When exploring Counting Crows' heroes, one has to start with R.E.M. and Van Morrison. Where Michael Stipe and crew supplied a template for folk rock rich in jangle and sadness (“Find the River”), Morrison gave Adam Duritz a love of blue-eyed soul pleas and impressionistic lyrics (“Into the Mystic”). Nearly as vital is The Band, whose genius for earthily melodic Americana (“Acadian Driftwood”) informed the Crows' own rustic qualities.