reviews and musings of a music geek
The Dave Matthews Band has launched a new website (I’m pretty sure recently) for their upcoming studio album. The album was announced back in March, and that the band would be working with Rob Cavallo on production, and that the group would also work with Tim Reynolds, a frequent collaborator with Dave Matthews. As of now, there’s no information on what will be on the album, but I’m eager to listen to it. Some of their latest work that’s come through over the summer and past winter through their concerts has been very good, and given how they’ve taken to changing their sound over the past couple albums, I’ll be interested to see what they do with this one.
Grey Street - Dave Matthew’s Band
Dreams of Our Fathers - Dave Matthew’s Band
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
I’m on a short trip out to a conference in Utah this week and the weekend – I really can’t wait to get back on a plane again, see somewhere new. Here’s some songs that I’ve been listening to recently:
Come Fly With Me – Frank Sinatra
Falling or Flying – Grace Potter & the NocturnalsFreeway – Removed by Request - Aimee Mann
International Airport – Carbon Leaf
It’s My Turn To Fly – The Urge
Leaving on a Jet Plane - John Denver
Minutes to Memories (John Mellenkamp) - Carbon Leaf
Out of Town - Zero 7
See The World - Gomez
Venture Highway - America
Where Are You Going? - Dave Matthew’s Band
In addition to a history degree, I was awarded a minor in geology when I graduated. Originally, I’d intended on double majoring in History and Geology at the same time, but never got around to completing that, mainly because it would have taken me a further 2-3 years of study, something I didn’t want to do. It’s still something I really like keeping up on, with the occasional paper or presentation – my university will hold faculty talks every now and then, and I just got back from one today, this one on the topic of concentrated levels of arsenic (among other toxins) in large sections of Bangladesh. While the estimated lifespan of the population has jumped about ten years with the introduction of drilled water wells, providing the population with a non-surface water supply (generally infected, and could prove deadly with regular consumption), the drilled wells have proven to introduce these chemicals into the general population, killing almost 150,000 annually. The purpose of the study was to investigate means to test the water annually, and to direct people to wells that were deemed safe to drink from. It was an interesting study, with some promising results. They were able to direct people to better wells, with much success, although there are some cultural issues that cropped up. The main problem is that there is still a lot of toxins there, a problem that is expensive for a poor country. (It has almost half of the US population in numbers, in the space of Wisconsin – around 500 people per square kilometer)
I’ve done this sort of work before – testing and analyzing groundwater flow patterns, mainly with small commercial spills and things like that, but to see something on this scale would have been facinating to work on.
Don’t Drink The Water – Dave Matthew’s Band
All Along The Watchtower is one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs, and it’s one of those songs that’s covered a lot. Off all the covers that I have, it’s got the most versions, good and bad.
There’s quite a bit of variety here. The definitive version, by Jimi Hendrix, seems to be the one that’s the most copied, although there are some other groups, such as the Dave Matthews Band (who features it regularly in their concerts), who’ll do their own take. My favorite version is probably Bear McCreary and BT4′s version, which was featured in the show Battlestar Galactica, which was really cool.
Some of the versions that I’m not a huge fan of is the Alexi Murdoch and Blues Traveler set and the one by the Grateful Dead. Just didn’t work for me really.
It’s an interesting song, with a number of different meanings through the lyrics. Dylan started writing the song after a motorcycle accident and when he began reading the bible, and there’s several biblical and end-of-the-world references in the lyrics.
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) – Bear McCreary
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) – The Fratellis
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) – Dave Matthew’s Band
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) – The Grateful Dead
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) – Bryan Ferry
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) – Alexi Murdoch and Blues Traveler
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) – Eddie Vedder and the Million Dollar Bashers
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - Jimi Hendrix
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) / Best of You (Foo Fighters) – Prince
All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) – U2
All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan
Happy Halloween! For a bit of background, the holiday originates from the pagen holiday Samhain, from the Celts in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The name Halloween actually comes from All-Hallow-Even, which really means that it’s the night before All Hallow’s Day, aka All Saint’s Day. In Mexico, the next couple of days are called Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Lots of people know the day when free candy is given out.
So, to celebrate:
Devils
The Devil Never Sleeps – Iron & Wine
Sympathy for the Devil – Rolling Stones
Devil Went Down to Georgia – Charlie Daniels Band
Saint Augustine in Hell – Sting
Ghosts
The Ghost of You Lingers – Spoon
Ghost Story – Sting
Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jr.
