Counting Crows...in two minds

It seems to me Adam Duritz, lead singer and songwriter for the Counting Crows, can't really decide who he wants to be. On the one hand he's a songwriter, a poet, a creative. On the other he's a performer, a capricious rock star. Sometimes, his songwriting is second to none, while elsewhere his songs can be dense, turgid arena-rock bores that a certain kind of american band seem to excel at. I had to check wikipedia today to figure out whether the band was made of identikit session muso's, or really made up the more or less original 'Crows (yes, they are) - they were more than competent... but disappointingly a bit lacking in personality.

So it feels as though they're victims of their own success - forced to pander to a mainstream audience that wants to hear the hits, but reluctant to really do that with any conviction. They seem bored to the point of loathing by the old songs, and did their best to stretch and distort them to something less entrenchently recognisable. I wonder whether this product-ised entertainment is an unavoidable effect of the modern American music scene .. "pick a core market, then broaden your appeal as far as you can without undue genre-crossing". It's more than a world away from, say, Christy Moore. I forget the opening song last night, but second up was a thrashy, dismissive version of super-hit "Mr Jones".

It took about 40mins and eventually, we got to "Round Here" and the show left the ground. Duritz relaxed, got caught in the moment and let go a bit. His strength, the thing I think we all love, is the casual poetic timing in his lyrical delivery, and here he soared off, improvising freely in and out of the song we all knew. This was followed by a rip-roaring, deftly accomplished version of "Hanging Tree". Other highlights included "Goodnight Elizabeth", and one I didn't know previously "Miami".

Is it just me or does everyone just love their piano ballads best? They also do a great line in country-rock.

One thing I'm always interested in when it comes to my own response to a gig - what music did the band make me want to go home and play? Depending on the gig, this can be a good thing (i.e. I want to hear more; Paul Weller made me want to hear Stanley Road, loud, all over again), or a bad thing (i.e. I'd rather hear it from the real thing not some pale imitation; The Pigeon Detectives made me want to hear the Jam). Last night inspired a large range of references including Jesus & Mary Chain's punk pop, Exile-era honky-tonk Stones, the Frames, Buffalo Springfield and Jeff Buckley. Duritz is clearly and Dylan adherent and openly acknowledges this - though, like the rest of the planet, cannot come even briefly close to his Bob-ness' - other than the obvious singing in tune perhaps.

I think they need to relax, explore a while, and do their own thing. I think they'd benefit from spending a couple of years in Europe. It does no one any favours to be touring a show you don't believe in 100%. I suspect he needs to take a break from the band and spend some time with more experienced songwriters, musicians and producers. Rick Rubin would do him wonders. Also Daniel Lanois, or T-Bone Burnett. American roots music informs most of he does, there's a real heart there and it's not helped by AOR rock cliches. He should rock up in Austin, see what happens. I'd also like to stick him in a room with Glen Hansard, some whiskey, and a wide assortment of instruments... open the door a couple of weeks later and see what emerged.

ps. pet hate: anyone singing about "...nooo orrrleeens...", maybe it's just because I aren't american, but is there something real behind this, or is it actually just a lazy cliche.