1.) Catapult
Starts off with a weird little melody then some a distorted guitar strum can be heard and the melody continues then the guitar, drums, and vocals kick in "All of a sudden she disapears...just yesterday she was here" a great song to start off an awesome album. My favourite line from the song is "Wanna be scattered but here in this catapult" the chorus of the song is strong, it shows of Adam's powerful voice and it's the loudest part of the song the guitar kicks into distortion and strums heavily. This is one of my favourite songs on the album. Has a nice little solo near the end of the song.
5/5
2.) Angels of the Silences
One of the few uptempo and "heavier" songs on the album. Not saying it's heavy...its heavier then the rest of the songs on the album. The guitar fades in and quickly goes to the chorus. The first line "I guess you left me with some feathers in my hand, did it make it any easier to leave me where I stand?" This line suggest the song will not be to happy lyric wise and it generally isnt it. A nice solo that fits the song amazingly, then leads into a ten second bridge before it breaks into a loud bridge where Adam shows off his amazing voice. The song comes to an end with Adam yelling out "Im gone!"
4/5
3.) Daylight Fading
Kicks off with a catchy guitar melody which continues up until the verse starts up, the guitar turns then turns to a gentle strum in the back. As Adam's distinct voice kicks in, I love the chorus of this song it's easy to sing along to "Daylight fading come and waste another year All the the anger and the eloquence are bleeding into fear" the rythm of his voice in this song is awesome especially in that chorus, and in the verse after the solo my favourtie part of that verse is "But all the things I keep inside myself they vanish in the air If you tell me that you’ll wait for me I’ll say I won’t be here" The guitar solo in the song is nice and melodic like all of their solo's, it give's a lot of energy to the song once it finished we go back to the verse then the chorus before the song ends. This is another one of my favourite songs on the album.
5/5
4.) Im Not Sleeping
The song starts out with guitar and drums building up with some string's in the background it does the build up twice then goes into a really slow chorus. In the chorus we hear the same build up from the intro then it goes back to the slow verse. A good song but not one of the best of the Counting Crows.
3.5/5
5.)Goodnight Elizabeth
A solid good song. It kicks off with a bluesy type guitar riff. Then we go into the verse "I was wasted in the afternoon..waiting on a train." I like the chorus in this song "Goodnight Elizabeth...goodnight elizabeth" The rythm of his voice is very good for the chorus. I like the second verse:
"We couldn’t all be cowboys
So some of us are clowns
Some of us are dancers on the midway
We roam from town to town
I hope that everybody can find a little flame
Me, I say my prayers, then I just light myself on fire
And I walk out on the wire once again"
3.5/5
6.) Children In Bloom
This starts out with some weird guitar distortion sounds and some string instruments then the distortion fades out then fades back in with a catchy little rhythm riff behind it. I love the little pre chorus song "We are all alone...I gotta get up on my own I gotta get up from this waiting at home I gotta get out of this sunlight, its melting my bones." The rythm of that part is pretty catchy and awesome.
4/5
7.) Have you seen me lately
I do not like this version of the song at all, after hearing the life extremley slowed down acoustic version of it, this version is bad. It's not a bad song but if you hear the two the live one is a 5/5 this one is a 3/5. Ill describe it to you anyway...it kicks off with some distorted guitar strumming and the verse comes in "Get away from me...this isnt gonna be easy but I dont need you believe me." The chorus for the song is really catchy "I was out on the radio starting to change, somewhere out in the middle of america its starting to rain, can you tell me the things you remember about me, and oh have you seen me lately."
3/5
8.) Millers Angel's
This is one of the best tracks on the album, its one of the first piano based songs on the cd. It starts off quickly with the piano and followed by the words "Miller's angels in black and white" the song continues nice and slow and the rythm for the singing is amazing, I've said this in all the songs so far I think but this one i really mean. I love the part whent he piano gets stronger and the other instruments kick in and sings "Hey Ro-Me-O" Midway threw the song all the instruments play and Adam sings loudly "dont dont dont dont dont come around, dont come around here" then it goes back into the quiet verse. I really like this song...you can feel the emotion in Adam's voice as the song goes on.
9.) Another Horse Dreams Blues
AMAZING SONG!! Starts off with a catchy piano tune playing then Adam kicks in singing "Ba da...ba da da...ba da da da da da" for about ten seconds before he kicks into a beautifuly rhyming verse, the song has nice strings in the background making the song more powerful. You can really feel the emotion in Adam during this song. The song itself is about a girl who does everything for everyone but herself, she dreams of racing horses's but she's "trying to be a good girl...give em what they want...but Margerie's dreaming of horses." I love the louder part after the interlue my favourite line on this album and this song is "Shes trying to hit the big one for...Drunken Fathers, Stupid Mothers, and Boys who cant tell one girl from another!...so she takes her pills..." the song is just an amazing song. The instruments go perfectley with the singing it's an orchestra like song, I love it. Counting crows at their best.
5/5
10.) Recovering the satellites
The title track. Starts off with a guitar rythm lick that goes threw the verse... a very good song nice and soothing, I like the pre chorus part "maybe i slipped in between...we were gonna be the wildest, wildest, wildest people they ever seen...yes you an me" then it goes into the catchy chorus "whyd you come home to this sleepless town...its a lifetime commitment recovering the satellites all anybody really wants to know is..when are you gonna come down." I like this song :)
4.5/5
11.) Monkey
I love this song its a very happy song, it made me wanna find a girl I can call monkey haha. "All dressed up no place to go hey monkey when are you gonna show your face..." I love it...it's just an up tempo happy song.
5/5
12.) Mercury
A slow...country sounding song. The instruments sound country to me..I dont like this song...cause next to monkey it doesent seem very good. Not much to say about this song..it's pretty generic...
3/5
13.) A Long December
Awesome song! Probably Counting Crows second most popular song following Mr. Jones. Such an awesome song it's really catchy both the singing and the piano. "The smell of hospitals in winter and the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters and no pearls" ..."I guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower..makes you talk a little lower about the things you could not show her" "I cant remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass" ..Counting Crows song writing at its best, once you hear it youll understand how good it is. The outro to the chorus is catchy as well na na na na..na na na na..."And its one more day up in the canyon..and its one more night in hollywood...its been so long since I seen the ocean...I guess I should"
5/5
14.) Walkaways
The last track of the cd...Starts off with a nice acoustic strumming with little leads in between...then the vocals kick in. This is a good song, the vocals go good over the acoustic. A nice way to end the cd...with a slow song and I think the first song to use an acoustic guitar on the cd. It's a short song...almost like a goodbye song. Only a minute and thirteeen seconds...it ends with saying "Someday Im gonna stay...but not today." then the song stops and the cd ends.
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Overall;
This is a great album, songs like Monkey, A Long December, Another Horse Dreamer's Blues, and Millers Angels show Counting Crows at their best. I recommend any fan who hasnt heard this CD to hear it, and anyone who's not a fan..but is a fan of soft alternative rock will like this cd.
4/5