Counting Crows revisit their breakout album with 'August and Everything After: Live at Town Hall'

The problem with most live albums is that they are, in many cases, simply greatest hits collections with applause and cheering between each track. For this reason, most bands choose to avoid releasing one, or at least hold it off until later in their career when a greatest hits collection seems more appropriate. Even more daring than the traditional live set, however, is recording a live version of your band’s most successful album. It is a very bold move, then, for Counting Crows to have even released August and Everything After: Live at Town Hall. The album, recorded on September 18, 2007, is a track-for-track recreation of the band’s debut album. And surprisingly, the album holds its own against the original studio recording, and perhaps even surpasses it.

Listening to “Round Here,” it is hard to believe that these songs were originally written in 1993. The band plays with the type of passion that is rarely captured even on the first time a song is played, let alone after it has been played hundreds of times. It is clear that this is a special event for them, and it sounds as if vocalist Adam Duritz is reliving the moments that he recalls in his lyrics at that very moment on stage. There is an astounding energy in every track on this album that most live albums struggle to recreate even once. While it is impossible to recreate the feeling of actually being at a concert, the band’s conviction and excitement is translated here perfectly.

Another highlight of this album is the clarity of the performance. Every instrument is clearly defined and finds a perfect place in the mix, even when arrangements get fairly thick. Guitars, bass, keyboards, and mandolins all share space behind the driving drums and vocals without overwhelming one another or getting too muddy. It would be difficult to find moments on this album that sound inferior to the studio recording, as many songs sound even more interesting than they did nearly 20 years ago.

Live at Town Hall is certainly not going to change anyone’s opinion of Counting Crows. Fans of August and Everything After will find a faithful recreation of an album they adore, while people who hated it will find the same things to hate, now with added crowd noise. It would certainly stand as a valid entry point for newcomers, however, as it is a fantastic recreation of their most popular album. Counting Crows fanatics will find a lot to love, as both “Perfect Blue Buildings” and “Sullivan Street” feature introductions in which Duritz tells the stories behind the songs. The album also features a rare, up-tempo performance of “Rain King,” a song that the band has traditionally played as an acoustic number in concert. All around, it is an impressive live album that proves that Counting Crows have yet to lose their stride. Fans of the band will certainly want to pick this up, especially since its DVD and Blu-ray release is the band’s first concert video.