I know that this site is trying to keep itself on the cutting edge of music but fuck it, Counting Crows have soundtracked large sections of my life. Their debut album, 1993’s August & Everything After was played to death over one of the best summers of my life and the follow up, Recovering The Satellites was the first album I bought when I started university. I’m sure there are thousands of people out there that can say the same, these people will have been waiting rather impatiently with me for this latest album.

Counting Crows have never been overly quick releasing albums, this is their fifth studio album in fifteen years (plus two live albums and a best of). Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings is a themed album; the first half, “Saturday Night” half, is ostensibly the rock side of the album, with the second, “Sunday Morning” half showcasing the more soft-spoken, acoustic side. Singer Adam Duritz says that "Saturday night is when you sin and Sunday is when you regret. Sinning is often done very loudly, angrily, bitterly, violently."

Opening track 1492 is a balls out rocker which begins with the self-parodying lyrics I'm a Russian Jew American, Impersonating African Jamaican, showing they're not as po-faced as some people think. This album more than any of their others seems to combine the best elements of the band, previously each album has been different, a reaction to the last one. Maybe the extended break has allowed them to reflect on their career up to this point and make the album they wanted without any expectations to meet. For quich reference, the first half is more like Satellites but it'd be too easy to say that the second half is going back to their August roots, it's more varied than that. Over all this is Counting Crows most complete album despite the split down the middle. If you get the chance though, see them live, that's always where the band are at their best.

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