When the opening chords of “Mr. Jones” hit the airwaves in 1993, it was obvious that this was something big.
Ten years and four studio albums later, the Counting Crows have reached a plateau in their career, taking a moment to enjoy the view. Hitting stores earlier this year was “Films About Ghosts,” a 16-song compilation chronicling the band’s first decade, the true indication of success.
Featuring songs from all four studio albums, the collection pulls heavily from the group’s first two efforts – 1993’s August and Everything After and 1996’s Recovering the Satellites.
While the collection offers a solid snapshot of the band’s career, it fails to hit some of their musical high points, most notable “A Murder of One” from their debut effort and “If I Could Give All of My Love (Or Richard Manuel is Dead)” from 2002’s Hard Candy. Perhaps, that’s my penchant for The Band talking here — Richard Manuel was a keyboardist, one of the vocalists and a part-time drummer for the legendary group. He committed suicide in 1986.
Instead of including some obvious choices, a slot is reserved for “Big Yellow Taxi,” a remake of Joni Mitchell’s signature tune about not knowing what “you’ve got until it’s gone,” a song that also scored big for Amy Grant and Bob Dylan, ironically enough. The song appeared as a bonus track on Hard Candy.
Where the album does succeed is for the fan who has forgotten about some of the group’s lesser-known efforts. Case in point, “Anna Begins” from August and Everything After and “Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman),” a demo the group recorded in 1991, years before they struck it big.
For the serious fan, two bonus tracks are included on the compilation. The group offers a casual remake of “Friend of the Devil,” a Grateful Dead hit recorded by the Crows in September, and a new original, “She Don’t Want Nobody Near,” also recorded in September.
“She don’t want no one around/Cause she don’t want anybody to see/What she looks like when she’s down/Cause that’s a really sad place to be,” Duritz sings in the latter.
The Counting Crows’ signature is mellow ballads. With the exception of “A Long December” and “Round Here,” most of their radio-friendly hits have been more upbeat songs. Films About Ghosts shies away from their pop-friendly hits — for example, the collection leaves off “Daylight Fading” and “Have You Seen Me Lately?” Both songs were on their sophomore effort, perhaps their best effort.
The album also neglects 1998’s “Across a Wire: Live in New York.” The two-disc set sees the band remaking many of its hits from the first two albums. That album succeeds with the alternate arrangements of the group’s songs. Perhaps the acoustic version of “Mr. Jones,” as released on a single in the early 1990s, or alternate versions of other songs could improve Films About Ghosts.
What the compilation offers is a more balanced and more accurate look at the band’s career. That is accomplished by including songs like “Holiday in Spain,” the closing track in Hard Candy. While not a radio hit by any means, the song is more typical of Duritz’s other compositions.
Overall, this compilation is a solid addition to any musical collection. For the die-hard fan, there’s always going to be room to question the song selection.
And for the record, the album’s title — Films About Ghosts — is derived from a line in “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby,” from 1999’s “This Desert Life.” “If dreams are like movies then memories are films about ghosts,” the lyric goes.
