This Desert Life

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This Desert Life
A painting of a man wearing a suit and bowler with a fishbowl containing two goldfish for a head. The album and artist names are written on the cover in black.
Studio album by
Counting Crows
ReleasedNovember 2, 1999 (1999-11-02)
Recorded1998 in a house in California
GenreAlternative rock
Length59:46
LabelGeffen
ProducerDavid Lowery, Dennis Herring
Counting Crows chronology
Across a Wire: Live in New York City
(1998) 		This Desert Life
(1999) 		Hard Candy
(2002)
Singles from This Desert Life
  1. "Hanginaround"
    Released: October 18, 1999
  2. "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby"
    Released: August 15, 2000
  3. "All My Friends"
    Released: 2000
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic4/5 stars[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music4/5 stars[2]
Entertainment WeeklyC+[3]
Los Angeles Times2.5/4 stars[4]
Q4/5 stars[5]
Rolling Stone3.5/5 stars[7]
Spin6/10[5]
The Village Voice(choice cut)[6]

This Desert Life is the third studio album from Counting Crows. The cover art is by noted comic book artist Dave McKean, best known for his work with Neil Gaiman, and was adapted from the cover art McKean did for Gaiman's picture book The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish. The album had sold more than 2 million copies worldwide by February 2002.[8] The song "Hanginaround" was the first of three singles released from the album, and the highest-charting single off the album, reaching number 1 on the US Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart and number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as top ten in Canada and top 50 in a number of other countries.

The album contains the same personnel as the band's previous studio album, Recovering the Satellites, being David Bryson (guitar), Adam Duritz (vocals), Charlie Gillingham (keyboards), Matt Malley (bass), Ben Mize (drums) and Dan Vickrey (guitars), with multi-instrumentalist David Immerglück, who formerly was credited as a session player on the previous two albums, promoted to full member. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Track listing[]

All songs written by Adam Duritz except as indicated.

  1. "Hanginaround" (Duritz, Dan Vickrey, Ben Mize, David Bryson) – 4:07
  2. "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby"  – 7:46
  3. "Amy Hit the Atmosphere" (Duritz, Matt Malley) – 4:36
  4. "Four Days" – 3:28
  5. "All My Friends" – 4:49
  6. "High Life" (Duritz, Vickrey) – 6:20
  7. "Colorblind" (Duritz, Charlie Gillingham) – 3:23
  8. "I Wish I Was a Girl" (Duritz, Gillingham) – 5:53
  9. "Speedway" (Duritz, Vickrey) – 3:44
  10. "St. Robinson in His Cadillac Dream" – 15:40
  11. "Kid Things" (hidden track)

The CD cover lists tracks one through five as "side one" and tracks six through ten as "side two". "Kid Things" is a hidden track as part of "St. Robinson in His Cadillac Dream". The vinyl release of this album also contains "Kid Things" as a hidden track along with another hidden track called "Baby I'm a Big Star Now", which is featured in the film Rounders. They are both on the side D with a text asking you not to play that side.

"Colorblind" was featured in the 1999 movie Cruel Intentions and the 2014 film Mommy.

Personnel[]

Counting Crows
Additional musicians

Release history[]

Country Date
United Kingdom November 1, 1999
United States November 2, 1999

Certifications[]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[9] Platinum 100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[10] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[12] Platinum 1,100,000[11]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References[]

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "This Desert Life". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958.
  3. ^ Bautz, Mark (1999-11-05). "This Desert Life". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  4. ^ Weingarten, Marc (1999-10-30). "Some Endearing Melodies Mix With Duritz's Whine on 'Life'". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "This Desert Life CD Album". CDUniverse. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  6. ^ Christgau, Robert (2000-03-07). "Cleanup Time". The Village Voice.
  7. ^ Hunter, James (1999-11-25). "Counting Crows: This Desert Life". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2007-10-24.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ "Counting Crows To Headline NARM Event". hive4media.com. February 12, 2002. Archived from the original on March 2, 2002. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  9. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Counting Crows – This Desert life". Music Canada.
  10. ^ "British album certifications – Counting Crows – This Desert Life". British Phonographic Industry.Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type This Desert Life in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  11. ^ "Counting Crows Content In 'Candy' Land". Billboard. 15 March 2002. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  12. ^ "American album certifications – Counting Crows – This Desert Life". Recording Industry Association of America.

External links[]

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