August & Everything After Goes Dee-Luxe

Believe it or not, it's been 15 years since the Counting Crows released their debut album, August & Everything After. It was one of the first CDs I ever owned, and I played it over and over again. "Time and Time Again" on repeat. I remember that being one of the first songs that I really connected with the lyrics, felt like it was a song about me. I still love the lines: "I wanted so badly somebody other than me staring back at me, but you were gone, gone, gone. I wanted to see you walking backwards and get the sensation of you coming home. I wanted to see you walking away from me without the sensation you're leaving me alone." Now the band is releasing a deluxe edition of the debut album, a double-disc set that includes demo tracks and a live concert from the A&EA tour.

I've been a huge fan of the Crows, through the brilliant sophomore effort Recovering the Satellites and the moments of clarity on This Desert Life to the shellacked popness of Hard Candy that at least gave us the fantastic "Holiday in Spain." Back in the day, I was pretty hardcore - I actually met Adam Duritz during the Recovering tour at Chastain Park Amphitheatre through sheer determination and acquired his signature. And in college, I almost made a guy get out of my car for dogging the band. (Seriously. I stopped the car.) And my friend Jenny Ray nearly got into a fight at The Tabernacle because this kid and his girlfriend were trying to shove me out of the way. (In her defense, she had a fever.)

Since '92, the band lost its drummer from A&EA, gained and lost a second, and lost original bassist Matt Malley so he could pursue his love of Eastern music. Ummm. Yeah. They've been quiet of late except for pulling the classic greatest-hits-with-two-new-tracks trick a couple of years ago with Films About Ghosts and now the rereleased A&EA. I don't know where the Crows are going, but I sure know where they've been, and I must say I'll plunk down the cash on September 18 to add the new version of the old classic to my collection. After all this time, they're still my band.

Disc 1
1. Round Here
2. Omaha
3. Mr. Jones
4. Perfect Blue Buildings
5. Anna Begins
6. Time and Time Again
7. Rain King
8. Sullivan Street
9. Ghost Train
10. Raining in Baltimore
11. Murder of One
12. Shallow Day s (Acoustic Demo)
13. Mean Jumper Blues (Acoustic Demo)
14. Love and Addiction (Demo)
15. Omaha (Demo)
16. Shallow Days (Demo)
17. This Land is Your Land (Demo)

Disc 2 (Live from Paris, the last show of the A&AE tour)
1. Anna Begins
2. Omaha
3. Jumping Jesus
4. Margery Dreams of Horses
5. Perfect Blue Buildings
6. Round Here
7. Rain King
8. Time and Time Again
9. Ghost Train
10. Children in Bloom
11. Murder of One
12. Sullivan Street
13. Ghost in You