Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

Charlie said: I do not enjoy jam bands. I never liked Cream, the Grateful Dead, or Phish. I have listened to the Altman Bothers Band At Fillmore East (Live), suppose to be one of the greatest live albums of all time, and felt nothing. It actually bored me. Dave Matthews Band has always done the same for me. I was not looking forward to reviewing this CD for that reason, I have a built in bias against Dave Matthews.

I like to listen to a new CD once through to get a feel of the music. I do this usually on the way to practice, running or doing errands. From that first listen, I get an idea of songs I like. After the first listen of Big Whiskey and the Goo Grux King I liked only three songs; Alligator Pie, Why am I, and Time Bomb. After a second and third listen, even those songs started to bother me.

I know this CD was made as a tribute to LeRoi Moore, the group’s saxophonist who died in an ATV accident in 2008 but I just do not like Dave Matthews and I do not like this album. On the Tina/Charlie promote it, lend it, or deny it scale; I would give it a deny it. Sorry Tina.

Tina said: First of all it’s The Allman Brothers, not the Altman Brothers.

I like jam bands. I like how the artist uses their musical instrument like a paintbrush on a canvas creating a beautiful picture of feelings and energy. I have always like the Dave Matthews Band; I have seen them live numerous times, own the entire CD collection, a couple of videos, draped my college dorm room with posters and at one point I wanted to marry Dave Matthews. If I were stranded on a desert island, one of the albums that I would want to bring with me would be Dave Matthews Band Live at Red Rocks, and one of my favorite songs is “Ants Marching”.

What has always drawn me to DMB albums is heavy use of the violin, various saxophones, drums and guitars to help create the story of the song. I think that jam bands know how and are able to create a balance between instrumentation and vocals; it keeps me engaged in the music.

Clearly, I am biased towards this band and genre and with Jim and Greg’s positive reviews of DMB’s, Big Whiskey and The Groo Grux King I was very much looking forward to the release of this album. After doing my quick listen, to this album I found myself only enjoying two songs; “Funny the Way It Is” and “You & Me”. These two songs gave me my fill of violin and other instruments. The initial listening of this album was leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

Charlie, are you sitting down? I agree with you and will say that the sour taste has not left my mouth. I deny this album--the heavy raspy vocals and overpowering instrumentation creates a sound that seems to be unoriginal and media driven. Could be it possible that The Dave Matthews Band is washed up? I suspect not; true fans will still flock to fields, concert venues and universities to hear this band to jam in the middle of their hits from the late 1990’s.

# posted by Unknown @ 4:03 PM