•
Rating:
"I don't desire a rose at Christmas any more than I would desire snow in May: of all things, I like them to mature in their season." - (W. Shakespeare)
Who among us doesn't carry around a burden of beliefs, certainties, and fixations?
There's little to do about it; it is used as an ideal counterweight to insecurity and instability. By categorizing objects, people, or feelings, they become magically more manageable, and this "trick" works wonderfully with music as well.
An example?
The more I try to escape from the prison of ideas in which the first 4 albums of the Counting Crows appear SEASONAL, the fewer escape routes I find to prove that I'm wrong.
Like dried birch leaves carpeting the ground with ochre and vinaccia, 1993's "August and Every After" evokes autumn just as much as the gloomy "Recovering the Satellites" from '96 and the casual "Hard Candy" from 2002 respectively release winter and summer vibes.
"This Desert Life" seals my associative/assertive network by bringing together 10 tracks like a florist would assemble a bunch of poppies and snowdrops.
Handclaps and a swift endorphin release mark the opener "Hanginaround," which, roaming free and bohemian, refreshes the lesson imparted by The Band exactly 30 years prior, just like the VanMorrisonian (and a bit verbose...) "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby," with its compelling choral performance, dispels any doubts about the roots of the crew under the command of Adam Duritz.
It's precisely the Maryland-born singer who delivers a vibrant performance in the liquid and consoling ballad "Amy Hit the Atmosphere," followed by a "Four Days" that is very R.E.M.-oriented and consumed by nostalgia.
"Amy hit the atmosphere, she boarded a rocket
and flew away from this road
and she won't return, I'm afraid.
But every time it rains, she feels much better.
And that's all that really matters."
Finely crafted, with strings that are anything but superfluous and a more than pleasant guitar improvisation, the dynamic "All my Friends" contrasts with the half-baked effort of "High Life," before the extremely fragile and layered "Colorblind," floating on a cumulus cloud of piano, reminds us of the aridity of solitude.
"I am covered in skin
and no one tries to get in.
Pull me out from inside,
I am folded and unfolded and unfolding.
I am...colorblind..."
"I Wish I Was a Girl" is an exciting Indie-Rock fresco combining an immensely enjoyable verse with a refrain illuminated by guitars darting like eels. Irresistible.
Emotional self-destruction is the main theme of the sonic watercolor titled "Speedway," which precedes the closing track "St. Robinson and His Cadillac Dream."
Throughout life, roads can diverge due to different aspirations, and this banjo and Hammond-filled Country seems placed here to remind us of that.
"This Desert Life" remains the least known, sold, and probably least representative album of the 7 from San Francisco, but what can I say...it works!!!
In autumn as in spring...
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Hanginaround (04:07)
She sat right down on the sofa
I said,"Where have you been? I've been waiting for you.
Cause last night I had something so good
These days get so long and I got nothing to do"
I been hangin' around this town on the corner
I been bummin' around this old town so long
I been hangin' around this town on the corner
I been bummin' around this old town for way too long
We spend all day getting sober
Just hiding from daylight
Watching TV
We just look a lot better in the blue light
Well, you know I gotta get out
But I'm stuck so tight
Weighed by the chains that keep me...
Hangin' around this town on the corner
I been bummin' around this old town too long
I been hangin' around this town on the corner
I been bummin' around this old town for way too long
Everybody twist
And this girl listens to the band play
She says "where have you been?