Is There A Ghost – Band of Horses
And the rest…
Skeleton Man Dance – Carbon Leaf
Highway to Hell – AC DC
Halloween - Dave Matthews Band
Since it’s inception in 1991, The Dave Matthew’s Band has been one of the biggestand most successful modern rock bands to date. Utilizing a number of different styles and roots, the band has a song list that numbers in the hundreds, it not thousands, and routinely fills stadiums and venues wherever they go. In addition, a number of its members have gone on to numerous side projects between solo albums, as well as television and film acting. They have also frequently collaborated with the likes of Johnny Cash, Alanis Morsette, Trey Anastasio, Mike Doughty, Santana, Jimmy Buffet and the Rolling Stones, among others.
The group’s first album, Remember Two Things, was released in 1993, an indie release that attracted a lot of attention, leading to the 1994 release of Under the Table and Dreaming, which featured a number of hits, eventually going four times platnium. Under the Table and Dreaming featured a number of DMB favorites, characterized by it’s quick guitar and drum work, tight vocals and saxaphone.
What Would You Say? – Dave Matthew’s Band
Under the Table and Dreaming was followed in 1996 by Crash, which spawned several more hits for the band. It continued with a similar sound to UTTAD, although with several slower songs to go along with it.
Too Much – Dave Matthew’s Band
After Crash, the band released two live albums, Live at Red Rocks and Live at Luther College, before returning to the studio to record Before These Crowded Streets. This album was more experimental than the prior two albums. Rapunzel utilizes some interesting rhythems, while Don’t Drink the Water, Last Stop and Halloween are some of the darker songs that the band has released, tonewise and themewise.
The Last Stop – Dave Matthew’s Band
The band’s 2001′s release, Everyday was also a departure from their normal sound. Already with a huge fanbase, there was a huge anticipation for their next album. However, tensions in the studio forced the band to scrap their work and start anew, creating an album in just a couple of weeks. This marked the first time that Dave Matthews used an electric guitar, and while the album was a commercial success, it was viewed as too mainstream and pop-like by numerous fans, as well as some of the band members.
Fool to Think – Dave Matthew’s Band
Everyday was followed up by the remains of the scrapped album, known as the Lillywhite Sessions, dusted off and now called Busted Stuff. The album went back a bit to the band’s typical style, with it’s distinctive guitar and drumwork and lyrics. The album’s speed is a bit slower, but musically, it was much stronger than Everyday. Dave Matthews would also collaborate with Carlos Santana in 2002
Bartender – Dave Matthew’s Band
2004 for Dave Matthews brought Some Devil, a fantastic solo album that brought in a number of well known artists, such as Trey Anastasio and Tim Reynolds. The album is brilliant musically and lyrically, and some of it’s song have been used by the band as a whole.
Save Me – Dave Matthews
2005′s Stand Up is the band’s latest album, and once again represents a jump in style, this time utilizing a sound closer to Before These Crowded Streets, as well as R&B, a little country and seems more whimsical to me. In addition, it’s far more laid back than most of their music, but seems to be the most advanced and rich of all their albums.
Stand Up (For It) – Dave Matthew’s Band
In 2006, DMB released their greatest hits album, something that they were a bit reluctant to do, pulling a list of their better known hits and a list of fan-picked live favorites. In 2007, Dave Matthews released the odd Eh Hee, as well as Live at Radio City, a live album with longtime collaborator Tim Reynolds. As of now, the band is currently writing for their next album, which should be released in the next year or so. I’m excited for it, and from some of their latest concert releases, they’ve got a bunch of newer songs that sound really cool.
The band is a huge staple in the music industry, with a huge track collection and from all reports that I’ve heard, have an amazing live experience. (Hopefully I’ll get out to see them in the near future.) All in all, DMB will probably be looked back on as a band that was just as important as the Rolling Stones or Chicago as far as influence goes (although not music style) in the music industry. Hopefully, they’ll be around for years to come.
I’m a big DMB fan, have been ever since I’d gotten their first album frmo my aunt when she moved, and had some CDs that she wanted to get rid of. Since then, I’ve followed them, to varying degrees of fanatasism throughout high school and college. Currently, I’m awaiting for his next album (due out in the next year or so), and was very excited for the new (extremely weird) music video a couple weeks ago.
Just for comparison purposes, here’s Eh Hee, his latest single, and the original demo of Granny, which was originally intended for Under The Table and Dreaming, but was cut. It’s now played at a couple concerts every now and then, while Eh Hee made it’s debut in a couple of concerts and seems to have evolved a little over the past year.
Eh Hee is a huge change from Matthew’s typical songs – but then again, they’ve never really been afraid of changing around their sound, thinking back to Everyday and Stand Up. Eh Hee is heavily edited, with Dave playing every part of the song, and has a very different sound from just about everything out there. Granny, (which was supposed to be the first single off the album) on the other hand, features some very classic DMB guitar work and lyrics, and is a good song from the Under the Table days. It’s a real pity this one didn’t make it onto the album.
Eh Hee – Dave Matthews
Granny (Demo) – Dave Matthews Band
