Adult-orientated rock gets a bad press these days, but in the hands of such old hands as Counting Crows it's a genre which still has plenty to offer. Hard Candy may well be the Americans' best moment to date, a super-slick collection of radio-friendly pop songs turned out with an unmistakable air of polished confidence. Very much in the line of unthreatening tunesmiths such as the Eagles, the Crows take the basic virtues of country music (warm, lilting, melodic) and infuse it with the sturdy passion of pop. It's a highly commercial combination, but far from a dumbed-down one - frontman Adam Duritz is a genuinely intelligent character and complements his sugary melodies with superior lyrics about past mistakes and the nature of memory. Celebrity friends Sheryl Crow and Ryan Adams also pop up, not very interestingly, as if to underline the record's unthreatening nature. But don't be fooled - beneath Hard Candy's gentle exterior lies a thoughtful, troubled heart with interesting things to say.
