Hard Candy (Counting Crows album)

Hard Candy
Studio album by Counting Crows
Released	July 8, 2002 (2002-07-08)
Genre	Alternative rock, jangle pop
Length	59:30
Label	Geffen
Producer	Steve Lillywhite
Counting Crows chronology
This Desert Life (1999) Hard Candy (2002) Films About Ghosts (The Best Of...) (2003)
Singles from Hard Candy
"American Girls" Released: June 18, 2002 "Miami" Released: July 9, 2002 "Big Yellow Taxi" Released: January 14, 2003 "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)" Released: June 3, 2003 "Holiday in Spain" Released: June 7, 2004

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(69/100) [1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Blender	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	B− [3]
PopMatters	[1][4]
Q	[1]
Rolling Stone	[5]
Spin	(6/10) [1]
Stylus Magazine	D+ [6]
Uncut	[1]
USA Today	[7]

Hard Candy is the fourth studio album by Counting Crows, released in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2002 and the following day in the United States.

The album features the hidden track "Big Yellow Taxi", a Joni Mitchell cover. This was one of their biggest radio hits from the album, however, re-releases of the album were revised to mention the song. Originally the song did not include Vanessa Carlton and the standard version caught the ear of a producer who added it to the movie Two Weeks Notice adding Carlton's voice to the track. This version topped the VH-1 charts and American Top 40 for a while. A new version of the song "Holiday in Spain", recorded as a duet in two languages, turning into a "round" before the final choruses with the Dutch band BLØF, became a #1 hit in the Netherlands.

Reception

Reviews hailed the album as the best release since their debut, with the albums of the mid-1990s being "long, and drawn out", likely due to Duritz' state of mind at that time, one reviewer happily announced that, "Hard Candy is crisp and tight, packed with three- and four-minute shots of radio friendly fare", and that during a time when hard rock is the standard, the band are not afraid of a sound that is in the title track, compared to the Byrds, and with its "Allman-esque" twin guitars, echoes The Band in "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)".^[8] So far the album has received a score of 69 out of 100 based on "generally favorable reviews" from Metacritic.^[1]

Track listing

All tracks written by Adam F. Duritz unless otherwise indicated. The song "Big Yellow Taxi" was written by Joni Mitchell, who is credited in the liner notes with the passage "May contain trace amounts of Joni Mitchell"

1. "Hard Candy" (Duritz, Daniel J. Vickrey, Charles Gillingham) – 4:20
2. "American Girls" – 4:32
3. "Good Time" – 4:24
4. "If I Could Give All My Love -or- Richard Manuel Is Dead" (Duritz, Vickrey, David Immerglück, Gillingham, Matt Malley) – 3:52
5. "Goodnight L.A." – 4:17
6. "Butterfly in Reverse" (Duritz, Ryan Adams, Gillingham) – 2:48
7. "Miami" (Duritz, Gillingham, Immerglück) – 5:01
8. "New Frontier" – 3:51
9. "Carriage" – 4:04
10. "Black and Blue" – 3:53
11. "Why Should You Come When I Call?" (Duritz, Gillingham) – 4:38
12. "Up All Night (Frankie Miller Goes to Hollywood)" – 5:07
13. "Holiday in Spain" – 3:50
14. "Big Yellow Taxi" (Joni Mitchell) – 3:47 [Original issue hidden track]

2006 revised edition

14. "4 White Stallions" (Jeff Trott, Vickrey, Patrick Winningham) – 4:21
15. "Big Yellow Taxi" (Single Version, featuring Vanessa Carlton) (Mitchell) – 3:47

United Kingdom release

14. "4 White Stallions" (Jeff Trott, Vickery, Patrick Winningham) – 4:21
15. "You Ain't Going Nowhere" (Bob Dylan) – 8:43
16. "Big Yellow Taxi" (Joni Mitchell) – 3:47 [Original issue hidden track]

United Kingdom 2003 re-release

14. "4 White Stallions" (Jeff Trott, Vickery, Patrick Winningham) – 4:21
15. "You Ain't Going Nowhere" (Bob Dylan) – 3:44
16. "Big Yellow Taxi" (Single Version, featuring Vanessa Carlton) (Mitchell) – 3:47

Japanese release

14. "4 White Stallions" (Jeff Trott, Vickrey, Patrick Winningham) – 4:21
15. "You Ain't Going Nowhere" (Bob Dylan) – 3:44
16. "Start Again" (Norman Blake)  – 3:34
17. "Big Yellow Taxi" (Mitchell) – 3:47 [Original issue hidden track]

Japanese 2003 re-release

14. "4 White Stallions" (Jeff Trott, Vickrey, Patrick Winningham) – 4:21
15. "You Ain't Going Nowhere" (Bob Dylan) – 3:44
16. "Start Again" (Norman Blake)  – 3:34
17. "Big Yellow Taxi" (Single Version, featuring Vanessa Carlton) (Mitchell) – 3:47

Personnel

Counting Crows

• Dave Bryson – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
• Adam Duritz – piano, vocals, horn arrangements, string arrangements, string samples
• Charlie Gillingham – synthesizer, piano, oboe, Hammond organ, Mellotron, Omnichord, Fender Rhodes, horn arrangements, string arrangements, Wurlitzer, tack piano, vocals
• David Immerglück – acoustic guitar, bass, mandolin, electric guitar, vocals, slide guitar, electric sitar
• Matt Malley – bass, vocals, upright bass
• Ben Mize – drums, percussion, vocals, drum loops
• Dan Vickrey – acoustic guitar, banjo, electric guitar, vocals

Additional musicians

• Ryan Adams – backing vocalist on "Butterfly In Reverse"
• Vanessa Carlton - backing vocalist on "Big Yellow Taxi"
• Sheryl Crow – backing vocalist on "American Girls"
• Dave Gibbs – backing vocalist
• Leona Naess – backing vocalist
• Matthew Sweet – backing vocalist
• Carole Castillo – viola
• Jacqueline Brand – violin
• Mario deLeon – violin
• Brian Dembow – viola
• Stephen Erdody – cello
• Ron Fair – string arrangements
• Richard Feves – bass
• Alan Grunfeld – violin
• Jerry Hey – flugelhorn, horn arrangements, string arrangements
• Paula Hochhalter – cello
• Ethan Johns – conga
• Karen Jones – violin
• Natalie Leggett – violin
• Alan Mautner – violin
• Ed Meares – bass
• Ralph Morrison – violin
• Robin Olson – violin
• Sara Parkins – violin
• Katia Popov – violin
• John Scanlon – viola
• Tina Soule – cello
• Cecilia Tsan – cello
• Josephina Vergara – violin

Charts

Album

Singles

Certifications

References

External links

• Hard Candy at Metacritic