILLE, Producer, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Dan Vickrey, ComposerLyricist - Counting Crows, Producer, MainArtist - Patrick Winningham, ComposerLyricist - Dave Bryson, Mixer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2002 Interscope Geffen (A&M) Records A Division of UMG Recordings Inc.
Tal Herzberg, Programmer, Recording Engineer, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Joni Mitchell, ComposerLyricist - Vanessa Carlton, FeaturedArtist - Jack Joseph Puig, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - RON FAIR, Producer, String Arranger, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Counting Crows, MainArtist - Naomi Crellin, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2002 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Album review
Hard Candy is the sound of a band at a creative and poetic summit. Over three previous studio recordings, Counting Crows have moved through varied musical territories as a way of conveying emotion through performance, texture, and nuance, the place where the mood meets the heart meets the mind. Hard Candy is both a radical departure from the band's previous method of recording, and contextually an affirmation of what sets them apart from virtually every other band on the rock & roll scene: their commitment to songwriting as craft. These 13 tracks are strongly committed to conveying a song in the hook rather than in the lyric. They are tight, crisp, and razor-sharp pop songs on a bright, shiny, rock record. Every backing vocal, every lilting string, trumpet line, or piano run, was meticulously crafted and scripted into this invigorating musical architecture -- and lyrically, Adam Duritz offers at least as much as he's given on any other album. The set opens with the title track, a wide-open 4/4 rocker illustrated by shimmering piano lines and ringing Byrds-like 12-string electric guitars punching up the middle. Duritz sings with an Allen Ginsberg-like heroic candor: "On certain Sundays in November when the weather bothers me/I empty drawers of other summers/where my shadows used to be...You send your lover off to China and you wait for her to call/You put your girl up on a pedestal and you wait for her to fall/I put my summers back in a letter/All the regrets you can't forget are somehow pressed upon a picture in the face of such an ordinary girl." These lines reflect the entwined themes that run through virtually every song on the record: memory, the regret of loss due to ignorance, and pervasive loneliness in everyday life. Even the humorous songs here, such as the first single, "American Girls," offer candid meditations on these subjects. Other tracks, such as "Butterfly Reverse," co-written with Ryan Adams, offer stunningly textured instrumentation and wondrously pastoral pop melodies accented by a grand piano holding the middle against a huge wash of fawning strings and rim shots as the lyrics drip like dirty rainwater into a puddle in the middle of the street. Ultimately, this record, with its many seeming aberrations, will no doubt attract new fans without alienating the old. These 13 stories are as wondrously accessible in their sheeny glory, yet as moving and profound as anything pop music has to offer.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 15 track(s)
- Total length: 01:02:30
- Main artists: Counting Crows
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Geffen
- Genre: Pop/Rock Pop
© 2002 Geffen Records ℗ 2002 Interscope Geffen (A&M) Records A Division of UMG Recordings Inc.
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