I've been lyin right here on the floor"
Well, I got all this time
To be waiting for what is mine
To be hating what I am
After the light has faded
Hangin' around this town on the corner
I been bummin' around this old town so long
I been hangin' around this town on the corner
I been bummin' around this old town for way, way,
way, way, way too long
02 Mrs. Potter's Lullaby (07:46)
Well I woke up in mid-afternoon cause that's when it all hurts the most
I dream I never know anyone at the party and I'm always the host
If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts
You can never escape, you can only move south down the coast
Well, I am an idiot walking a tightrope of fortune and fame
I am an acrobat swinging trapezes through circles of flame
If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame
And though I'll never forget your face,
sometimes I can't remember my name
Hey Mrs. Potter don't cry
Hey Mrs. Potter I know why but
Hey Mrs. Potter won't you talk to me
Well, there's a piece of Maria in every song that I sing
And the price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings
And there is always one last light to turn out and one last bell to ring
And the last one out of the circus has to lock up everything
Or the elephants will get out and forget to remember what you said
And the ghosts of the tilt-a-whirl will linger inside of your head
And the ferris wheel junkies will spin them forever instead
And when I see you a blanket of stars covers me in my bed
Hey Mrs. Potter don't go
Hey Mrs. Potter I don't know but
Hey Mrs. Potter won't you talk to me
All the blue light reflections that color my mind when I sleep
And the lovesick rejections that accompany the company I keep
All the razor perceptions that cut just a little too deep
Hey I can bleed as well as anyone, but I need someone to help me sleep
So I throw my hand into the air and it swims in the beams
It's just a brief interruption of the swirling dust sparkle jet stream
Well, I know I don't know you and you're probably not what you seem
But I'd sure like to find out
So why don't you climb down off that movie screen
Hey Mrs. Potter don't turn
Hey Mrs. Potter I burn for you
Hey Mrs. Potter won't you talk to me
When the last king of Hollywood shatters his glass on the floor
And orders another
Well, I wonder what he did that for
That's when I know that I have to get out cause I have been there before
So I gave up my seat at the bar and I head for the door
We drove out to the desert just to lie down beneath this bowl of stars
We stand up at the Palace like it's the last of the great Pioneertown bars
We shout out these songs against the clang of electric guitars
You can see a million miles tonight
But you can't get very far
You can see a million miles tonight
But you can't get very far
Hey Mrs. Potter I won't touch and
Hey Mrs. Potter it's not much but
Hey Mrs. Potter won't you talk to me
Hey Mrs. Potter won't you talk to me
Hey Mrs. Potter won't you talk to me
03 Amy Hit the Atmosphere (04:36)
If I could make it rain today
And wash away this sunny day down to the gutter
I would
Just to get a change of pace
Things are getting worse but I feel a lot better
And that's all that really matters to me
Amy hit the atmosphere
Caught herself a rocket ride out of this gutter and
She's never coming back, I fear
But any time it rains,
She just feels a lot better
And that's all that really matters to me
We've waited so long for someone to take us back home
It just takes so long
And meanwhile the days go drifting away
And some of us sink like a stone
Waiting for mothers to come
There has to be a change, I'm sure
Today was just a day fading into another
And that can't be what a life is for
The only thing she said was she feels a lot better
And that's all that really matters to me
We've waited so long for someone to take us back home
It just takes so long
And meanwhile the days go drifting away
And some of us sink like a stone
Waiting for mothers to come
All I really know is
I want to know
And all I really know is I don't want to know
All I really know is
I want to know
And all I really know is I don't want to know
05 All My Friends (04:49)
Thought I might get a rocket ride
When I was a child but it was a lie
That I told myself when I needed something good
At seventeen, had a better dream.
Now I'm thirty-three and it isn't me
But I'd think of something better if I could
All my friends and lovers leave me behind
I'm still looking for a girl
One way or another
I'm just hoping to find a way
To put my feet out in the world
Caught some grief from a falling leaf
As she tumbled down to the dirty ground
Said I should have put her back there if I could
But everyone needs a better day
And I'm trying to find me a better way
To get from the things I do to the things I should
All my friends and lovers leave me alone
To try to have a little fun
One way or another I just wish I had known
To go out walking in the sun
And find out if you were the one
Does it make you wanna come a little closer now?
And did you wanna dance with me?
Did you wanna hum a little harder now?
Can you see her waiting there?
Can you see her? Because I'm almost there
Can you see her waiting there for someone like me?
