Dave Matthews Band - Under the Table and Dreaming (1994)

I heard What Would You Say on the radio, dug the groove, the harmonica, and the change of time, so I picked up the CD and began my love/hate relationship with the hit/miss DMB. As I've stated many times, for me, DMB is a singles band, not an album or jam band, so I usually enjoy less than half of each album, yet I like the good songs so much that I keep buying releases. Matthews can write good pop songs, but too often (for me) he loses focus. Producer Steve Lillywhite reigns him in here to some degree, and the good stuff is enjoyable, but the rest is as "bland as a tofu sandwich." Nothing personal, Dave, you seem like a nice guy. Maybe I would have thought differently if I had been in college in 1994 instead of 1984.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #11

Tracks:  I like The Best Of What's Around, What Would You Say, Ants Marching, and Jimi Thing. Skip the rest.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  My wife and I bought a house in 1995 and this CD kept me company as I repainted the entire interior of that thing.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King (2009)
Weekend on the Rocks (2005)
Stand Up (2005)
Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado (2002)
Everyday (2001)
w/Tim Reynolds - Live At Luther College (1999)
Before These Crowded Streets (1998)
Crash (1996)

Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King (2009)

The last DMB CD I purchased and, by that, I mean it will be the last DMB CD I purchase. I either love or hate the band's songs, which wouldn't be a problem if I loved more of the songs and hated less of them. As it is, with the possible exceptions of Stand Up or Everyday, I usually only enjoy about ⅓ of each album. So I think it's time to end this love/hate relationship. I hope we can still be friends, Dave.

Metacritic has the album ranked at a 67 out of a possible 100.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1 (1 week, June 20, 2009)

Tracks: The ⅓ of this disc that I like are the songs Shake Me Like A Monkey, Why I Am, Squirm, and Seven.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Weekend on the Rocks (2005)
Stand Up (2005)
Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado (2002)
Everyday (2001)
w/Tim Reynolds - Live At Luther College (1999)
Before These Crowded Streets (1998)
Crash (1996)

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - Live At Luther College (1999)

Even though I rarely listen to Dave's live recordings, for some reason, I can't pass them up when I find them sitting in a used bin. This is a two-disc live acoustic album by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds recorded at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa on February 6, 1996 and released nearly three years later. I don't think Reynolds is an official member of Dave Matthews Band, but I know he's done some studio work with them and toured with them on occasion. It was the first concert by the pair to be available commercially, but there are, of course, numerous bootlegs out there. The liner notes aren't any good, but at least there's not a lot of banter between tracks. The problem with 2+ hours of two acoustic guitars playing Matthews' music is that it all starts to sound the same after a while.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #2 (Feb 6, 1999)

Tracks: I prefer disc 1 to disc 2. Of course, I lean towards the tracks with which I'm already familiar, like Tripping Billies, Jimi Thing, Crash Into Me, What Would You Say, and Ants Marching. The rest just blends together. Skip the rambling Little Thing.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Weekend on the Rocks (2005)
Stand Up (2005)
Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado (2002)
Everyday (2001)
Before These Crowded Streets (1998)
Crash (1996)

Dave Matthews Band - Everyday (2001)

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)

Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets (1998)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by a CD. This may have been the last prerecorded cassette I ever purchased. At the time, I was driving a black 1998 Chevy Cheyenne C/K that had a cassette player instead of a CD player.

The band's third studio album, produced by Steve Lillywhite, is the studio album that sounds the most like the band's live albums: lots of jamming and improvising for 7 or 8 minutes at a time. I know that appeals to the band's loyal followers, but it doesn't do too much for me because relying solely on grooves and riffs doesn't leave much room for good melody and lyrics. So, like all DMB albums, this one is hit or miss with me.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1 (1 week, May 16, 1998)

Tracks: I like the one-two punch of the album openers, Pantala Naga Pampa which segues into Rapunzel. I also like Stay (Wasting Time) and Pig. I usually skip The Last Stop while Don't Drink The Water and Spoon suffer from the squawking of Alanis Morissette. The CD has the dreaded hidden track at the end. I'm glad that trend was short lived; it really has no place in the land of iTunes, especially if you enjoy shuffling your tunes as much as I do.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Riding to and from my house to Sugar Land in the summer of 1998 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)
Crash (1996)

Dave Matthews Band - Crash (1996)

Unlike most DMB fans, I think of them as a singles band, not a live-album-jam-band. I either like their songs or I don't. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground at all. Half of the songs here are keepers. Still, I seem to continue to give the band a chance to reach me as I buy their new studio albums as they are released. The main problem with this album is that it is sorely lacking in hooks and it falls apart melodically at the end. However, Steve Lillywhite's production is solid, as usual.

