Recovering The Satellites is the Counting Crows follow-up to their monster hit August & Everything After. While it is not as immediately accessible as their radio-friendly debut was, this album is a step forward creatively and artistically. The sound on the album is richer and more dense and Adam Duritz's lyrics more searching and mature. The band really came into its own with this release. Songs like the "Another Horsedreamers Blues" which contains a heavy orchestration and biting lyrics show their growth. The band still knows how to grab your ear with the hard driving "Angels Of The Silence", the strong title track, the soaring "A Long December" and the jangling "Daylight Fading". The best track on the album is the sweet and touching "Goodnight Elisabeth" which Mr. Duritz sings with understated grace. While it isn't the classic their debut is, the band showed it wasn't a fluke and they lived up to the potential that the first album created.

While this may not be a popular opinion, I have always felt that "Recovering the Satellites" is the best album Counting Crows have put out. Duritz's lyrics, which can come across as whiny and annoying when set to a calmer backdrop, are embodied perfectly in this infused set of driven, artsy rock compositions. The tasteful, sparse use of strings throughout the album enhances the emotional impact of the songs, and the wide variety of song structures and styles brings an almost epic scope to the album. You will find the Crows exploring everything from straight-ahead power rock ("Angels of the Silences") to country-tinged pop/rock ("Daylight Fading") to more colorful explorations of sound and style ("Mercury") to the piano/jangly rock Counting Crows are known for ("Goodnight Elizabeth"). Yet despite this wide stylistic scope, "Recovering the Satellites" feels like a complex and rich journey that unfolds, climaxes, and resolves itself with wondrous grace. The hooks present on this album are stronger than any on their debut (with the exception of the overplayed single "Mr. Jones") and the generally harder sound just makes for a more engaging listen. After the excellence of "Recovering the Satellites", I suspected that they would have trouble producing a worthy follow-up, and behold -- "This Desert Life" was simply a regression to the more predictable classic-rock influenced "August and Everything After". There is no doubt in my mind that this has much to do with the lukewarm reception of "Recovering the Satellites", which alarmed many fans who preferred the folkier sound of their debut. One can only hope that they will once again get motivated to explore new musical ground and refuse to stick to predictable formats simply to satisfy fans.

One of the most disappointing things I hear about Counting Crows is that nothing they've released is as good as August and Everything After. This is just not the case. August is great, don't get me wrong. It's one of my favorite albums. But I really think that Recovering the Satellites is the best thing they've ever put out (and I have all but one of their CDs... missing only By The Time We Got To Woodstock).

When I first got this album, I was disappointed too. It's not August and Everything After. Since that was the CD that made me fall in love with them, I was upset. But the more I listened, the more it grew on me. In the beginning, all I heard was Adam saying that he couldn't handle being famous. But when you read a little deeper into the lyrics, you can relate it to your life as well. The whole album is about wishing people would look past the first thing they see and find out who you really are underneath.

This album is full of all the great, powerful prose and soul-searching melodies that made August great, it's just not the same thing. If you're looking for the light and airy Adam from August, then get This Desert Life. It has a lot of the same feeling as August. But if you're looking to get a little deeper into the mind of a genius, this is definitely the album to check out.

Adam Duritz and Co. bring nothing but masterful, provocative, compelling, songcraft to a lucky listeners ears. To any music loving, hoplessly romantic, dream weaving, lover of the art this album will remind you of the best time of your life. Recovering the Satellites as an album will bring to mind the best American-rock based music You NEVER heard! Eagles and classic rock fans WILL dig this!

Recovering The Satellites is the best Counting Crows album. Sure, that opinion will be contested by the August and Everything After fans (and there are many), but Recovering the Satellites has so much more than the debut. CC is not my favorite band, that slot belongs to the almighty Pearl Jam, but the Crows' music touches me some ways that no other band can produce. The early music of Counting Crows particularly this release is distinctly WINTER sounding. Allow me to elaborate...This album is a JOURNEY. Not just a bunch of tracks thrown together, it is a JOURNEY. And as you're entranced by it, you can almost feel the cold air in the room, even in the middle of the summer...or at least you will yearn for it. For me winter is the best of the seasons for many reasons (that rhymed and I apologize) and this album brings me back to it, helps me look forward to it.

Not to mention the songs are damn fantastic. There is a wall of sound on this album, unlike AAEA. Each time you listen to the record you'll discover something different. To highlight would be impossible, each track is as good as the last, but I will name a few of the tracks, the ones I come back to the most. Catapult is a folky rock track that contains amazing vocals by Adam, particularly "I wanna be the last thing you hear as you're falling asleeeep" at the end. Angels of the Silences is just a great hard rock song. Goodnight Elisabeth is a beautiful song with a sing along chorus and great lyrics. Millers Angels is one of the strongest points, a 7 minute long lilting piano ballad. Listen to the instrumentation during the chorus section, it is purely amazing. Recovering the Satellies might be my favorite song, it has unbeleivably awesome lyrics and melody and the outro is blisteringly climatic. A Long December is the other track that fights for the holy position of "Dan's favorite", due to it's great melody and extremely personal lyrics that I can relate to ("The smell of hospitals in winter and the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters but no pearls")...AMAZING. All of the other tracks are great as well. ALL OF THEM. Please I urge you, get this album. It will touch you no matter who you are.

"We only stay in orbit for a moment of the time...and then you're everybody's satellite...I wish that you were mine"-the title track.

Thank you for reading again.

Dan