Reviews

Dave Matthews Band

Stand Up

Digg this review.
Add to del.ico.us.

Review Date: 2005-05-13

I’m the new guy around here; I guess you’ve noticed that. You’ve also noticed that I have a good bit of pop and mainstream stuff in my Top 10. So now you don’t know what to expect from me. Fair enough. But you’ll give me a chance anyway, in case I may actually turn out to be good for the site. “It probably won’t happen, but it will still be funny to see how bad he actually crashes and burns” you say. “Oh my God, he put DMB at number 2 on his top 10, and now HE’S reviewing their new album.” Bound to be biased, right? Read on…

Dave Matthews Band – Stand Up

When your favourite band releases a new album, you’re always going to treat it like a new child, or perhaps the return of an old friend who’s been away for some time (unless it’s a Ryan Adams album, then it’s just like your friend who lives next door who you haven’t seen since lunch time – how does that man release so much?) Hardcore fans are always going to be the harshest critics or greatest defenders of a band’s new album. Unfortunately this album doesn’t divide me into either category. It’s not bad enough for be to harshly criticize, and not good enough for me to defend to the death. It’s somewhere in between. It’s one of those above average albums. Like the friend who has just came home from abroad, but the fact that he has come home makes little impact on you. It’s good that he’s back, but you wouldn’t have noticed too much if he never returned.

By now everyone has probably heard the album’s first single “American Baby”. This is one of the best songs on the album, so if you like it you’ll like the album. It opens strongly with second single “Dreamgirl”, a song which is too ‘pop’ for many of DMB’s hardcore fans (or ‘Daveheads’ if you will). “Old Dirt Hill (Bring That Beat Back)” is more traditional Dave Matthews Band material, and wouldn’t sound out of place on Under the Table and Dreaming. It’s a really catchy tune and will stay in your head for days. New producer Mark Batson’s influence can clearly be seen on the eponymous third track. Batson has previously worked with Beyonce, India Arie and Seal. His appointment as producer came as a shock for DMB fans, but they hoped that he would at least be an improvement on Everyday producer Glen Ballard.

The fourth song “American Baby Intro” does not sound anything like the first single, and is easily forgettable. Batson has added gunfire to this track, which makes it feel overproduced. Stand Up is seen as Dave Matthews’ The Rising or American Idiot. Matthews is very anti-Bush, after all the band was part of last fall’s “Vote For Change” tour. Matthews’ bush-baiting is best shown on the album’s best track “Everybody Wake Up (Our Finest Hour Arrives)”. Matthews was always good for producing ambiguous lyrics which allowed fans to debate over the true meaning. These songs are no different; some people have taken “Everybody Wake Up” and “Out of My Hands” (which share some of the same lyrics) as reaction to last year’s election: “everybody wake up, if you’re living with your eyes closed, see the man with the bomb in his hands” and most notably in the repeated lyrics “our finest hour arrives, see the pig dressed in his finest fine, as the believers stand him and smile, as the day lights up with fire, it’s out of my hands for now”. Some people have also argued that perhaps these lyrics are written from the perspective of someone who was in the World Trade Center: “let me in, let me in, I’ll stop to feel like I’m crazy, betrayed, out on my window ledge.”

For the last few months fans were given making-of videos through the band’s website to heighten their anticipation. In these clips Batson and the band talked about this album being funkier. Some of the tracks could be described as funky, most definitely “Smooth Rider” and “Louisiana Bayou”, which are two of the worst songs on the album. At just over two minutes, “Smooth Rider” doesn’t get the chance to go anywhere, and the chorus in “Louisiana Bayou” becomes annoying (especially the yelping parts). At five and a half minutes “Louisiana Bayou” is by far the longest song on the album. Compare this to Before These Crowded Streets, where most of the songs were over five minutes. By making the album funkier Batson has removed most of the jamming – much like Glen Ballard did for Everyday – which is what makes Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band.

During last year’s summer tour the band played five new songs “Crazy-Easy”, “Good Good Time”, “Hello Again”, “Joy Ride”, and “Sugar Will”. At least two of these were played at every show. After playing them that much surely they’d hone them down enough for the new album. Batson must not have thought so, as only “Hello Again” appears on Stand Up. Granted it is the funkiest of those five songs, it’s just not as good as “Good Good Time” or “Joy Ride”. Luckily fans who pre-ordered the album through the band’s website, get a bonus disc which includes a studio version of “Joy Ride”, a song which deservedly missed the cut called “Trouble with You”, and the instrumental “Mark and Carter Jam” which was featured in one of the making-of videos.

The slower songs and the rockier songs are the ‘bread and butter’ of the album. These are what make you put Stand Up back in your CD player. “Out of My Hands” and “Steady As We Go” are beautiful soft piano-led songs. Another slow song, “Stolen Away on 55th and 3rd” leaves a lasting impression. But then again, Dave Matthews has always been capable of solid slow-movers, as seen on his solo album Some Devil, and two of his career highlights “Spoon” and “The Dreaming Tree” from Before These Crowded Streets. The rockier songs “You Might Die Trying”, “Everybody Wake Up”, and “Hunger for the Great Light” also impress. Bassist Stefan Lessard turned to lead guitar when writing “Hunger for the Great Light”, maybe he should do this more often. It’s also the last song on the disc and leaves the listener with a positive opinion of the album.

Dave Matthews Band is never going to make another Before These Crowded Streets, Crash or Under the Table and Dreaming. All the band members are much older now, their lives have been changed. They’re married and have children. They don’t view the world the way they used to. Basically, they have evolved. Similarly their music has too. But by evolving the music is missing something – the thing which made it great, the violin and sax solos, the jams, and even in some places Dave’s subtle lyrics. Now what we get is a good album, one that seems to be afraid to be a great album. On second thoughts, it is actually good that your friend has come home after a long time. Now you can go around to his place and borrow all his tools.

Tracks to download: “Dreamgirl”, “Old Dirt Hill”, “Everybody Wake Up”, “Out of My Hands”, “Hunger For The Great Light”, and if you want download “American Baby” too.

Score: 7.7

It’s a good album, by no means is it bad. It just isn’t Dave Matthews Band good. The band is capable of so much. And it’s not that they’re gone too old, Matthews’ solo album was wonderful, this sadly isn’t.

- Ronan Hunt-Murphy