Dropping their first studio album in 5 years, Berkeley’s Counting Crows are back today with Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings (Geffen), and they don’t care if you missed them at all.

And while Mr. Jones may have been snoozing on the porch, Adam Duritz and company weren’t going to end their career with a Greatest Hits album.

Listening to this band brings me back to an awkward, grungy adolescence that includes memories of watching CC on SNL with my friends wired picking apart every aspect of their stage performance.

Overall, you are wondering if this is the same old Counting Crows or a new, crappy take. It’s the same — and that’s a good thing.

Listen to two tracks below:

Counting Crows : “When I Dream of Michelangelo” (mp3)

Counting Crows : “1492″ (mp3)

Other highlights are the lubricious ballad “Le Ballet d’Or” and the furacious “Hanging Tree.”

The band is kicking off a HUGE nationwide tour in July, yet no dates in Minneapolis (blech!).