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“Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings” could very well be the most ambitious material Counting Crows has ever put out. The song writing is nothing short of genius, the production is incredible at worst, and when you listen through the disc you can’t help but feel that everything on the album was done with a purpose- no matter how small the detail. And it’s that attention to detail and that ambition that makes “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings” one of the best sets Counting Crows has ever put out. The band’s concept album is broken into two parts and comes across extremely well; Saturday Nights- the portion of the album produced by Gil Norton- consists of the brighter, more up-tempo songs on the record. The first portion of the album (6 tracks) is about what happens on a Saturday Night- people making bonds and growing relationships, except there’s darkness in Duritz’s lyrics where he can’t make really make a connection with anyone. On the portion of the record he seems to be the guy you have a good conversation with at the bar- but when it’s time to move on to another bar, he doesn’t go with you. There’s a lot of irony to the music, but it goes over flawlessly. Sunday Mornings is the part of the record that’s filled with regret and remorse. Sunday Mornings is where the band recovers from what it did Saturday Night, even though they don’t really do that much healing. That’s evidenced furthest in “You Can’t Count on Me”, the confessional track on the album where you find out how dark and lonely the Sunday Morning aspect of the record is. “You Can’t Count On Me” is someone admitting that he’s a piece of crap, embracing that, and then hating himself for it; all in just over three minutes. “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings” clocks in at just over 60 minutes, every detail that could be paid attention to was paid attention to, the production is nails, and the music goes beyond anything Counting Crows have done, and that alone says how good this actually is. We’re in the first quarter of 2008 still and it’s highly unlikely that anything better than this record will come out the rest of the year. A must own for Alternative Addiction fans.