Adam Duritz – All my bloody Valentines
The Skinny : Adam Duritz pulls a Mark Kozelek…
The review proper: … and does a free album of covers.
Stream – ‘Oh my sweet Carolina’.
Adam Duritz. Heartbreak. A piano. 7 days. So it started this project, with one song per day, leading up to Saint Valentine’s day. All recorded by Mr. Duritz in the loneliest of hours (1 to 4 a.m.), apparently.
Which songs he went for? Classics from Ryan Adams, The Cars, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Dan Penn & Chips Moman and Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields. Songs of being disappointed, whether with yourself or with others, songs filled with longing and regret.
As you can expect from his usual output, sadness seeps everywhere, with ‘Valentines Day’ and ‘Oh my sweet Carolina’ getting the crown for being utterly downbeat. But even then, there are upbeat moments in them, specially Adam Duritz’ approving “uhm!” when he finishes ‘Valentines day’.
Two particular tracks got my attention. ‘Oh my sweet Carolina’ goes all the way for the heartstrings and tugs them until there’s no tomorrow. By no means will I compare it to the original, but this version, with Adam’s great voice and the piano-driven melody really gets me. It’s funny, every Counting Crows album has had a piano & voice song that’s always devastating and it seems it’s this cover the one with the duty of pulverising hearts.
The other track that really caught me off-guard was the very solemn cover of The Cars’ ‘You might think’. Whereas the original was funny, quirky and supercatchy, this is more of a reflection, giving a whole different feel to the lyrics.
‘On the sunny side of the street’ is the happy album closer, and after all feelings of hope have been squashed, it feels like a welcoming end. Adam Duritz does some scat singing and it’s pretty entertaining.
Not as entertaining might be ‘Don’t think twice is, it’s alright’, done two times in a row. The faster version works better for me than the second, slower one, but it’s more about your own personal tastes.
As they are demos, there might be some strange moments with the sound, sometimes feeling really saturated. But what you gain is the whole rawness of the emotions going through Adam Duritz. I’m an unabashed fan of Counting Crows and through the ages and styles, I always felt they are consistently honest, specially on lyrics and voice delivery.
Pair to this that whenever Adam Duritz did a cover (like the fabulous cover of Big Star’s ‘Ballad of el Goodo’), he gave it a flavour of its own. It comes through in these raw recordings that you can pick up for free here.
—Sam
Links
About the author: Sending a virtual hug to Mr. Duritz.
Sloucher.org 
I’m re-reading this stuff, I’m still behind it completely.
About my remark about “piano & voice song that’s always devastating”, here’s the list (I took it out of the review as it interrupted the flow):
‘Raining in Baltimore’ (memories)
‘Miller’s Angels’ (love it)
‘Colorblind’ (maybe a cliché to love it, but it still packs a punch)
‘Black and blue’ (sort of)
‘On a Tuesday in Amsterdam long ago’ (I always get misty eyed by this one)