Crash Into Me

Dave and the Gang

Well, it FINALLY came out. The new Dave Matthews Band studio album I've been waiting for, for about 4 years now. The last one, Busted Stuff, was a brushing up on songs that had already hit the internet, so I knew them already. This is the first "new" album since Everyday. And since everyone knows DMB is my favorite band, I rushed out and bought it yesterday morning. Man, I never thought I'd say this, but only two words came to mind upon the first listen: BIG Disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I'm as die-hard as they get for Dave. I have all of their live albums, all of their studio albums, B-sides, soundtracks with them, you name it. To put it simply, I love their music. But this latest album just doesn't measure up. Granted, I have only listened to it once. And like Lacey said, maybe it'll be one of those albums that the more I listen to it, the more I like it. But I doubt it. It's almost like DMB has lost their ability to put coherent songs together. And I'd like to blame it on the producer, some Mark Batson idiot, much like I did with Glen Ballard on Everyday. But the thing is, the entire band signed off on this as a good record, which it is not. They have traded melodies for riffs; thick music for licks; and cogent, beautiful music and lyrics for pretty much nothing at all. Now, there are a couple songs, especially toward the end of the album that try to bail it all out, but they just can't. And I like some of the stuff they do on this record. But on the whole, it's pretty much a big mess. It sounds like a cross between Dave's solo album and Everyday. On most of the songs, it's just acoustic, bass, and drums, and then at the very beginning or the very end, it's like "oops, we forgot to let Boyd and Leroi play, so play something guys!" It's totally lame and seems scripted. This Batson guy has been saying that he really worked with the guys individually, to bring out more of their style, and changed the way they normally record, but that is against the whole idea of the band and what works for them! And you can tell it on the album. It's choppy, incoherent crap for the most part. Shows what happens when individualism takes over, instead of letting the band flow in the studio and mesh all of their sounds together. That's when actually good music happens. They just need to go get Steve Lillywhite back, or freaking forget producers altogether, hit the studio and make a decent album for crying out loud. Like I said, Busted Stuff is great, but it is comprised of songs they did almost 5 years ago. You know, some bands (U2, Green Day, etc.) are making fresh music, changing up somewhat, but are still sticking with what made them a success. And they are as popular now as they ever were. DMB is not one of those bands. They're switching styles, messing around with stuff that shouldn't be messed with, and they are in danger of losing a significant portion of their fan base, much the same way that Pearl Jam did in the late 90's. The only difference is, PJ was still making kick-ass music. Anyway, suffice it to say that if you are a huge DMB fan, you'll need to get this one. But if not, don't waste your money. I'm so bummed, it's crazy. I'm headed out to buy Weezer's new one, maybe that will redeem my musical week.