This Desert Life
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''This Desert Life'' is the third studio album from American rock band
Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist Mil ...
. The cover art is by noted comic book artist
Dave McKean David McKean (born 29 December 1963) is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art, and sculpt ...
, best known for his work with
Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...
, and was adapted from the cover art McKean did for Gaiman's picture book ''
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish ''The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish'' is a book by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, first published in 1997 by White Wolf Publishing. It was republished in 2004 by Harper Children's with a new cover and afterword. The story is a retelling o ...
''. The album had sold more than 2 million copies worldwide by February 2002. The song "
Hanginaround "Hanginaround" is a song by American rock band Counting Crows. It is the first track on their third album, '' This Desert Life'' (1999). Released on October 18, 1999, the song reached number 28 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming their big ...
" was the first of three singles released from the album, and the highest-charting single off the album, reaching number 1 on the US ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Adult Alternative Songs Adult Alternative Airplay (also known as Triple A or Triple A Airplay, and formerly Adult Alternative Songs and Triple A Songs) is a record chart currently published by ''Billboard'' that ranks the most popular songs on adult album alternative radi ...
chart and number 28 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, as well as top ten in Canada and top 50 in a number of other countries. The album contains the same personnel as the band's previous studio album, ''
Recovering the Satellites ''Recovering the Satellites'' is the second studio album by American rock band Counting Crows, released on October 15, 1996, in the United States. Released three years after their debut album (and two years of worldwide touring), it reached No. ...
'', being
David Bryson Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist Mi ...
(guitar),
Adam Duritz Adam Fredric Duritz (born August 1, 1964) is an American singer, best known as the frontman for the rock band Counting Crows, of which he is a founding member and principal composer. Since its founding in 1991, Counting Crows has sold over 20 mi ...
(vocals),
Charlie Gillingham Charles Thomas Gillingham (born January 26, 1960) is a keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist best known for his performance on the Hammond B-3 organ, accordion, piano, and keyboards for the band Counting Crows. He has also played the bass guita ...
(keyboards), Matt Malley (bass),
Ben Mize Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist M ...
(drums) and
Dan Vickrey Daniel Vickrey (born August 26, 1966) is an American musician. He has performed since 1994 as a lead guitarist in the alternative rock band, Counting Crows. Vickrey also provides backing vocals, and is a harmonist within the band. As co-wri ...
(guitars), with multi-instrumentalist
David Immerglück David A. Immerglück (born May 3, 1961)''U.S. Public Records Index'' Vol 1 & 2 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010. is an American multi-instrumentalist who is best known as a guitarist in the alternative rock bands Counting Crows, ...
, who formerly was credited as a session player on the previous two albums, promoted to full member. It received generally positive reviews from critics.


Background

2 years after the release of Counting Crows' second studio album,
Recovering the Satellites ''Recovering the Satellites'' is the second studio album by American rock band Counting Crows, released on October 15, 1996, in the United States. Released three years after their debut album (and two years of worldwide touring), it reached No. ...
, in 1998, the band collaborated with producers David Lowery and Dennis Herring in a rented house in
Hollywood, Los Angeles Hollywood is a neighborhood in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a metonymy, shorthand reference for the Cinema of the United States, U.S. film industry and the people associated with i ...
to record their third album. Describing the content of the album in comparison to other releases by the band, lead singer and primary song writer Adam Duritz remarked, "I think the first lbumwas really about yearning for a change where you are, and I think the second album was very much about having gotten that change and being thrown up in the stratosphere and kind of come crashing down, and I think his Desert Lifeis about sort of recognizing that life is about confusion and change".. In addition, producer David Lowery also compared Counting Crows' past works from a more commercial aspect, stating, "Commercially it's been very successful for ounting Crowsto be very introspective and sort of sad, so on this record, I thought we'd get a least a little bit of this humor and reverence to come through".


