1993年09月14日這支來自舊金山的樂隊憑藉處女作《August And Everything After》橫掃了搖滾樂壇，是90年代少見的贏得了傳統搖滾和非主流兩大陣營認可的專輯。專輯中的11首歌首首動聽，主唱Adam Duritz用他十分獨特的嗓音講述他自己撰寫的11個故事——沒錯，每首歌都是一個故事，而其中的《Mr. Jones》更是他自己的故事，歌中那句“I want to be Bob Dylan”雖然是假借虛構的人物“Mr Jones”說出的，但是沒有人懷疑這就是Adam的心聲——這大概也可以解釋Counting Crows音樂中濃郁的民謠氣息。為了表達那種民謠的淳樸精神和Adam歌詞中強烈的憂鬱感，吉他手David Bryson特意效仿U2的The Edge，從吉他上去除了低音弦，並且選擇了美國中部一個極其安靜的山谷中的小木屋來錄製原聲，這使得整張專輯呈現出了一種幾乎未經混音的Lo-Fi韻味——坦率的說，不是每個人都會喜歡這種音效，但當你慢慢的接受後就會越來越喜歡的。
It's amazing the difference a year makes. Upon its release, August and Everything After sounded remarkably fresh, a welcome change from the crunch and screech of grunge. Blending the vocal athleticism of Van Morrison with the moody rock of The Band, the Counting Crows turned on a whole legion of fans turned off by modern rock. But what sounded fresh soon became stale as dozens of bands flocked to the radio with euthanized versions of the Counting Crows' sound. But you shouldn't hold that against the Crow boys. August and Everything After is a fantastic rock album. Though "Mr. Jones" was the moneymaker, the disc features such standout cuts as the dark lilt of "Anna Begins," the morose "Rain King," and the outstanding U2-meets-Grant Lee Buffalo anthem "Murder of One." Maybe time, and another listen, will heal the damage wrought. --Tod Nelson
經典曲目歌詞
Mr. Jones
Words by: Adam Duritz
Music by: Adam Duritz & Dave Bryson
I was down at the New Amsterdam staring at this yellow-haired girl
Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation with this black-haired flamenco dancer
She dances while his father plays guitar
She's suddenly beautiful
We all want something beautiful
I wish I was beautiful
So come dance this silence down through the morning
Cut Maria! Show me some of them Spanish dances
Pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones
Believe in me
Help me believe in anything
I want to be someone who believes
Mr. Jones and me tell each other fairy tales
Stare at the beautiful women
"She's looking at you. Ah, no, no, she's looking at me."
Smiling in the bright lights
Coming through in stereo
When everybody loves you, you can never be lonely
I will paint my picture
Paint myself in blue and red and black and gray
All of the beautiful colors are very very meaningful
Grey is my favorite color
I felt so symbolic yesterday
If I knew Picasso
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play
Mr. Jones and me look into the future
Stare at the beautiful women
"She's looking at you.
Uh, I don't think so. She's looking at me."
Standing in the spotlight
I bought myself a gray guitar
When everybody loves me, I will never be lonely
I want to be a lion
Everybody wants to pass as cats
We all want to be big big stars, but we got different reasons for thatBelieve in me because I don't believe in anything
and I want to be someone to believe
Mr. Jones and me stumbling through the barrio
Yeah we star at the beautiful women
"She's perfect for you, Man, there's got to be somebody for me."
I want to be Bob Dylan
Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky
When everybody loves you, son, that's just about as funky as you can be
Mr. Jones and me staring at the video
When I look at the television, I want to see me staring right back at me
We all want to be big stars, but we don't know why and we don't know how
But when everybody loves me, I'm going to be just about as happy as can be
