Record Reviews
📝 2096 reviews| Artist | Title | Review |
|---|---|---|
| Marcel Dadi | Lights Up Nashville Pt 2 | |
| Daniel | Last Night In The City | |
| Rick Danko | Rick Danko | |
| Rick Danko | Rick Danko | |
| David Darling | The River | <p>Improvisatory duet for cello (Darling) and piano (Bjornstad) forms part of a water-themed ECM cycle based around Bjornstad and assorted partners. Darling and Bjornstad were reunited in the subsequent album Epigraphs, although I don't think it quite captures the magic of this effort. They are also heard in the soundtrack to Jean-Luc Godard's film "Forever Mozart". After working on the earlier album "The Sea", Bjornstad wrote about the processes that lead to "The River": "I spent the winter of 1994/5 researching and playing music of the late renaissance, paying particular attention to the clarity of William Byrd's and Orlando Gibbons's melodic invention, trying to 'translate' some of this into a modern idiom, trying to find a contemporary language for further dialogues."</p><p>This album deserves to share the higher profile of other ECM artists like Jan Garbarek & the Hilliard Ensemble. See also the soundtrack music of Eleni Karaindrou (Music for Films, Ulysses Gaze,...) for other richly textured marvels in the ECM roster.</p>— <b>Michael G. Williams</b> <br><br><hr><br><p>Ketil Bjornstad comes from Norway and on this, his third release on the ECM label, teams up with American cello player David Darling again. David Darling had of course made an appearance on a previous release entitled The Sea. Darling is without doubt one of the more influential players on the scene today lending tremendous imagination and color and tonality to whatever he puts his bow to. He started originally with Paul Winter, in the same line up as Ralph Towner and Collin Walcott who would later form the band Oregon. Darling of course would in later years make a name for himself with the album EOS which he recorded with Terje Rypdal, consisting of screaming improvised guitar and cello duets. Classical meets Norwegian rock, further enhancing ECM's name and reputation, not to mention their own .Ketil Bjornstad is more of a classical player than a jazz figure. His background is with the Oslo Philharmonic. Born in 1952, KB is these days a leading arts figure in Norway, not only a respected pianist but also a writer of sorts.</p><p>The River contains twelve duets between the two players. It's fairly slow music and continues KB's fascination with aquatic themes, which started with Water Stories, featuring Terje Rypdal and Bjorn Kjellemyr from The Chasers, as well as drummer Jon Christensen and leading on to 1995's release The Sea, featuring the same line up. This is more introspective and is contemplative in feel. This is a fine combination that works well together. This is very refined music from two leading classical figures who are not afraid to cross over. For myself, I am very drawn to the dark textures that David Darling is able to produce and if you are aware of his previous releases like Darkwood then this might appeal.</p> |
| Dave Matthews Band | Live At Red Rocks 8.15.95 | |
| Dave Matthews Band | Crash | <p>Under the Table and Dreaming, the Dave Matthews Band's first major-label album, was their popular breakthrough, bringing their mildly eclectic sound to a mass audience. Although the group appeals to the same audience as Blues Traveler, Hootie & the Blowfish, and the Spin Doctors, the Dave Matthews Band has more influences than their peers. Fusing together folk-rock, worldbeat, jazz, and pop, the band is arguably the most musically adept of all their contemporaries. However, they have trouble coming up with engaging hooks, as their third album, Crash, proves. Although the band continues to get better -- their musical cross-breeding is effortless and seamless -- they often don't have an attractive frame for their skills. Strangely, the lack of memorable melodies doesn't particularly hurt the album -- it actually emphasizes the band's instrumental talents. Nevertheless, since there's a lack of strong pop hooks, Crash is an album that will please fans, but not novices.</p>— <b>Stephen Thomas Erlewine</b> |
