Somewhere Under Wonderland

Someone once asked me a question.  If you were stranded on a desert island and could only listen to one band or artist for the rest of time who would it be?   My snap answer was Neil Young, as he had such a huge catalog and such varying styles over his career.  I figured it would take me years to get through everything and prevent me from getting bored too soon.  Afterward of course I thought about it more and came upon a different answer.  It would have to be the Counting Crows.

Adam Duritz once left me free tickets for one of their concerts.  He happened to be a friend of a friend and despite not knowing me he left them at will call to pickup once I arrived..  I thought that was pretty cool.  That plays no part in my affection for the band and it's music though.  I fell in love with their music upon hearing 'Round Here' from their debut album in the early 90's.  The imagery of the lyrics along with the various instruments and music styles just hooked me.  Few artists can put out such deep meaning lyrics on a majority of their songs.

When you look up information on Adam Duritz on the internet, you find that he suffers from Depersonalization Disorder, which is a mental condition that consists of feeling disconnected from one's physical body.  Sufferers feel like they are in a dreamlike state in which they are detached from reality unable to claim their own thoughts or emotions.  You have to believe that this condition, while unfortunate, leads to many of the lyrics he produces.  Lyrics that many times reach the levels of true poetry.  Thoughts that you want to hear more of and make you upset when the song finally ends.

The Counting Crows are about to release their first album of new material in over a decade.  They have released a couple of songs from the album, one of which is 'Palisades Park'.    Duritz blends the history of the infamous Jim Jeffries/ Jack Johnson fight that took place in downtown Reno, NV in 1910 with the now defunct Palisades Park Amusement Park in New Jersey which closed in 1971.  I love this song, can't stop listening to it.    Below is a link to the official video which takes the form of a short movie.