Counting Crows will release their new album on September 2nd, but they’ve been playing some songs from their Somewhere Under Wonderland on their current tour. It’s been over six years since Adam Duritz wrote his last album, so expect this album to be absolutely brilliant. Duritz dealt with mental health issues in the mid to late 2000s, which forced him to step away from writing albums. Counting Crows preformed a covers album in 2012, as Adam Duritz focused on sharing other musician works with his fans. Somewhere Under Wonderland has nine songs, including an epic seven minute song titled Palisades Park.
One of my favorite lines from the song: “These days my life just careens through a pinball machine I could do so much better but I can’t get off the tilt.”
The album can be pre-ordered tomorrow, and when you pre-order the album you can download Palisades Park on iTunes.
My sister, cousin Amy and I saw them last Saturday night in Vienna, Va at Wolf Trap. Counting Crows played 19 songs, including Palisades Park, John Appleseed’s Lament, Elvis Went to Hollywood and Earthquake Driver, which are all off Somewhere Under Wonderland. The highlight of my night happened when Adam played an extended version of Round Here. I’ve seen Counting Crows four times, but this had been the first time they played Round Here, and there’s nothing quite like hearing your favorite song live for the first time. My cousin had a seat about 15 rows from stage, but she sat with us in the lawn seats. I used her ticket once Round Here began, and experienced the best music moment of my life, so far. Round Here was written some 25 years ago when Adam Duritz had been with a band titled The Himalayans. In Counting Crows’ debut album, August and Everything After, it is the first track, and both Counting Crows and Himalayans band members are credited for it. In essence, Round Here is the reason why I’m a Counting Crows fan. Of course, I love most Counting Crows’ songs. I have every album on my iTunes. I have live albums from Town Hall, VH1 Storytellers, Barn on the 4th in Iowa and Echoes of the Outlaw Roadshow, and then Films About Ghosts: The Best of Counting Crows, which is the first album I remember hearing when I was 11 years old. I had been obsessed with Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby, but later claimed Round Here as my favorite song before I reached high school. From 8th grade on, Counting Crows have been my favorite band, which is odd for a kid who turned 18 in 2010. People have their thoughts about Counting Crows. Some say they are a “one-hit wonder” or that they haven’t been relevant since Mr. Jones, or that the only things they’ve produced since 1993 appeared on Shrek. But when I hear Adam Duritz, and I listen to all 175 songs, (although a number of them are different live/acoustic versions of songs) on my iTunes, I don’t care what other people say about them. Adam’s music has meant a great deal to me, and Round Here is a particular song that hits close to home. People have different interpretations of Round Here. Adam has claimed how he views the song before, and I’m not going to explain what it means to him. But for me, it changes all of the time since I’m a different person than I was the first time I heard it, which is the great thing about music. You listen to a song that you haven’t heard since 7th grade, and then memories from your first grade school dance fill your brain. Round Here means a whole bunch of different things to me, and all of those things filled my brain last Saturday night.
Here is an extended version that Adam played at Town Hall. It’s not the same version he played Saturday night, but it’s just as impactful:
Maybe you’ve never heard this version before, and if you haven’t I suggest you watch this video. Don’t have any distractions. Focus on Adam Duritz and the lyrics, and all of the damn emotion Adam Durtiz puts into it. He puts his heart and soul on the stage into Round Here.
I’ll probably post some NBA stuff later this week, and I’ll definitely post my top-10 players per position later this summer.
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