El nuevo disco de la veterana banda californiana Counting Crows, que se formó en 1991, llevará el título de “Somewhere Under Wonderland” y será el primer que editen con material nuevo desde la publicación de su excelente doble Lp “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings”.
Para ir calentando el ambiente, la banda del cantante Adam Duritz ha lanzado la canción “Palisades Park”, un tema que ronda los ocho minutos de duración y con un videoclip, dirigido por Bill Fishman (Wilco, The Jayhawks, Ramones...), que supera los nueve minutos. Un clip con una brillante y desgarradora historia, conducida con valentía, aparente sencillez, sutileza y algo de gracia. Una narración sin final, que admite cualquier interpretación, una puerta abierta a la imaginación y a todas las posibilidades. Muy en la línea inteligente de una banda como Couting Crows, capaz de hacer algo refrescante, con enorme calidad musical y que, al mismo tiempo, conduce a la reflexión en unos momentos difíciles en donde se ha instalado el miedo, la inseguridad, el odio y el resentimiento.
La posibilidad de sacar nuevo disco surgió del propio Duritz, quien llevaba tiempo atareado con algunas ideas; así que llamó al bajista Millar Powers y a los guitarristas David Bryson y David Immergluck para que fueran a Nueva York, donde él vive, y empezar a trabajar en ellas. Para pulir este nuevo material, tienen pensado ir rodándolo durante la gira que están realizando este verano en compañía de otra gran banda, Toad The Wet Sprocket.
Counting Crowds han tenido que sobrevivir toda su carrera al gran éxito que supuso su primer álbum “August And Everything After” (1993) y, en especial, la canción “Mr. Jones”. Tanto que hubo algunos listos que decidieron ignorar sus posteriores discos a pesar de haber mantenido siempre un altísimo nivel y de haber publicado algunos Lp´s simplemente extraordinarios: “Hard Candy” (2002), “This Desert Life” (1999) y “Recovering The Satellites” (1996).
Puede que haya gente que se sienta demasiado joven para admirar a una banda como los Counting Crows, para amar sus discos y sus canciones, para disfrutar de la intensidad de sus conciertos, para no tenerlos como una referencia. Puede que haya gente tan joven que se sienta demasiado alejada de los Counting Crows, pero le recomendaríamos que los escuchase, que aprovechase la oportunidad que les brinda este nuevo disco para descubrir lo que se siente al escuchar su música, sus éxitos y sus canciones nuevas o las menos conocidas. Seguro que será todo un hallazgo.
Somebody screaming on Jim Jeffries' dreams
Exploding into a black fist and falls to the floor
He stares up at the sky and he may wish he knew why
But you can't go back there no more
The future sounds so crazy, we all heard that song before
Tomorrow's a name that changed from yesterday to blame
When a train just don't stop here anymore
I got starry eyed on a coaster ride
Andy said, "Man, I need a break from the world outside"
And these days my life just careens through a pinball machine
I could do so much better but I can't get off the tilt
There's a photograph on a TV, black and white
Andy says something to you
Jack Johnson straddling Reno, Nevada like
She says I forget myself sometimes, too
But out past the doorways where we are sleeping
Well, the white queen's creeping, the time cat's beeping
Now I'm not breaking, the train's just shaking
I never made it here before
And there's a wide mouth spinning the girls around
Till they can't take it any more
I used to dream in the dark, in Palisades Park
Up over the cliffs and down among the spark
It's a long life full of long nights
But it's not what I was waiting for
Everybody's seen the horses driving down the shore
It's a miracle they don't make them anymore
So make up ladies, oh wake up baby
You walked into the bar like some Saturday star
Studs straight on spiked heels and needles and nerves
And you're a downtown pride, fully amplified Clyde
Gin-tied and Asian, but well preserved
Remember Annie outside your bedroom window
Saying, "Come on, let's drive across to the Palisades"
Keep going till we hit Reno, Nevada
I don't see it all that much these days
Still there are pages in back of the action stacks
Where the white queen's creeping, the time cat's beeping
The train's not breaking, the track's just shaking
I never made it here before
And there's a sky rocket turning the world around
But still I can't take it any more
And you carry that spark from Palisades Park
Down over the cliffs and out into the dark
It's a long life full of long nights
But it's not what I was looking for
Everyone dreams of horses flying round the shore
It's a bad dream we're not having anymore
Man, have you seen Andy?
Hey man, hey man, have you seen him around?
Hey man, have you seen my my my my my Andy?
Hey man, have you seen him, have you seen him
Have you seen him, have you seen him?
Hey, have you seen Andy around?
Dressed up in a pirate vest, all leathers and feathers and pearls
Andy said, "Look at me, man, I'm cooking
These hands are gonna figure out this whole world"
He said, "Come outside, climb out your bedroom window
Shimmy down the fire escape and say goodbye
Come outside," Andy says, "I'm dressed up just like Edie
Changing all the time, my leopard spots to polka dots, just say goodbye
Come outside, where maybe we can move to California
Just meet me at the subway and say goodbye
Come outside, the cops all think we're crazy
If you steal, you'll just get married
To a girl who'll never know you and then say goodbye"
Hey man, have you seen Andy?
I lost her in the cirque
I was high as a kite on a lovely and white
Man, you can lose anyone
Hey, hey man, have you seen Andy?
I don't know where she's gone
Real love outlives teenage lust
Oh, we could get wet and it keeps us warm
Love is like angel dust
Lovely sometimes changes us
Sometimes we're not
Have you been aching with trust or just
Have you been waking yourself with lust?
Have you been making us up or just taking us home?
It's a long wait and a long life
Cars frozen in flight
All the traffic stops to stare
At a crosswalk in Reno, Nevada
Where nothing but air and a pair of gray paper wings
Andy thinks, "Man, I have got nothing to wear"
We got nothing to wear
We got nothing to wear
We got nothing to wear
We got nothing to wear.