| Dave Matthews Band | Live At Luther College | <p>After the bootleg industry was revolutionized by CDs in the late '80s, it seemed that every contemporary recording artist had at least one bootleg on the market. It wasn't that studio outtakes were suddenly available -- it was that it was easier than ever to record, press, and distribute live concerts. Rock bands who jammed, whether they were hard rockers like Pearl Jam or noodlers like Phish, were in particular demand since, as the adage goes, no two shows were exactly alike. Given this insatiable appetite for new live records, it's a wonder that more artists didn't make like Dave Matthews and launch a series of official releases of notable live shows. It especially makes sense in Matthews' case, since his band sounds better and is more adventurous in a live setting than it is in the studio, as the first installment, Live at Red Rocks, illustrated. Its follow-up, Live at Luther College, takes a different tactic. Instead of featuring the band, it's Matthews alone acoustically, supported by his friend, session guitarist Tim Reynolds. The double-disc album was culled from the duo's 1996 tour, and not surprisingly, the bulk of the material focuses on Matthews' first two albums for RCA. What is surprising is that the songs arguably sound better in this setting, since all of the group improvisations are stripped away, leaving the songs to speak for themselves. Accordingly, Matthews isn't nearly as eccentric in his vocal tics, letting the music flow simply and engagingly. The results are quite entertaining, and even if the album was intended just for fans, it's the rare specialty item that could win new listeners.</p>— <b>Stephen Thomas Erlewine</b> |
| Dave Matthews Band | Listener Supported | <p>With the release of the double-disc Listener Supported in 1999, the Dave Matthews Band now had four live albums to their credit (including their self-released debut Remember Two Things and Matthews' solo set Live at Luther College). Bootleggers had discovered that certain bands had voracious audiences who would listen to anything by the group. Once Dave Matthews discovered he had one of those bands and that he had scores of unofficial discs on the market, he decided to release official live albums on a regular basis. A good business decision, but it has the effect of diluting his discography somewhat, especially when the end result is as ordinary as Listener Supported. Unlike audience tapes and bootlegged shows -- which, in an ideal world, capture a band loose and unaware -- the concert on Listener Supported was recorded for a PBS television show, In the Spotlight. This may have affected their performance somewhat, since there just isn't much energy to the recording. Part of the problem is that DMB don't really explore new musical territory through improvisations -- they just settle into a groove and ride it. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it does mean that there's not as much identity to an individual DMB show as there is in, say, a Phish show. When the band nails the groove live, they can be more engaging than they are on record. But if they just float on by, as they do on Listener Supported, the songs and jams are flatter and never really go anywhere. If you're already a fan -- a very devoted fan -- that's fine, but otherwise, listening to these two discs nonstop will be a little dull. DMB are capable of more than this; Listener Supported just captures them on an off night.</b>— <b>Stephen Thomas Erlewine</b> |
| Dave Matthews Band | Before These Crowded Streets | <p>The Dave Matthews Band made their reputation through touring, spending endless nights on the road improvising. Often, their records hinted at the eclecticism and adventure inherent in those improvisation, but Before These Crowded Streets is the first album to fully capture that adventurous spirit. Not coincidentally, it's their least accessible record, even if it's more of a consolidation than it is a step forward. Early Dave Matthews albums were devoted to the worldbeat fusions of Graceland and Sting, but his RCA efforts incorporated these influences into a smoother, pop-oriented style. Here, everything hangs out. Old trademarks, like jittery acoustic grooves and jazzy chords, are here, augmented by complex polyrhythms, Mideastern dirges, and on two tracks, the slashing strings of the Kronos Quartet. Some fans may find the new, darker textures a little disarming at first, but they're a logical extension of the group's work, and in many ways, this sonic daring results in the most rewarding album they've yet recorded. The Dave Matthews Band haven't completely vanquished their demons, however -- songwriting remains a problem, especially since relying on grooves, improvisation, and texture allows them to skimp on melody, and Matthews' lyrics can be awkward and embarrassing, especially if he's writing about sex. Still, these are minor flaws on an album that relies on tone and improvisation, both of which are in ample supply on Before These Crowded Streets.</p>— <b>Stephen Thomas Erlewine</b> |
