Red Mosquito

washing machine wrote:Wow. Warehouse is indeed a bop. Has no idea this was the namesake of RM user: warehouse

liebzz wrote:Before These Crowded Streets

As rock solid albums as Under the Table and Dreaming and Crash are, they can’t hang with this one. From the opening bars straight through to the end of Pig, for me, I would have a hard time picking any song over these save for a couple of gems on Crash. It’s not that those albums are lacking in any way, it is that this one is that good. Dave is singing with a pure purpose and so intense in moments that he’s developed a growl like his voice box was dragged through a gravel pit…in a good way. The sonics here are more dark, foreboding, and groove driven, as if their flourishes now channel the songs’ movement than accent them. And the songs are excellent. Rapunzel’s jam at the end in particular is fabulous, Dave is…PISSED during The Last Stop, the band makes me believe I don’t want to be any place but where they are during Stay, The Stone is just killer front to back. I mean, I listened to this album on the way home and it was like hearing for the first time again even though I have heard this one far more than any other of their albums. To me, if any of their albums deserve classic status due to the quality, this is the clear winner. My next favorite though is still to come down the (second) line. But really let’s celebrate this one!

Also, Crush is amazing and needs to have a talk with Crash Into Me about how to contain the creepy vibe and bring something worthwhile to the table. Crush is everything that other song isn’t.

AndySlash wrote:nary a mention of the dreaming tree.

this one is pretty good, too:

warehouse wrote:Listener Supported might be my most listened to album ever. I gave it to my niece last year as part of her 18th birthday present because she loves music just as much as i do. this is the dave matthews band i fell in love with when i was a teenager. i love the lovely ladies backup vocals. there's really no electric instruments. i can't stand butch taylor's solos, but he fits in with the band perfect w/ tim reynolds missing. boyd and leroi really shine here. they don't always have to take over a song, the way they accompany the rest of the band is amazing. and when they do take over a song, holy shit!

this is also the version of warehouse i put on 95% of the time. the stop/time intro is one of the greatest things ive ever heard in my life. the sax solo at the end, the way it bleeds right into the final stanza, its what i imagine heaven sounds like. this version is why this song is my favorite song. everyone should listen to this.

liebzz wrote:Listener Supported - East Rutherford, NJ 9/11/99

If the last two shows I covered nailed high points in Dave Matthews Band shows, this one for some reason feels like the most realistic representation. Moments of thrilling highs and great jams combined with extended periods of just meh. Case in point is the band just languishing on Long Black Veil and then just blasting through Don’t Drink the Water. Really though, other than an absolutely stunning Stay, Dave is focused on putting the spotlight on these backup singers that are good but are mostly dragging things along. True Reflections was also pretty boring. But #41, Rapunzel, The Stone, and especially All Along the Watchtower are phenomenal. True to one of their performances, you take the great with the monotonous and hope for an overall fun experience and this album is just that.

liebzz wrote:The Lillywhite Sessions

While the two essentially run neck and neck for me, this seems very much the creative peak of Dave Matthews Band for me. As a follow up to Before These Crowded Streets, which for me is like their Born to Run in terms of album quality, this would be their Darkness on the Edge of Town - the follow up that somehow manages to keep pace and even soar above its masterpiece of a predecessor. What makes it all the more tragic is its shelving and never seeing the proper light of day beyond our 2001 MP3 players. Sure, the band would re-record this stuff and try to save a little face, but it wouldn’t be the same - a muted collection down the road compared to the way these recordings capture the moment, the depth of Dave Matthews’ sadness and darkest thoughts. There are so many essential moments for the band here: Grey Street, the last half of JTR (and the rest of the song for that matter), Big Eyed Fish, Grace is Gone, Monkey Man, Raven, the killer interplay in Kit Kat Jam and Sweet Up and Down…and of course among Dave Matthews Band’s greatest recordings in the epic Bartender. That we have this in some form is a blessing, that it will never see the proper light of day a curse. They still had quite a bit left in the tank, but I always saw this lapse in judgment as them blowing a chance to fully cement themselves as one of the most important rock bands at the turn of the century. Instead…

liebzz wrote:The Lillywhite Sessions

While the two essentially run neck and neck for me, this seems very much the creative peak of Dave Matthews Band for me. As a follow up to Before These Crowded Streets, which for me is like their Born to Run in terms of album quality, this would be their Darkness on the Edge of Town - the follow up that somehow manages to keep pace and even soar above its masterpiece of a predecessor. What makes it all the more tragic is its shelving and never seeing the proper light of day beyond our 2001 MP3 players. Sure, the band would re-record this stuff and try to save a little face, but it wouldn’t be the same - a muted collection down the road compared to the way these recordings capture the moment, the depth of Dave Matthews’ sadness and darkest thoughts. There are so many essential moments for the band here: Grey Street, the last half of JTR (and the rest of the song for that matter), Big Eyed Fish, Grace is Gone, Monkey Man, Raven, the killer interplay in Kit Kat Jam and Sweet Up and Down…and of course among Dave Matthews Band’s greatest recordings in the epic Bartender. That we have this in some form is a blessing, that it will never see the proper light of day a curse. They still had quite a bit left in the tank, but I always saw this lapse in judgment as them blowing a chance to fully cement themselves as one of the most important rock bands at the turn of the century. Instead…

liebzz wrote:Everyday

…instead we get Everyday, which in comparison is nothing short of a flaming turd of an album. Scrapping an album of sad and dark tunes for a different vibe in this context would only have worked with a near perfect album, which means this, put together in 10 days, and devoid of band collaboration in favor of working with a pop producer, was doomed from the start. This album has zero personality, with only the final title track having any feel of this band - and even then it belongs the bottom of the catalogue. The only songs to me that remotely belong with this band are When the World Ends and What You Are, and again, I don’t know if anyone is mistaking them for top level Dave Matthews Band songs. Much of this is simply horrid. Angel, I Did It, The Space Between, ugh. I can recall spending some time trying to convince myself that this was serviceable when it came out, and then once I heard the Lillywhite Sessions very soon after, I never picked this up again…until now. I wish I hadn’t.