Press of the time:

• Entertainment Weekly (B+): "ear-catching jazz-folk fusion"
• USA Today (3 out of 4): "a musical joy ride with dead-end lyrics."
• Billboard: "appealing collection of inspired and soulful tunes"
• Rolling Stone (★★): "simply plods along"
• Spin (5 out of 10): "they need someone to show them where to go"

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #2 (May 18, 1996)

Tracks: I like So Much to Say, Crash Into Me, Too Much, #41, Drive In Drive Out, and Tripping Billies. I can do without the rest - it's just non-melodic noodling.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In my little maroon Honda Civic, I listened to the songs So Much To Say and Too Much on the way to work in 1997. Those songs helped me get hyped up as I attempted to teach 8th grade English. If you looked at the standardized test scores from that year, I was a huge success as an English teacher, but I know otherwise.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Weekend on the Rocks (2005)
Stand Up (2005)
Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado (2002)

Dave Matthews Band - Stand Up (2005)

Every now and then, Dave and the band take a break from putting out live CDs and release a studio album. I almost gave up on Dave after two consecutive releases that I didn't enjoy: 2002's Busted Stuff and 2003's Some Devil, both of which I've sold so you won't see those CDs on this blog. But I saw this on sale at Soundwaves on Montrose Blvd and gave Dave another chance.

Most hard-core DMB fans dislike this album because the production by Mark Batson (Dr. Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Alicia Keys, etc.) is not what they are accustomed to. While it does sound pieced together and overly-looped at times, 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 reaction from the critics was mixed. Entertainment Weekly loved it, giving it a grade of A- while allmusic.com gave it only 2 of 5 stars. Metacritic has it rated at 63. I put myself somewhere in the middle.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1

Tracks: I like Dreamgirl, Old Dirt Hill, Stand Up, Louisiana Bayou, Steady As We Go, and Hunger For The Great Light. Out Of My Hands with its ostinato upbeats on the pitch A 220 is hauntingly beautiful. Worth skipping are American Baby Intro and You Might Die Trying.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Reminds me of the summer of 2005 when I was in graduate school at the University of Houston. This is definitely a summer CD.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Weekend on the Rocks (2005)
Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado (2002)

Dave Matthews Band - Weekend on the Rocks (2005)

"LIVE IN CONCERT" WEEK (FEBRUARY 7-13, 2011)

Recorded at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison CO, September 9–12, 2005.

As I mentioned while reviewing another DMB live CD, I don't care much for jam bands and I think the DMB is at its best when the band is reigned in to 3 or 4 minute pop/rock songs. Still, since I'm a fan of 2005's Stand Up CD and guitarist Robert Randolph, I figured this might be a good pick up for me. In some ways, yes, in other ways, no. Set includes a bonus DVD.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #37 (Dec 17, 2005)

Tracks:
Disc 1: Not much on this disc for me. American Baby is okay, but the cover of the Zombies' Time Of The Season is senseless because it just isn't a good fit with Matthews' vocal range (although I will say that guest Butch Taylor plays a mean B3). The obligatory drum solo makes its appearance on Say Goodbye, which is otherwise a good track. The pairing of Steady As We Go and Hunger For The Great Light is enjoyable, but the final track is a 16 minute version of Bartender that is painful for me to sit through, mainly because Matthews yells instead of sings. If I wanted to be yelled at, I'd go to work. Dave's hardcore fans seem to love Bartender; maybe I'd feel differently about the song if I didn't bathe and smoked a bowl before listening to it.

Disc 2: More songs I like on this disc: Don't Burn The Pig, Stand Up (For It), Smooth Rider, Louisiana Bayou, and Everyday. I like the song #41, but not 15 minutes worth - I wonder how long the 12" remix is.

DVD: This disc is the highlight for me. It's fun watching these musicians play together, because you can tell that they're having a great time. I forget how good a guitar player Matthews is until I'm reminded by these videos. His playing looks effortless. Except for the Zombies' cover (again), I'm a fan of all the songs on here. If this were recorded as a CD instead of a DVD, it would be DMB's best live CD ever. Jimi Thing gives trumpeter Rashawn Ross some time to stretch out and, let me tell you, he's got some mad chops. The highlight of the DVD is Robert Randolph's guest spot on Louisiana Bayou. I would tell you that this track alone is worth the price of this set, but you can probably see it on YouTube for free. Since the DVD version of Louisiana Bayou is so much better than the CD version, I've always wanted to rip the audio tracks of the DVD. The track listing of the DVD has more of the songs I like on it anyway.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Dave Matthews Band - Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado (2002)

This is a live double disc set that I bought for $4.98 at a Half Price Books in San Antonio a couple of years ago. I've never listened to it in its entirety until now. I'm a fan of DMB's studio releases where he teams up with a producer that reigns Matthews in. His rabid fans don't like that, so they don't like CDs such as Everyday and Stand Up, but those are two of my favorites. This live release features songs from Everyday, so it's tolerable. I'm not a fan of jam bands, so a 10 minute version of Bartender (a song I don't like to begin with) is probably one of the reasons I've never made it through this CD before. Clocking in at a reported 2:37:53, this CD requires quite a time commitment.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #9

Tracks: Like I said, I like the songs from Everyday as well as Crash Into Me and I Did It. Not a fan of Big Eyed Fish, the aforementioned Bartender, and Digging a Ditch. The cover of Dylan's All Along the Watchtower is excessively long and self-indulgent. At least they're smart enough to close with Ants Marching.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, other than listening to this for the first time today.