Customer Reviews

Recovering the Satellites

5 star:		(91)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Recovering The Satellites is the Counting Crows follow-up to their monster hit August & Everything After. While it is not as immediately accessible as their radio-friendly debut was, this album is a step forward creatively and artistically. The sound on the album is richer and more dense and Adam Duritz's lyrics more searching and mature. The band really came into its own with this release. Songs like the "Another Horsedreamers Blues" which contains a heavy orchestration and biting lyrics show their growth. The band still knows how to grab your ear with the hard driving "Angels Of The Silence", the strong title track, the soaring "A Long December" and the jangling "Daylight Fading". The best track on the album is the sweet and touching "Goodnight Elisabeth" which Mr. Duritz sings with understated grace. While it isn't the classic their debut is, the band showed it wasn't a fluke and they lived up to the potential that the first album created.

This is supposedly Adam Duritz's favorite of all their albums and it is mine as well. The Crows got their bearings on their instruments and are coupled with Duritz's painful lyrics. It is definetly the darker and moodier of their four studio albums and it worth a second listen. If you loved August and Everything After chances are you'll at least like this one.

While this may not be a popular opinion, I have always felt that "Recovering the Satellites" is the best album Counting Crows have put out. Duritz's lyrics, which can come across as whiny and annoying when set to a calmer backdrop, are embodied perfectly in this infused set of driven, artsy rock compositions. The tasteful, sparse use of strings throughout the album enhances the emotional impact of the songs, and the wide variety of song structures and styles brings an almost epic scope to the album. You will find the Crows exploring everything from straight-ahead power rock ("Angels of the Silences") to country-tinged pop/rock ("Daylight Fading") to more colorful explorations of sound and style ("Mercury") to the piano/jangly rock Counting Crows are known for ("Goodnight Elizabeth"). Yet despite this wide stylistic scope, "Recovering the Satellites" feels like a complex and rich journey that unfolds, climaxes, and resolves itself with wondrous grace. The hooks present on this album are stronger than any on their debut (with the exception of the overplayed single "Mr. Jones") and the generally harder sound just makes for a more engaging listen. After the excellence of "Recovering the Satellites", I suspected that they would have trouble producing a worthy follow-up, and behold -- "This Desert Life" was simply a regression to the more predictable classic-rock influenced "August and Everything After". There is no doubt in my mind that this has much to do with the lukewarm reception of "Recovering the Satellites", which alarmed many fans who preferred the folkier sound of their debut. One can only hope that they will once again get motivated to explore new musical ground and refuse to stick to predictable formats simply to satisfy fans.

It has been said that Counting Crows hit their peak once they made their debut album, "August and Everyhting After", but this is not true. While their debut is a classic for sure, their sophomore album, "Recovering the Satellites", is a masterpiece. Never have the Crows rocked harder or played better. The songwriting of Adam Duritz is perfected on this record. Never has something so outwardly sad become so uplifting and comforting. Duritz has a voice that is so personal, it can't help but touch you. The beauty of the songwriting is that it is just SO personal. There isn't always a need for the song to have a universal appeal towards everyone's emotions. Here we are allowed to look inside this man, to see what his life is like, and to know what is going on. Duritz paints beautiful and compelling pictures with this album's songs, but the accents placed on the music by Dan Vikery's guitar and Charlie Gillingham's Keyboard, along with the excellent low end of Matt Malley and rhythm of David Bryson. And by the way, Ben Mize....awesome drummer. Buy this album. If you feel anything at all, buy this album. If you like emotional, deep, dark music, you will love "Recovering the Satellites."

One of the most disappointing things I hear about Counting Crows is that nothing they've released is as good as August and Everything After. This is just not the case. August is great, don't get me wrong. It's one of my favorite albums. But I really think that Recovering the Satellites is the best thing they've ever put out (and I have all but one of their CDs... missing only By The Time We Got To Woodstock).

When I first got this album, I was disappointed too. It's not August and Everything After. Since that was the CD that made me fall in love with them, I was upset. But the more I listened, the more it grew on me. In the beginning, all I heard was Adam saying that he couldn't handle being famous. But when you read a little deeper into the lyrics, you can relate it to your life as well. The whole album is about wishing people would look past the first thing they see and find out who you really are underneath.

This album is full of all the great, powerful prose and soul-searching melodies that made August great, it's just not the same thing. If you're looking for the light and airy Adam from August, then get This Desert Life. It has a lot of the same feeling as August. But if you're looking to get a little deeper into the mind of a genius, this is definitely the album to check out.

How does a band follow up a classic album, enjoyed by many for its rootsiness and raw emotion? Well, take three years off, replace the rootsiness with electric instrumentation, and make the emotion rawer. That, and complain about your newfound fame. It hardly sounds like a recipe for a successful album, but the Counting Crows make it work for a few reasons. One, the writing and arrangements. The songs are well-crafted and the instrumental parts are well thought -out. This album really seems to be the place where the Crows want to prove they're more than just Adam Duritz's backing band, and they meet this task with inspired, testured, lush sounds, with swirls of organ and guitars. Two, the album works because of the sincerity of the performances by the singer, Adam Duritz. Say what you will about the man, his lyrics, and his mannerisms - he wears his heart on his sleeve, and that makes a difference in the way the songs are received.

