Complex Numbers

Counting Crows

I know at least one of you readers is a Counting Crows fan. The rest of you can safely skip this entry.

One of my employees, a guy whose taste in music is similar to mine (to the extent that he accompanied me to Meat Loaf and Bruce Springsteen concerts) wondered, today, "When's the new Counting Crows album supposed to be coming out?"

I frowned. "It was supposed to be last fall. I don't know. But I know how to find out."

I'll save you the suspense: it's set to be released March 25. My next goal is to get tickets for the tour I hope will follow.

In the course of discovering this information, I noticed that they have available for download (free) a "digital 45" of two songs from the upcoming release:

http://countingcrows.com/digital45.html

"When I Dream of Michaelangelo" is what I'd call a pretty typical Adam Duritz offering: slow, melancholy, lyrically poetic, self-referential (in this case, to a song from their second album) and musically intriguing -- all of which makes it better than the bulk of the crap out there that passes for music.

And I dream of Michelangelo when I'm lying in my bed
I see god upon the ceiling I see angels overhead
And he seems so close as he reaches out his hand
But we are never quite as close as we are led to understand

"1492", on the other hand...

All I can say is: wow. You just have to hear it. The lyrics alone couldn't possibly do it justice. Duritz reportedly called it "probably the hardest, darkest song we've ever played."

Into the dark Italian underground of disco lights and disco sound
And skinny girls who drink champagne
And take me on their knees again
Then pull me up and out the door
Past railway cars and tranny whores
And morning spreading out across the feathered thighs of angels...