Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation)

Counting Crows | Format: MP3 Music

Product Details

• Original Release Date: April 10, 2012
• Label: Collective Sounds
• Copyright: (P) 2012 Collective Sounds
• Record Company Required Metadata: Music file metadata contains unique purchase identifier. Learn more.
• Total Length: 1:01:23
• Genres:
  • Alternative Rock
• ASIN: B007Q0V678
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,119 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 49 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Return to greatness April 10, 2012

By Storylover TOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

I've been a Counting Crows fan since the very beginning. I've faithfully stuck with them through thick and thin, but "Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings" was a rough one for me--the music never gelled for me, and I thought that maybe the greatest days were gone for this band. Well, I'm delighted to report that Underwater Sunshine returns these guys to my CD player on heavy rotation. I've always loved Adam's particular genius with lyrics, and I was a little sad to hear that this was going to be a record of covers--but once I heard them do Aimee (originally by the Pure Prairie League), I was in heaven. And I have to say that this is just a fantastic cover record. Each of these songs is exactly the sort of song that Counting Crows is supposed to do: melodic with a Southern Rock flavor over a California rock backbone, wistful at turns, rocking at others. I expected a Dylan cover, and indeed would have been disappointed without one; fortunately, this is a great one. I didn't expect a Travis cover, but wow, it makes me remember what a great songwriting team Travis was when they were at their finest. Anyway, this is an album that is an easy win for long time fans, and should do quite well at bringing in new fans as well.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great music April 12, 2012

By J. Cieslowski

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

It's funny that a ban who made it's name for deep, complex song writing would decide to release instead an album of covers, but I'm sure glad they did.

Recorded in an 'almost live' format, Underwater Sunshine really showcases the delicate skills of Counting Crows as musicians. I noticed many songs start with minimal instrumentation and build and build as the song goes. "Meet on the Ledge" adds layers and instruments every verse and ends as a soaring and encompassing symphony of sound.

The songs are all at least solid, with many great stand outs. I challenge you not to sing along with "Aime"

The liner notes of the album offer insights on the bands being covered, why they were chosen, the recording process, and some great (funny) stories about Counting Crows from back in the day and paint an envious picture of the music scene of the early 90's.

One negative, on my CD, at least, is that the tracks "Four White Stallions" and "Return of the Grievous Angel" are reversed. So when then name of the track comes on for those two songs, it's obviously wrong. This will be a pain when burning the CD, so be aware.

In any event, the amateurish mix up of the track labeling doesn't detract from the excellent musicality and strong performance of Counting Crows. I highly recommend this album to fans of Counting Crows, the Faces, Gram Parsons, Big Star, and live music.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Decent Covers April 18, 2012

By Dale Avery

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Dedicated Counting Crows fans, and I am one, will want to have this collection of covers, most of which are fair to good. It is a CD that I likely will play from time to time while driving long distances. For those songs that I already knew, however, none of the versions offered here truly improves on the original. And the cover of Gram Parsons classic "Return of the Grievous Angel" is clueless -- sung as a happy cowboy rock song along the lines of "Aimee." It's the reason that I can only give this CD two stars. All of the strong emotional content (the underlying weariness and sadness) that was in Gram's voice is drained away. The back story on that song is that Gram did not actually write the lyrics, but put a poem by Thomas Brown to tune. Brown had admired Parsons' music but worried about his life style and addictions and wrote the poem "Return of the Grievous Angel" about him. By the time that the album "Grievous Angel" was assembled, Parsons had died. Listen to the original version with that background in mind and then listen to the Counting Crows version. If they had invested their version of that song with the same weariness and sadness that permeated "August and Everything After," it would have hit the mark perfectly. Counting Crows is a good band with the unfortunate legacy of having produced probably the best debut album ever -- and of struggling since to live up to that legacy.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Crows soar to fo, wait, three. April 12, 2012

By Buzzard

Format:Audio CD

I feel they never leave the comfort zone on this one. That comfort zone may well be a pleasant place to be in, but I'm hearing almost every song coming through at a samey mid-tempo. Or nice and slow. It woulda been good to have at least a single rocker. Or a piano ballad. Or an acoustic ballad. Quirky secret track? Nah. No boundaries are pushed here, it's cruise control. Jogging along, so to speak.

I kinda like these songs, I wanna give the album a four. But then I realise I already have very similar Crows versions of three of these fifteen songs on Hard Candy era releases I already paid for. (It's like'damn! I paid again for that one! And that one too!') Having so many songs virtually the same as ones I was digging years ago mixed in with the new stuff really does negatively affect the way the album comes across.

It's bona fide Counting Crows, sounds nice enough, but-and I don't care if it's a covers album or not- it's not trying anything new, and it could; though the arrangements are sound, it all seems tried and tested, and it didn't begin to blow my mind. The track "Jumping Jesus" is a little edgy with some nice vocal harmonies, and it took me back to "Recovering the Satellites" for a moment. Still wish I'd waited until I could get it second hand.