Counting Crows Fly In With Second Album

It was the biggest debut splash of the decade this side of Pearl Jam. So as Counting Crows prepare to release their sophomore effort,"Recovering the Satellites," a bit of pressure would seem to be

"Not the kind of pressure you think," says Crows singer and chief songwriter Adam Duritz. "The success of the last record was accomplished before it was even released. I think it was a beautiful record, and I'm so proud of it as a first record. "There's no reason for me to feel pressure about millions of people I don't know. The pressure I felt was wanting to make that great record again. I want them all to be that good, with that much passion and that much sort of looseness."

That neatly sums up "August and Everything After," Counting Crows'first album. Drawing on musical touchstones such as The Band and Van Morrison, the album established the Bay Area sextet as an earnest outfit grounded in rock 'n' roll tradition but not merely retro. Thanks to saturation airplay and video airings for the hits "Mr. Jones" and "Round Hear," it also made stars of the dreadlocked Duritz and his bandmates -- guitarists Dan Vickrey and David Bryson, bassist Matt Malley, keyboardist Charles Gillingham and drummer Ben Mize. That didn't sit comfortably with the frontman, and when the Crows came off the road at the end of 1994, Duritz -- who sang of wanting to be Bob Dylan in "Mr. Jones" -- desperately needed some chill-out time.

"It had been awhile since I felt comfortable in public," explains Duritz, 32 who moved from Berkeley, Calif., to Los Angeles. "I wasn't able to leave the hotel room and buses; I got mobbed everywhere. "I have this stupid, recognizable hair, and it became hard to go anywhere. I felt weird going out in the Bay Area. I couldn't seem to go anywhere without anyone staring. In L.A., no one cares." Duritz didn't exactly lay low. He wound up frequenting the Viper Room, the noted star hang-out where the singer socialized with Hollywood friends such as Sean Penn and actress Samantha Mathis, a former girlfriend.

(These days he's romantically linked with "Friends" co-star Courteney Cox, who's thanked, first-name only, in the album's liner notes). Duritz eventually worked his way behind the bar, where he served drinks and got "pretty good" tips from his famous friends. "I realized it was less crowded behind the bar," Duritz explains. "I became a pretty good bartender after awhile. Mostly it was just a place to hang out; I could talk all night with my friends who were bartending with me. "And I was always free to go upstairs and watch bands if I wanted to, or they'd go and I'd bartend."

He was writing songs all the while, and by the summer of 1995 he called the rest of the band to say "Listen, I think it's time to start working. I don't want to write a whole album of piano songs." "Recovering the Satellites" is hardly that. If anything, it's more charged and distinctive even than "August and Everything After." Produced by Gil Norton, whom the band admired for his work with the Pixies, "Satellites" boasts leaner arrangements and more explosive dynamics. It simply seems to rock harder, which Duritz credits to the Crows' time on the road promoting the first album.

"When we made the last album, we were very young as a band. The thing we set out to do after that album came out was to learn how to play with each other, to play reactively, which I think is a strong suit of the band. "When we were so new, we had to sit around and play quietly so we could hear each other, but after all that time on the road, we don't have to do that. We don't need the crutch of quiet volume anymore." The album's 14 songs dwell mostly on Duritz' reaction to fame and its effect on his life. He sees "Satellites" as having two distinct parts -- the first ending with the song "Have You Seen Me Lately?", which he calls "a howl," and the second beginning with the spooky, evocative imagery of "Miller's Angels," which he wrote for Penn's film "The Crossing Guard."

"I can tell you that the songs are about this guy... but it's all me. I'm all that guy," Duritz acknowledges. "I think the first (part of the) album is really about a lot of the shit I was going through and how difficult it was...It sums up the touring and fame and everything, saying where it brought me to.

"Then the second half of the album is about a lot of the same feelings, but it's more cathartic, more dealing with it." Ultimately, Duritz says he hopes "Satellites" -- and the tour that will begin in November -- will help to steer some of the spotlight away from him and onto his five bandmates, whose playing he regards as equally integral to the Crows' sound, though their contributions are often eclipsed by the force of his own personality.

"I get all this credit for what I do vocally and for the dynamics, but you'd never hear it if they weren't as good as they are," he explains. "It's all fragile, you know? I'm constantly floored by those guys, their sensitivity, the little things. They always do the perfect thing for each song."