Another Starbucks song has arrived and this time, it is ‘Palisades Park’ by Counting Crows, the lead single of their 2014 album, ‘Somewhere Under Wonderland’ released on Capitol Records.
It’s a damn long song, the type that goes on and on without really going anywhere, so not really radio friendly with its 8 (even more) minute-long. I can’t say I have followed closely Counting Crows’ career, although I know they were very popular in the 90s with their ‘Round Here’ and ‘Mr. Jones’ songs, but I don’t really hear some continuity with this new one, which starts with a sad boardwalk trumpet and piano over some street noise… The singer, Adam Duritz, has a very recognizable voice though — a bit bruised but not enough to sound really sad — which makes the song very identifiable as a Counting Crows tune for this reason. But the rest is poppy and the music grows upbeat as the song progresses with a good chorus, a bit rock, a bit rootsy, with some Bruce Springsteen envy, although Palisades Park is no Ashbury Park.
As for the lyrics, it may be a road trip into memory lane kind-of-a-song, but it’s so wordy and so random sometimes that I have no real clue what it is about, … you tell me:
‘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?’
He seems so passionate when he sings it, but there is a certain dullness in all this and I can’t be interested enough to want to know more about the song. Although it comes with a mini movie directed by Bill Fishman, that tells a lot about the band’s cinematic ambitions,.. actually, I’ve read that Duritz has some views on Broadway which can explain a lot about this song.
Download it for free on iTunes, using the code 93JXNRYYYLHJ
