Growing up listening to Dave Matthews Band I wore my copy of Under the Table and Dreaming out. Listening to the album on my walkman, I grew to appreciate the complexity of the music, the use of the sax and violin, and the driving, pushing music mixed in with slower songs. The album flowed, and it was just enjoyable.
The second album the band released (Crash; although Remember Two Things technically precedes both albums) had a bit more edge, but still produced the mix of larger scale songs and slower tracks. By 1998's Before These Crowded Streets I was all in on Dave Matthews Band. While that album took me the better part of a decade to truly appreciate, there is no doubt that the complexities that permeate the first two albums continued through the third installment.
By the release of Everyday, (following the benching of The Lillywhite Sessions; eventually released in slightly watered down form as Busted Stuff) the band seemed to be searching for a different direction. Everyday's pop centric feel was a stark departure from the first three albums, and Stand Up's highly political feel seemed much smaller scale than what the band had been capable of. While most fans agree that 2009's Big Whiskey and the Groo-Grux King was an inspired effort, even this return to glory of sort left true fans longing for something.
But what? As the band "took off" the summer of 2011 to focus on developing a new album most fans took the news to be what it appeared to be on the surface: the band had ground out 20 years of seemingly endless touring, and so they deserved a year off. Yet, between the lines cracks were showing: many members of the band seemed to questioning taking time off. In Charlottesville, VA, in the penultimate show of the 2010 tour Dave himself dropped perhaps the biggest piece of information to that end. That night, in the midst of perhaps the best two night stand the band had put together since the early 2000s, Dave discussed the Band's decision to take a year off. He reflected on on the death of founding band member and close friend Leroi Moore, and then stated that he sometimes wondered "what the hell" he was doing by taking a year off. As a member of that sold out arena that night I can tell you that the general feeling from the crowd was pretty much the same.
In that moment you could see the starts of the ambivalence that Dave feels towards his career at the present time. Throughout the subsequent "off" year (composed of four "Caravans" where the band played three night stands in New Jersey, Chicago, New York (four nights, counting the hurricane), and the Gorge) showed a great deal of energy from Dave, giving hope to the idea that time off, plus some creative studio time, was going to help build on Big Whiskey's momentum and lead to a Renaissance of sorts for the band. Coupled with the news that Steve Lillywhite, the producer of the first three albums as well as much of the material which ended up surviving The Lillywhite Sessions to make the Busted Stuff cut, would be producing the album, expectations were sky high for the new album.
And it was under that set of expectations that the 2012 summer tour began. All outward indication was that the band had missed touring the country (Stefan even indicated that he disliked the caravan set up so much that it wouldn't happen again). A smaller, more compact summer tour schedule was released, which was a bit of a head scratcher, but made some sense given the equally surprising announcement that the album wouldn't be released until September, after the summer tour. Perhaps the band was still working on material, wanted to road test some of it, and was planning on using a lighter schedule to help put the finishing touches on the new album.
The first new song confirmed to be on the album was "Mercy," which made its' debut on the Jimmy Falon show staring President Obama. The song felt eerily like a souped up, slower version of the same political sentiment that got the band into trouble with 2005's Stand Up, but it was just one song, and it was one song played without the band backing Dave up. The second track released, "Gaucho," was dropped in typical DMB fashion: a free release to members of the fan association on the evening of the first summer tour show. The song continued with the political theme, but involved the full band to create a great sound behind the struggling chorus lines. Still, if one had to surmise Dave's central thesis after two songs, it could be pretty easily drawn from the two songs released as being "Obama hasn't followed through, the world is going to hell, we've got to do this ourselves or else our kids won't believe in the possibility for change."
The quality musicianship behind "Gaucho" hid this overall lack of driving lyrics well, but the ensuing debuts of "If Only" and "The Riff" served only to misdirect it. The band felt like it was being kept with a muzzle on it at times throughout these songs. It was almost the opposite of the way that Big Whiskey managed to make the band the dramatic center of the group again. Coupled with the confirmation that "Sweet," a song which I saw the debut of at the Chicago caravan the year before, was going to be on the album, and suddenly we were roughly halfway through an unreleased album. Taking stock of it I came to the conclusion that this album would most likely not resonate with me right now, but would be much more meaningful in ten years. I came to this conclusion because much of the material seemed to center lyrically on a depressed melancholy mood wondering if the world was going to hell, what that would mean for one's children, and how to keep the spark alive in one's marriage.
There was even precedent for this: as mentioned above, it took me until my college years to fully appreciate the lyrical depth found in Before These Crowded Streets; whereas I initially thought the album lacked compared to the first two, I now hold the opinion that it is probably the group's crowing achievement. And so I prepared to digest the rest of the album through this schema, expecting to be underwhelmed by the album.
