DMB's albums have always been hit-or-miss to me, but this album has more good songs than others, easily making it my favorite DMB album. If I like it, that means most of the band's hardcore fans and most critics hate it. Metacritic has it at 67, including these lackluster comments from Billboard:
I feel the same about this album as I do about 2005's Stand Up. As I said in my earlier post about Stand Up: "I prefer it to their meandering jam albums. Someone's got to reign in the band for those of us that aren't stoned when we listen to DMB. I think the songwriting is better on this release than most DMB CDs and I credit that, at least partially, to the producer." The producer here is Glen Ballard who made Alanis Morrisette a star in spite of her voice, so he obviously knows what he's doing. Instead of 8 minutes of noodling, the songs here are tight, 4 minute pieces that focus on Dave and his melodies.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1 (2 weeks, Mar 17- 24, 2001)
Tracks: The good stuff is I Did It, When The World Ends, The Space Between, Angel, Sleep To Dream Her, and the title track (which has a great video that always makes me smile). While the rest of the cuts are fair, I usually skip What You Are, Fool To Think, and Mother Father.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Riding from my office (a derelict portable building stuck in a pasture behind a middle school) in El Maton to Sugar Land in 2001 for grad school classes in what was basically an office park near the old city hall.
Previously revisited for the blog:
Weekend on the Rocks (2005)
Stand Up (2005)
Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado (2002)
Before These Crowded Streets (1998)
Crash (1996)
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