All of the aforementioned strong points are important, because wow, this is one dark album. Not dark in the sense that it's not good music, because it is. The opening tracks "Catapult", "Angels of the Silences", and "Daylight Fading" are all great rock songs that are among the best things the group has done. "Goodnight Elizabeth" is a beautiful ballad where the singer says goodbye to a lover who has been hurt by his life on the road. The massive hit "A Long December" is also here. The album is dark because most of the subject matter of the first seven songs (or the first album - this would be a double on vinyl)deals with Duritz's reaction to his newfound fame, and the second side continues in a darker vein, with songs influenced by his worldview. The kneejerk reaction is to dismiss Duritz, because, after all, famous people are not supposed to be sad, and we don't want to hear about it if they are. On Recovering the Satellites, though, Duritz invites the listener to step into his world, see what he sees. The result is, we do feel sorry for the guy.

On the whole, I give the album four stars and hang the label "flawed masterpiece" on it. While I think the album is tremendously moving, it's also a lot to handle all at once, and it slows a bit down the home stretch. This was the Crows' bleakest moment, and in ways, it's the most powerful they ever got. If you are attuned to what they are doing, it's intoxicating; if not, probably maddening. The dark themes would still be present in later albums, but enveloped in an easier-to-swallow package. If you are new to the group, I wouldn't start here: start with August and Everything After and work your way through chronologically.

Ive listened to everything: from the Beatles to Pink Floyd, from Radiohead to U2, even Jazz, country, and indie music(Chet Baker, Garth Brooks, Elliot Smith). Im a musical-junkie like those guys from the book/movie "High Fidelity". And after years of musical journeys and discoveries, nothing satisfies my musical crave or touches my soul like the artistic-music created by the Counting Crows, and that goes espesially for this album.
For me, "Recoverig the Satellites" was like the diamond in the ruff; the needle in the haystack. I know people who recall having their lives changed by albums such as "abbey road" or "OK Computer", but to me, those cant even compare to the deep emotional and beautiful music captured inside this record. Lead singer, Adam Duritz, claims this his favorite one, and i totally understand why. The music is timeless. So i guess its pretty obvious, i'd recommend this cd above anything else out there.
My four favorites songs: Recovering the Satellites, Long December, Millers Angels, and Catapult.
ALSO: theres a couple crows songs that are absolutly amazing that you cant find on an album, you have to buy them on single-discs, or just download them, whatever you do - you must hear these: Chelsea(live album), Baby Im A Big Star Now(single), Mercy(single), someday(amazing cover song)
thx for reading,
Styck

Adam Duritz and Co. bring nothing but masterful, provocative, compelling, songcraft to a lucky listeners ears. To any music loving, hoplessly romantic, dream weaving, lover of the art this album will remind you of the best time of your life. Recovering the Satellites as an album will bring to mind the best American-rock based music You NEVER heard! Eagles and classic rock fans WILL dig this!

counting crows is my favorite band. i started out with august and everything after, then i got this desert life, which was their recent album at the time, and then got the live cds which are awesome. i was always missing the second album, but i figured i covered most of those songs with the live cds, and i had also never heard anything truly positive about recovering the satellites. this past summer, a friend of mine had the cd, and i started listening to it. i could not stop. people couldn't understand why i didn't stop listening to this cd. in my opinion, it's incredible. august and everything after was a way for adam duritz to play around with his poetry, transforming it into music. this cd is counting crows really being a band, and an incredible band at that. they play around with the piano a lot more which is beautiful with duritz's voice. every song is good, i haven't found one that i don't like yet. contrary to popular belief, i think that this cd is by far their best. i recommend anyone to buy it and listen to it through. it's a true counting crows experience.

Recovering The Satellites is the best Counting Crows album. Sure, that opinion will be contested by the August and Everything After fans (and there are many), but Recovering the Satellites has so much more than the debut. CC is not my favorite band, that slot belongs to the almighty Pearl Jam, but the Crows' music touches me some ways that no other band can produce. The early music of Counting Crows particularly this release is distinctly WINTER sounding. Allow me to elaborate...This album is a JOURNEY. Not just a bunch of tracks thrown together, it is a JOURNEY. And as you're entranced by it, you can almost feel the cold air in the room, even in the middle of the summer...or at least you will yearn for it. For me winter is the best of the seasons for many reasons (that rhymed and I apologize) and this album brings me back to it, helps me look forward to it.

Not to mention the songs are damn fantastic. There is a wall of sound on this album, unlike AAEA. Each time you listen to the record you'll discover something different. To highlight would be impossible, each track is as good as the last, but I will name a few of the tracks, the ones I come back to the most. Catapult is a folky rock track that contains amazing vocals by Adam, particularly "I wanna be the last thing you hear as you're falling asleeeep" at the end. Angels of the Silences is just a great hard rock song. Goodnight Elisabeth is a beautiful song with a sing along chorus and great lyrics. Millers Angels is one of the strongest points, a 7 minute long lilting piano ballad. Listen to the instrumentation during the chorus section, it is purely amazing. Recovering the Satellies might be my favorite song, it has unbeleivably awesome lyrics and melody and the outro is blisteringly climatic. A Long December is the other track that fights for the holy position of "Dan's favorite", due to it's great melody and extremely personal lyrics that I can relate to ("The smell of hospitals in winter and the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters but no pearls")...AMAZING. All of the other tracks are great as well. ALL OF THEM. Please I urge you, get this album. It will touch you no matter who you are.

"We only stay in orbit for a moment of the time...and then you're everybody's satellite...I wish that you were mine"-the title track.

Thank you for reading again.

Dan