Meanwhile, I saw the group seven times throughout the summer, mostly coming away impressed by the shows. The first show, in Cleveland, was not great, but was salvaged by a Halloween/Tripping Billies encore. This encore would become a semi-staple of the summer tour, perhaps an indicator that the group (which had generally buried Halloween) was trying to make fans happy. Conversely, it could also be an indicator that the group was running cold and needed to bust out songs they usually saved for special occasions to drive up fan reaction. The show in Virginia Beach wasn't bad, and the two night stops in Noblesville and East Troy both lived up to their high standards. The final show, in Detroit, used the same ending of Halloween and Billies to drive up the crowd energy which had been somewhat lacking. Through seven shows I'm still not sure what to make of the group, but it seems like they were having to work harder to make average crowds happy (Cleveland, VA Beach and Detroit) but were able to play like they used to in front of crowds they felt safe with (Noblesville, East Troy).
And then, finally, the album was released. Not surprisingly, the music of the album was restrained, but great when it was allowed to shine ("Belly, Belly Nice," "Broken Things" and "Drunken Soldier" in particular shine through). Surprisingly, however, the lyrics were even worse than the first five songs would have suggested. Sluggish, feeling half baked, the lyrics often seemed to lack the full development you'd expect of a finished album. Many songs have choruses which lack depth, and even songs (like "Drunken Soldier") which seem to be on the verge of traditional DMB big scale lyrical genius end up falling short.
So what does it all mean? I firmly believe, particularly after reading and listening to a number of interviews with Dave it is painfully evident that the lead man of the band is not sure he wants to continuing doing this. The anticipation over a fall tour which looks more and more like it won't happen only serves to drive this point home: new album, with it's strength in the playing of the band, and there is no pending tour. Matthews lyrics are completely lacking, and the band feels muzzled and incapable of overcoming the lacking lyrics. Is it really a surprise that the members of the band who seem most invested in continuing to create more music (Carter, Stefan, and probably Rashawn Ross) are being held back by the front man who's name and voice is the central part of the band?
Compare this to Pearl Jam, with lead singer Eddie Vedder, who manage to continue to pump out new music and reinvent themselves through the years. Whereas Eddie continues to find new ways to express old sentiments, as well as new subjects to explore, Dave Matthews seems mired in... happiness. When you look at the songs that bring the best out of Dave's lyrical development, there is typically two inspiring forces doing the driving. The first is angst: whether of lost love, drug abuse, or confusion over life in general, angst is a central and dark passenger on many classic DMB tracks. The second force, big scale political/spiritual issues has led to the other classic DMB tracks. But now, with a wife, three children, and a comfortable lifestyle, Dave lacks the angst necessary and seems uninterested by tackling the bigger issues.
Sure, he'll take on Obama's failings and the issues with American politics, but he's doing so in a small scale, "Mercy" sort of way. Even his bigger picture attempts, such as the verses in "Gaucho" which paint a beautiful picture of human cultural/political development, he comes to a chorus which simply implores that we "gotta do much more than believe if we really wanna change things." Compare this with the burning drive in "Last Stop" or the melancholic summary of human development in "Dreaming Tree" and you find that "Gaucho" is loaded with potential, yet is impotent due to lacking lyrics.
And, honestly, Dave Matthews deserves this. Great music generally stems from the angst experienced by the musicians or witnessed by them. Dave hit the nail on the head in the pop single "Funny the Way it is" off of Big Whiskey when he mused that "somebody's broken heart becomes your favorite song." When Dave wrote songs about his broken heart, or about his lack of certainty over why we exist, or about where society is going wrong, or why there is war in the Middle East and even humanizing Christ, we could all relate. These were songs the average person could put on and say "yeah, I get it." The vast majority of people can relate to falling on their knees begging someone, anyone to help them make sense of it all, and fearing their own mortality ("When I was young I never think about it, now I can't get it out of my mind"). Now? Dave writes lyrics about things he thinks he should write things about. He's trying to write about broken hearts, but more through the schema of marriage rather than the angst of not having anyone. He writes about his son growing up, but doesn't seem to have a voice to lend to it. He still tries to tackle political issues, but seems to be throwing his hands up and saying "well, I don't know what to do, but I know it's not this, and I'm just not happy with it." He touches on the uncertainty our existence, but the gets lazy with the lyrics (again, "Drunken Soldier").
In sum, Dave Matthews lacks the fire he did when he was younger. This summer he seemed happy to rest on his reputation by busting out all the rarely played epic favorites he knew would fire the crowd up. I wonder now if the band didn't do that because they understood that their mini-renaissance in Big Whiskey was driven by an angst (following Leroi Moore's death) that they couldn't keep going. Dave is happy, comfortable, and tired of the pressure of touring and developing new songs. I think he doesn't want to go there anymore because his angst, the great energy behind the group's high points, is far behind him. Whereas Pearl Jam has managed to reinvent themselves through the years, Dave Matthews Band still is what it always was. The recipe just doesn't work as well when you try to mix it without the fire.
Album Breakdown:
1. Broken Things - 3.5/5
2. Belly Belly - 3/5
3. Mercy - 2/5
4. Gaucho - 3/5
5. Sweet - 3/5
6. The Riff - 3.5/5
7. Belly Full - 4/5
8. If Only - 3.5/5
9. Rooftop - 3/5
10. Snow Outside - 3.5/5
11. Drunken Soldier - 4.5/5
Total: 3.3/5 album rating
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