Track Listing

All songs written by
Adam Duritz Adam Fredric Duritz (born August 1, 1964) is an American singer, best known as the frontman for the rock band Counting Crows, of which he is a founding member and principal composer. Since its founding in 1991, Counting Crows has sold over 20 mi ...
except as indicated. # "
Hanginaround "Hanginaround" is a song by American rock band Counting Crows. It is the first track on their third album, '' This Desert Life'' (1999). Released on October 18, 1999, the song reached number 28 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming their big ...
" (Duritz,
Dan Vickrey Daniel Vickrey (born August 26, 1966) is an American musician. He has performed since 1994 as a lead guitarist in the alternative rock band, Counting Crows. Vickrey also provides backing vocals, and is a harmonist within the band. As co-wri ...
, Ben Mize, David Bryson) – 4:07 # " Mrs. Potter's Lullaby"  – 7:46 # "Amy Hit the Atmosphere" (Duritz, Matt Malley) – 4:36 # "Four Days" – 3:28 # "All My Friends" – 4:49 # "High Life" (Duritz, Vickrey) – 6:20 # "
Colorblind Color blindness or color vision deficiency (CVD) is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. It can impair tasks such as selecting ripe fruit, choosing clothing, and reading traffic lights. Color blindness may make some aca ...
" (Duritz,
Charlie Gillingham Charles Thomas Gillingham (born January 26, 1960) is a keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist best known for his performance on the Hammond B-3 organ, accordion, piano, and keyboards for the band Counting Crows. He has also played the bass guita ...
) – 3:23 # "I Wish I Was a Girl" (Duritz, Gillingham) – 5:53 # "Speedway" (Duritz, Vickrey) – 3:44 # "St. Robinson in His Cadillac Dream" – 15:40 # "Kid Things" (
hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...
) The CD cover lists tracks one through five as "side one" and tracks six through ten as "side two". "Kid Things" is a
hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...
as part of "St. Robinson in His Cadillac Dream". The vinyl release of this album also contains "Kid Things" as a hidden track along with another hidden track called "Baby I'm a Big Star Now", which is featured in the film ''
Rounders Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a rounded end wooden, plastic, or metal bat. The players score by running aroun ...
''. They are both on the side D with a text asking you not to play that side. "Colorblind" was featured in the 1999 movie ''
Cruel Intentions ''Cruel Intentions'' is a 1999 American teen romantic drama film written and directed by Roger Kumble and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, and Selma Blair. The film is a modern retelling of Pierre Choderlos d ...
'' and the 2014 film '' Mommy''.


Personnel

;Counting Crows * Dave Bryson –
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...
*
Adam Duritz Adam Fredric Duritz (born August 1, 1964) is an American singer, best known as the frontman for the rock band Counting Crows, of which he is a founding member and principal composer. Since its founding in 1991, Counting Crows has sold over 20 mi ...
 –
vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
,
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
,
art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...
*
Charlie Gillingham Charles Thomas Gillingham (born January 26, 1960) is a keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist best known for his performance on the Hammond B-3 organ, accordion, piano, and keyboards for the band Counting Crows. He has also played the bass guita ...
 –
synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
, piano,
Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
,
Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...
,
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
Chamberlin The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by the American inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. There are severa ...
,
Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...
, vocals *
David Immerglück David A. Immerglück (born May 3, 1961)''U.S. Public Records Index'' Vol 1 & 2 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010. is an American multi-instrumentalist who is best known as a guitarist in the alternative rock bands Counting Crows, ...
 – bass,
mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, guitar,
pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can p ...
*
Matt Malley Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist M ...
 – bass, vocals,
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
*
Ben Mize Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist M ...
 –
drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
, vocals *
Dan Vickrey Daniel Vickrey (born August 26, 1966) is an American musician. He has performed since 1994 as a lead guitarist in the alternative rock band, Counting Crows. Vickrey also provides backing vocals, and is a harmonist within the band. As co-wri ...
 –
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...
, vocals ;Additional musicians *
Chris Seefried Chris Seefried is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of the bands Gods Child, Joe 90, and Low Stars, and as producer and co-writer for the neo-soul band Fitz and the ...
 –
backing vocalist A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...
* David Lowery - backing vocalist, producer *
Dennis Herring Dennis Herring is an American record producer, engineer, mixer, and musician. Herring has produced for The Hives, Elvis Costello, Counting Crows, Modest Mouse, Camper Van Beethoven, and Jars of Clay. The producer owns a 24-track recording st ...
 – producer, keyboards, loops, mixing *Gary DeRosa – backing vocalist * Cinjun Tate – backing vocalist *
Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...
 – mastering *Matt Funes –
viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...
*Eve Butler –
violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
*
Joel Derouin Joel Derouin is a Canadian violinist, concert master, composer and music director. In addition to having worked with many popular musicians, he is also known for his work in film, television and theatre. Biography Born in Cornwall, Ontario, Can ...
 – violin *Larry Corbett –
cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
* David Campbell – string arrangements, conductor, orchestration *
Joe Chiccarelli Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
 – engineer *Jim Champagne – engineer * Clay Jones – guitar,
mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
*Ok Hee Kim – engineer * David McKean– art direction, illustrations *Bill Merryfield – art direction, creative director *Martin Pradler – engineer *
Jack Joseph Puig Jack Joseph Puig is an American audio engineer, A&R executive, and record producer. He has worked with Tonic, Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Roger Hodgson, Taxiride, Green Day, Counting Crows, No Doubt, Klaxo ...
 – mixing *Richard Hasal - Recording engineer *
Rocky Schenck Rocky Schenck (born April 18, 1955) is an American photographer and music video director. Schenck has photographed several album covers and has written and directed numerous music videos and short films. He has shot fashion, editorial and portr ...
 – photography *
Jim Scott Jim or Jimmy Scott may refer to: Music * Jimmy Scott (1925–2014), American jazz vocalist * Jim Scott (producer), music engineer and producer * Jim Scott (musician), acoustic guitar player and songwriter * Jimmy Scott (songwriter), British-born mu ...
 – mixing *Jeff Sheehan – engineer *Janette Sheridan – production coordination


Release history


Charts


Certifications


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:This Desert Life 1999 albums Albums with cover art by Dave McKean Counting Crows albums Geffen Records albums Albums produced by David Lowery (musician) Albums produced by Dennis Herring