Track Listing

1. Catapult
2. Angels of the Silences
3. Daylight Fading
4. I'm Not Sleeping
5. Goodnight Elisabeth
6. Children in Bloom
7. Have You Seen Me Lately?
8. Miller's Angels
9. Another Horsedreamer's Blues
10. Recovering the Satellites
11. Monkey
12. Mercury
13. Long December
14. Walkaways

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17427 in Music
• Released on: 1996-10-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
Recovering the Satellites may not be quite the tower of song that the Crows' debut August and Everything After was, but it could hardly be called a sophomore slump. Vocalist Adam Duritz and crew mine similar territory on the more densely produced Satellites, couching tales of dreamers, lovers, and losers in music that's part classic rock redux and part heartfelt folk jangle. As able as the band is though, it remains Duritz's show, and his plaintive voice and serpentine lyrics are what drive this record home, particularly on "Daylight Fading," "Miller's Angels" and the aching hit "A Long December." --Michael Ruby

Customer Reviews

As The Crows Fly
Recovering The Satellites is the Counting Crows follow-up to their monster hit August & Everything After. While it is not as immediately accessible as their radio-friendly debut was, this album is a step forward creatively and artistically. The sound on the album is richer and more dense and Adam Duritz's lyrics more searching and mature. The band really came into its own with this release. Songs like the "Another Horsedreamers Blues" which contains a heavy orchestration and biting lyrics show their growth. The band still knows how to grab your ear with the hard driving "Angels Of The Silence", the strong title track, the soaring "A Long December" and the jangling "Daylight Fading". The best track on the album is the sweet and touching "Goodnight Elisabeth" which Mr. Duritz sings with understated grace. While it isn't the classic their debut is, the band showed it wasn't a fluke and they lived up to the potential that the first album created.

you're not giving it enough credit
This is supposedly Adam Duritz's favorite of all their albums and it is mine as well. The Crows got their bearings on their instruments and are coupled with Duritz's painful lyrics. It is definetly the darker and moodier of their four studio albums and it worth a second listen. If you loved August and Everything After chances are you'll at least like this one.

By far Counting Crows' best album
While this may not be a popular opinion, I have always felt that "Recovering the Satellites" is the best album Counting Crows have put out. Duritz's lyrics, which can come across as whiny and annoying when set to a calmer backdrop, are embodied perfectly in this infused set of driven, artsy rock compositions. The tasteful, sparse use of strings throughout the album enhances the emotional impact of the songs, and the wide variety of song structures and styles brings an almost epic scope to the album. You will find the Crows exploring everything from straight-ahead power rock ("Angels of the Silences") to country-tinged pop/rock ("Daylight Fading") to more colorful explorations of sound and style ("Mercury") to the piano/jangly rock Counting Crows are known for ("Goodnight Elizabeth"). Yet despite this wide stylistic scope, "Recovering the Satellites" feels like a complex and rich journey that unfolds, climaxes, and resolves itself with wondrous grace. The hooks present on this album are stronger than any on their debut (with the exception of the overplayed single "Mr. Jones") and the generally harder sound just makes for a more engaging listen. After the excellence of "Recovering the Satellites", I suspected that they would have trouble producing a worthy follow-up, and behold -- "This Desert Life" was simply a regression to the more predictable classic-rock influenced "August and Everything After". There is no doubt in my mind that this has much to do with the lukewarm reception of "Recovering the Satellites", which alarmed many fans who preferred the folkier sound of their debut. One can only hope that they will once again get motivated to explore new musical ground and refuse to stick to predictable formats simply to satisfy fans.