COUNTING CROWS

Across A Wire/Live In N.Y.C. (Geffen)

I’ve always liked Counting Crows. Having seen them live a couple of times, however, I’d argue with the proposition that it is the best forum via whch to appreciate what they do.

Across A Wire is a double live album, drawing on two gigs that were recorded with four months in between. By and large disc one is acoustic in tenor, where songs like ‘Mr. Jones’ and ‘Anna Begins’ are stripped down and able to reveal their inner core. The mood here is relaxed and laid back with Adam Duritz’s assertive, convincing vocals set against what is in essence a guitar, bass and piano line-up, with occasional colouring on accordion.

“This is the last gig on our American tour,” asserts Duritz, very much the frontman at the start of CD2, before launching into ‘Recovering The Satellites’, and right from the off you know it’s a different kettle of fish. Counting Crows are a rock band, guitars burning with the heat of the moment, keyboards swirling and pulsating around one’s head like a dervish on a controlled substance. This, lads, is what we came for – the jagged, dissonant guitars and keyboards on ‘I’m Not Sleeping’, with its ambulance sirens in the background, and ‘Round Here’ like three other tracks reprised from the first night, replete with piano, organ and voice.

Across A Wire is, whether played light or heavy, a stereo snapshot of a band very obviously at the peak of their powers. Chockful of pure music from start to finish, it is probably the best live album you’ll hear this year. No home should be without one!

Oliver P. Sweeney