Hard Candy

by Counting Crows

Overview

Hard Candy is the sound of a band at a creative and poetic summit. Over three previous studio recordings, Counting Crows have moved through varied musical territories as a way of conveying emotion through performance, texture, and nuance, the place where the mood-meets the heart-meets the mind. Hard Candy is both a radical departure from the band's previous method of recording, and contextually, an affirmation of what sets them apart from virtually every other band on the rock & roll scene: their commitment to songwriting as craft. These 13 tracks are strongly committed to conveying a song in the hook rather than in the lyric. They are tight, crisp, and razor sharp pop songs on a bright, shiny, rock record. Every backing vocal, every lilting string, trumpet line, or piano run, is meticulously crafted and scripted into this invigorating musical architecture -- and lyrically, Adam Duritz offers at least as much as he's given on any other album. The set opens with the title track, a wide-open four/four rocker illustrated by shimmering piano lines and ringing Byrds-like 12-string electric guitars punching up the middle. Duritz sings with an Allen Ginsberg-like heroic candor: "On certain Sundays in November when the weather bothers me/I empty drawers of other summers/where my shadows used to be...You send your lover off to China and you wait for her to call/You put your girl up on a pedestal and you wait for her to fall/I put my summers back in a letter/All the regrets you can't forget are somehow pressed upon a picture in the face of such an ordinary girl." These lines reflect the entwined themes that run through virtually every song on the record: memory, the regret of loss due to ignorance, and pervasive loneliness in everyday life. Even the humorous songs here, such as the first single, "American Girls," offer candid meditations on these subjects. Other tracks, such as "Butterfly Reverse," co-written with Ryan Adams, offer stunningly textured instrumentation and wondrously pastoral pop melodies accented by a grand piano holding the middle against a huge wash of fawning strings and rim shots as the lyrics drip like dirty rainwater into a puddle in the middle of the street. Ultimately, this record, with its many seeming aberrations, will no doubt attract new fans without alienating the old. These 13 stories are as wondrously accessible in their sheeny glory, yet as moving and profound as anything pop music has to offer. [This U.K. version of the album includes a bonus track.] ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	02/11/2003
Label:	Polydor / Universal International
UPC:	0606949356026

Tracks

1. Hard Candy
2. American Girls
3. Good Time
4. If I Could Give All My Love -Or- Richard Manuel Is Dead
5. Goodnight L.A.
6. Butterfly in Reverse
7. Miami
8. New Frontier
9. Carriage
10. Black and Blue
11. Why Should You Come When I Call?
12. Up All Night (Frankie Miller Goes to Hollywood)
13. Holiday in Spain
14. 4 White Stallions
15. You Ain't Going Nowhere
16. Big Yellow Taxi

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Counting Crows   Primary Artist,Vocals (Background)
Vanessa Carlton   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Sheryl Crow   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Mark Isham   Guest Artist
Moon Unit Zappa   Guest Artist
Matthew Sweet   Guest Artist,Vocals (Background)
Ryan Adams   Guest Artist,Vocals (Background)
Dave Gibbs   Vocals (Background)
Sara Parkins   Violin
Ralph Morrison III   Violin
Mario de Leon   Violin
Karen Jones   Violin
Alan Mautner   Violin
Jerry Hey   Flugelhorn,Horn Conductor,String Conductor,Conductor
Ron Fair   String Conductor
Stephen Erdody   Cello
Adam Duritz   Piano,Vocals
Josefina Vergara   Violin
Paula Hochhalter   Cello
Robin Olson   Violin
Dan Vickrey   Banjo,Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Tina Soule   Cello
Matt Malley   Vocals,Guitar (Bass),Bass (Upright)
Katia Popov   Violin
Richard Feves   Bass
Carole Castillo   Viola
Alan Grunfeld   Violin
John Scanlon   Viola
Edward Meares   Bass
Natalie Leggett   Violin
Brian Dembow   Viola
Ben Mize   Drums,Loops,Vocals,Percussion
Dave Bryson   Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Ethan Johns   Congas,Percussion
Jacqueline Brand   Violin
Charlie Gillingham   Oboe,Piano,Vocals,Mellotron,Omnichord,Wurlitzer,Chamberlin,Tack Piano,Synthesizer,Fender Rhodes,Organ (Hammond)
David Immerglueck   Bass,Vocals,Mandolin,Slide Guitar,Sitar (Electric),Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Leona Naess   Vocals (Background)
Cecilia Tsan   Cello

Technical Credits

Jordan Schur   Executive Producer
Peggy Sirota   Photography
Jolie Levine-Aller   Music Contractor
Cindi Peters   Production Coordination
Ralph Morrison III   Group Member
Mario de Leon   Group Member
Karen Jones   Group Member
Alan Mautner   Group Member
Liam Ward   Design,Art Direction
Naomi Crellin   Composer
Bill Thomson   Studio Manager
Donal Hodgson   Engineer
Jerry Hey   Horn Arrangements,String Arrangements
Ron Fair   Arranger,Producer,String Arrangements
Tal Herzberg   Arranger,Engineer,Programming,Digital Editing
Stephen Erdody   Group Member
Adam Duritz   Composer,Group Member,String Samples,Horn Arrangements,String Arrangements
Josefina Vergara   Group Member
Robin Olson   Group Member
Dan Vickrey   Composer,Group Member
Gary Gersh   Executive Producer
Patrick Winningham   Composer
Stephen Harris   Engineer
Steve Holroyd   Engineer
Steven Rhodes   Engineer
Ryan Adams   Composer
Jeff Trott   Composer
Tina Soule   Group Member
Matt Malley   Composer
Katia Popov   Group Member
Richard Feves   Group Member
Brian Vibberts   Engineer
Carole Castillo   Group Member
Alan Grunfeld   Group Member
John Scanlon   Group Member
Edward Meares   Group Member
Steve Lillywhite   Producer
Bob Dylan   Composer
Bob Ludwig   Mastering
Brian Dembow   Group Member
Ben Mize   Group Member
Jack Joseph Puig   Mixing
Counting Crows   Producer
Carl Glanville   Engineer,Producer
Dave Bryson   Engineer,Group Member
Ethan Johns   Producer
Jacqueline Brand   Group Member
Charlie Gillingham   Composer,Group Member,Horn Arrangements,String Arrangements
Joe Zook   Engineer
David Immerglueck   Composer,Group Member
Cecilia Tsan   Group Member
Krish Sharma   Engineer
Joni Mitchell   Composer