Counting Crows
This Desert Life
On Sale Now
For $13.75

When Counting Crows came on the scene in 1993 with August and Everything After, they were described in terms of the classic rock influences they wore on their sleeves. A standard take on the band was a Van Morrison-influenced singer fronting an understated Band-like ensemble performing songs with the lyrical depth of Springsteen.

By 1996’s second effort Recovering the Satellites, the band had turned up the guitars a bit to good effect, but singer Adam Duritz’s self-absorbed lyrical shtick had become a bit stale. Fortunately several of the songs on This Desert Life take their cues from two of that album’s strongest tracks: the piano-driven hit "A Long December" and the country-ish "Daylight Fading."

The catchy, bar-rock riffs and handclaps of "Hanginaround" get things off to a promisingly loose start. Duritz has referred to the song as hip-hop meets the Beatles. Well… not quite, but it makes for an entertaining first single nonetheless.

The epic-length country shuffle "Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby" that follows is one of the strongest tracks the band has produced, with an engaging vocal from Duritz that reminds you what you thought was special about him in the first place. The lyrics are pretty standard Crows fare, focusing on the hazards of fortune and fame, but Duritz’s approach seems to be a little more relaxed and light-hearted than usual. "If you’ve never stared off into the distance, then your life is a shame," he sings. Nearing eight-minutes, the song breezes by and includes a great sing-along chorus.

"Amy Hit the Atmosphere" is a pretty piano ballad that were it not for the spacey synths wouldn’t have sounded out of place on August.

"All my friends and lovers leave me behind and I’m still looking for a girl," Duritz sings on "All My Friends." Indeed two of his favorite lost loves make return appearances in songs on the new album: Maria from August’s "Round Here" and Elizabeth as in Satellites’ "Goodnight Elizabeth."

Duritz turns in another entertaining (this time multi-tracked) vocal at the end of the album with "St. Robinson In His Cadillac Dream," a loping, reggae-like slice of Americana with prominent mandolin. A loose-sounding, Stones-y hidden track concludes the proceedings.

And if the piano ballad "Colorblind" (reprised from the Cruel Intentions Soundtrack) sounds like REM at their most precious, the jangly "Four Days" comes off like a lost chestnut from that band’s Fables of the Reconstruction period.

Duritz’s now familiar voice remains the band’s focal point. Songs like "High Life" are a challenge for his vocal range, but he sounds more comfortable as a singer than ever before on This Desert Life, particularly on tracks like "Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby."

If there is one thing the band could work on, it is developing an identity aside and apart from Duritz’s voice. Counting Crows are a large band, at times including three guitars, piano, and keyboards. On some tracks the instrumentation can seem like overkill as those spacey synths fight it out with wailing guitars. The band would do well to get back to the organic, natural integration of August that drew all those comparisons to The Band in the first place.

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