Counting Crows: This Desert Life (Geffen)

I've always considered Adam Duritz to be the saddest man in music. The Counting Crows' past two albums, released three years apart from each other, created a career for Duritz to act out his acute sense of self-pity and despondency. Three years later, This Desert Life finds Duritz beginning to come to terms with his problems. He isn't plucky just yet, but this offering clearly signifies a slightly more optimistic attitude. Although it may seem that this would be a welcome change of direction for Counting Crows to explore, the passion that added glitter to their gloomy past is lost in the transition.

The prevalent theme throughout the album is Duritz's desire for change. The restless energy of the first single, "Hanginaround," kicks off the album, promising that he's taking a new path for the better. Unfortunately, the rest of the album doesn't cash in on the promise. It sounds as if the Crows are trapped. No longer powered by frustration and dissatisfaction, Duritz sounds more passive and subdued here than in his earnest earlier efforts. He still talks about problems with insecurities and dysfunction, but on "High Life" he seems to have accepted them and moved on: "I wasn't made for this scene baby/ But I was made in this scene/ and it's just my way." Gone are the moving pleas of the epic "Round Here," and muted is the anger that gave songs such as "Have You Seen Me Lately?" their bite.

This Desert Life is at its best when Duritz plays piano, giving his lyrics and arrangements an emotional musical grounding. "Colorblind" is a haunting ballad, beautiful in its sedation, and the Dylanesque storytelling of "Mrs. Potter's Lullabye" is the high point of the album. Too often, though, This Desert Life relies heavily on uninteresting guitar and rhythm sections and disjointed string arrangements-forgettable to say the least. Perhaps in another three years Duritz will lose this complacency and regain the Crows' old spark.

-By Greg Bloom