Get It 'Til It's Gone...

I was reading Stereogum a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled upon the excellent news that the Counting Crows have finally come out of the woodwork. Through all of the band's strife, they have finally managed to put the finishing touches on their eagerly-anticipated 5th studio album, and have even announced an official release date of March 25th. The band's effort, entitled Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings will be culled into two parts: an edgy rock set (the "Saturday Nights" portion), and a mellow acoustic set (the "Sunday Mornings" portion). Following in the footsteps of pop/rock contemporaries the Foo Fighters (see 2005's In Your Honor), it looks like the Crows are trying to give something for everybody with this record.

The best part is that Adam Duritz and the boys are offering not one, but two free tracks for download as a part of a "digital 45" they are promoting for the upcoming album. The "A-side", "1492", is a triumphant return to the band's roots, featuring a aggressive, crunchy guitar sound we haven't heard since 1996's Recovering The Satellites. The tune itself is nothing spectacular but proves that the band hasn't gone completely soft from their last few strings of LiteFM-worthy singles. This is hardly the case with the "B-side", "When I Dream of Michaelangelo". The song, whose title is taken directly from the lyrics of their own song, "Angels of the Silences", is straight-up "classic" Crows. An acoustic effort (clearly taken from the "Sunday Mornings" bin), the song bears much resemblance to the band's 2003 rendition of the Dead classic "Friend of The Devil", and is clearly inspired by some of the material they released a decade ago on their first live album (Across A Wire). If Duritz and gang wanted to give us all a "cliffs-notes" version of what their upcoming album is going to sound like, these two tracks are definitely a solid indication.

Putting the music aside for a second, I really appreciate what the Crows have done by giving these songs away. In an era where albums are continually leaked months before their respective release dates, the Counting Crows aren't naively resisting the trend. In fact, because I now have a sample of what Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings is going to sound like, fuck, I just might buy the album. Maybe one day the major record labels (and Lars Ulrich, for that matter) will one day wake up and understand that the more you give, the more you get.