Counting Crows, as usual, rented a big house in the Hollywood Hills to record This Desert Life – but unlike their previous albums, they went in without having the songs written.The end result is their freshest and most natural collection yet.

Methinks the presence of the enigmatic David Lowery, formerly of Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker fame, on part-production duties contributed to the result. Never the most orthodox of musicians himself, Lowery fits in perfectly with the Crows’ extended family.

Frontman Adam Duritz is also a big factor. His vocals display more range and depth than before, although his lyrics sometimes have a little too much of the ‘I hate being famous’ angst about them. “I am an idiot walking a tightrope of fortune and fame”, he reveals on the brilliant ‘Mrs Potter’s Lullaby’, and true and all as it may be, it never stops him landing a host of fellow celebrity girlfriends. The song itself is a wonderful, if slightly raucous, daydream of Hollywood boulevards, ferris wheels and pioneer town bars.

‘High Life’ is one of those typical Counting Crows growers, that just gets better with each listen: I love its laid-back, unfussed delivery, and the way Duritz’s vocals drift easily in and around the melody, as he waxes philosophical about love, loss and loneliness.

‘I Wish I Was A Girl’ is surely a single in waiting. “I’m going down to Hollywood/They’re gonna make a movie from the things that they find crawling round my brain,” sings Duritz, who seems finally able to laugh at his own neuroses.

For someone like me, who grew up on a steady diet of guitars, drums and lyrics that are more than platitudes, Counting Crows are a band to cherish in these days of staid, formulaic chart fodder. This Desert Life is their warmest album yet – and probably their best.