All you want is a beauty queen
Not a superstar but everybody's dream machine
All you want is a place to lay your head
You go to sleep dreaming how you would
Be a different kind if you thought you could
But you come awake the way you are instead
All my friends and lovers shine like the sun
I just turn and walk away
One way or another
I'm not coming undone
I'm just waiting for the day
06 High Life (06:20)
-is that you life-
-is that your life coming-
-while you sleep-
-i don't know why-
All my friends got flowers in their eyes
But I got none this season
All of the last years blooms have gone and died
Time doesn't give a reason
Hey baby, ask yourself sometimes
What you need to be forgiven?
Everything that you've ever done wrong
Is the reason that I'm driven
Straight to you
Waiting here for you
Wanting to tell you
How I get my ends and my beginnings mixed up too
Just the way you do
Thought if I told you
You might want to stay for just another day or two
-It's just answers-
-that come in-
-small packages-
-that go in-
-your hand-
Waiting for the trains that just never come
Beginning to believe in
the disappearing nature of the people we have been
We have begun to change into the worst kind of people
So unkind
Oh apologies, no apologies, this apology
Doesn't describe the way it feels to feel for you
Waiting here for you
Wanting to tell you
How I find myself slowly disappearing too
Just the way you do
I thought if I told you
You might want to help me to remain with you
I just wanna stay for a little while
I wanna stay for a little while
-well come on-
-ah come on-
-ah come on-
-ah come on-
Cause there's a night life falling down on me
I just feel like a change
Beneath the sun in the summer,
a sea of flowers won't bloom without the rain
But oh, this desert life, this high life
Here at the dying end of the day
I wasn't made for this scene baby
But I was made in this scene
And baby it's just my way
I don't wanna go home alone, I wanna come on home to you
Waiting here for you
Wanting to tell you
How I line my sky with all the silver I can use
Just the way you do
Thought if I told you
You might want to stay for just another day or two
-Isn't that just like-
-disappearing the sum of yourself and the person you are-
-disappearing into-
-one plus one equals nothing at all-
-one plus two equals nothing at all-
-one plus me equals nothing at all-
-one plus you equals-
-one plus you equals-
-you and you and you and you and you and you-
-nothing at all- ( till end )
07 Colorblind (03:23)
I am colorblind
Coffee black and egg white
Pull me out from inside
I am ready
I am ready
I am ready
I am
Taffy stuck and tongue tied
Stutter shook and uptight
Pull me out from inside
I am ready
I am ready
I am ready
I am fine
I am covered in skin
No one gets to come in
Pull me out from inside
I am folded, and unfolded, and unfolding
I am
Colorblind
Coffee black and egg white
Pull me out from inside
I am ready
I am ready
I am ready
I am fine
I am fine
I am fine
09 Speedway (03:44)
I get so nervous, I'm shaking
Gets so I got no pride at all
Gets so bad, but I just keep coming back for more
I guess I just get off on that stuff
I'm thinking about taking some time
I'm thinking about leaving soon
I got some things I can't tell anyone
I got some things I just can't say
They're the kind of things no one knows about
I just need somebody to talk to me
I'm thinking about leaving tomorrow
I'm thinking about leaving on my own
I think I been wasting my time
I'm thinking about getting out
In all this time,
The bottom line's you don't know how much I feel
You say you see but I don't agree
You don't know how I feel
I'm just trying to get myself some gravity
You're just trying to get me to stay
Sometimes I sit here looking down upon Los Angeles
Sometimes I'm floating away
I'm thinking about breaking myself
I'm thinking about getting back home
I think I been waiting for way too long
I'm thinking about getting out
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By AR (Anonima Recensori)
"Amy Hit the Atmosphere tells the story of a girl who emerged from the tunnel of drugs in the darkest moment of crisis."
"Colorblind can only instill anguish and sadness in the soul, thanks to the voice of singer Adam Duritz and his piano."
