''Butter Miracle, Suite One'' is an EP by American rock band

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of rhythm guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immergl� ...

. It features four tracks that are connected as a single suite. The song "Elevator Boots" was released as the first single in April 2021 ahead of the full release on May 21, 2021. The EP was expanded to a full album, '' Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!'', with five additional songs, set to be released on May 9, 2025.

Background and recording

Following the release of their previous album '' Somewhere Under Wonderland'' in 2014, the band toured extensively for years. Finally on break in 2019,

Adam Duritz Adam Fredric Duritz (born August 1, 1964) is an American singer, best known as the frontman for the rock band Counting Crows, for which he serves as a founding member and principal composer. Since its founding in 1991, Counting Crows has sold ov ...

spent a lot of time at a friend's farm in England and started writing songs for a new album. When the band ran into the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, they were 85% done with recording. The record was later finished in July 2020.

Reception

The EP received generally positive reviews. Henry Yates of ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

'' scored it a 7 out of 10, writing that "Duritz's melodic powers at full stretch you can't help but be buttered up". Dave Holmes of ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'' called this music "pure Counting Crows, comforting without feeling like a retread, elevated bar rock and beat storytelling unfolding over four tracks". At ''

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'', Adam Finley rated it an 8 out of 10, stating that "Adam Duritz is a strong contender for the best songwriter of his generation" for music that has "a

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

feel", with "four disparate compositions na seamless whole". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' described the EP as "a melodic, wistful ode to life on tour, with a sound that somehow manages to bridge the gap between

The Band The Band was a Canadian-American rock music, rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1957. It consisted of the Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, d ...

and Mott the Hoople."

Track listing

The vinyl version features the song "August and Everything After" (8:41) on the B side.

Personnel

Counting Crows * Jim Bogios – drums, percussion * David Bryson – electric guitar, acoustic guitar,

mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...

– vocals * Charles Gillingham – piano,

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 causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

, organ *

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, ...

– electric guitar, acoustic guitar,

twelve-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 string (music), strings in six Course (music), courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lo ...

, bass guitar *

Millard Powers Avery Millard Powers III (born December 24, 1965) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and Grammy-nominated recording engineer. While a student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the 1980s, he collaborated wit ...

– bass guitar, acoustic guitar * Dan Vickrey – electric Guitar, twelve-string guitar,

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

Additional personnel *

Brian Deck Brian Deck is an American music producer and member of the band Red Red Meat. He co-founded Idful Music Corporation in 1988. Since becoming a full-time producer, Deck has worked with bands and artists including Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine, Cali ...

– mixing,

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*Dave Drago – backing vocals *Meghan Foley –

art direction Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...

*Beth Hoeckel – artwork *Neil Strauch – recording *Curtis Watson – trumpet

Follow-up

Writing for a planned four-song follow-up EP, tentatively titled ''Butter Miracle, Suite Two'', was initially completed by 2022. The intention was to also release both EPs together as a single album. While Duritz was performing backing vocals on two tracks from the

Gang of Youths Gang of Youths are an Australian alternative rock band, which formed in 2012. Since 2020, the group consists of David Le'aupepe on lead vocals, rhythm guitar and piano, Max Dunn on bass guitar, Jung Kim on guitar and keyboards, Donnie Borzesto ...

2022 album '' Angel in Realtime'', he came to believe that the initial songwriting for the second EP was not strong enough. He decided to rewrite the songs and add an additional composition. Recording for the follow-up could only happen once the band was done with touring. Eschewing a second EP release, a full album titled '' Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!'' was finished in 2024 and released on May 9, 2025. The album contains five new songs, in addition to the original suite.

References

External links

* * *
Live set
for '' World Cafe'' {{Authority control 2021 debut EPs Albums impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic Albums produced by Brian Deck BMG Rights Management albums Counting Crows albums