| Dave Matthews Band | Everyday | <p>The fourth proper studio album by the Dave Matthews Band had a rough birth, as the group jettisoned a set of sessions recorded with their longtime producer Steve Lillywhite, starting afresh with Glen Ballard, the mastermind behind Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill. Ballard has a tremendous influence on the resulting record, collaborating with Matthews on every track and changing the direction of their sound. To a certain extent, the change is welcome, since <i>Before These Crowded Streets</i> suggested that the group was running out of steam, but the sudden shift toward measured maturation and slickness is jarring all the same, since it emphasizes Matthews' melodies and leadership over the group interplay that is the group's calling card. It's not that the music is now simplistic, since there are still some tricky rhythms and shifts in tone, but the group doesn't have much room to stretch in Ballard's precise arrangements. In a sense, they sort of benefit from this increased focus, since the group's instrumental excursions can be a little flabby, but it still robs them of much of their character. Also, <i>Everyday</i> sounds like it was the product of a difficult birth, and wouldn't have gelled if Ballard hadn't been involved, pushing Matthews toward completion. It does result in a record that's more cohesive than its predecessor, but it's far less engagingly loose-limbed than DMB at its peak. Perhaps that's just a byproduct of maturation, but Everyday feels like forced maturation, a record that suppresses the group's best attributes in favor of a moderate, self-consciously classy stab at adult pop. That it works pretty well at that level is a testament to Ballard's skills, but it feels more like a weirdly abortive solo project by Matthews than a full-fledged DMB effort.</p>— <b>Stephen Thomas Erlewine</b> |
| Dave Matthews Band | I Did It (Sp) | |
| Dave Matthews Band | The Gorge [Special Edition] | <p>Even though it consists of two CDs and a DVD, the latest live album by Dave Matthews is actually a teaser in a sense. Not that that's a bad thing. The Gorge, recorded over three nights in 2002, is easily Matthews' finest officially released live outing, even if you can get the entire run in a six-disc set for a very reasonable price through the band's website. This baby just whets the appetite. But does it ever. Matthews and company lay out 14 tracks, many of them less obvious choices than on previous outings. The music here comes from Before These Crowded Streets (a beautiful opening medley of "Pantala Naga Pampa" and "Rapunzel"; "Ants Marching" doesn't appear on the CDs at all, just the DVD footage!), "The Song Jane Likes" from Remember Two Things, and tracks from Busted Stuff, Crash, Everyday, and even Some Devil. The jams are tighter and rowdier; there's less hippie stuff and more honest to goodness musicianship and groove. And the version of "Gravedigger" here is as moving as it is on the studio outing. The singalong at the beginning of "Everyday," featured in a medley with "No. 36," is quite beautiful, not annoying like some similar moments on live records are. The more song-oriented first disc juxtaposes nicely with the more jam-oriented second, which features a smoking version of "Kit Kat Jam" and "Lie in Our Graves." The DVD showcases not only concert footage, but the "Grace Is Gone" music video and a documentary on the making of it, as well as an intimate look at the Gorge itself, a piece of environmental architecture that is an astonishing music venue and makes Red Rocks look paltry in comparison. Fans will have to have it, to be sure, but this might serve to turn others on to that particular brand of Matthews magic as well. [This set was also relased in a DVD-sized Amaray case.]</p>— <b>Thom Jurek </b> |
| Dave Matthews Band | Busted Stuff | <p>The Dave Matthews Band may not have released the Lillywhite Sessions — the semi-legendary soul-searching album recorded in 2000 but abandoned in favor of the heavy-handed, laborious Glen Ballard-produced <i>Everyday</i> — but they couldn't escape its shadow. Every review, every article surrounding the release of Everyday mentioned it, often claiming it was better than the released project — an opinion the band seemed to support by playing many numbers from the widely bootlegged lost album on tour in 2001. Since they couldn't run away from the Lillywhite Sessions, they decided to embrace it, albeit on their own terms. They didn't just release the album, as is. They picked nine of the best songs from the sessions, reworked some of them a bit, tinkered with the lyrics, re-recorded the tunes with a different producer (Stephen Harris, a veteran of post-Brit-pop bands like the Bluetones, plus engineer on U2's <i>All That You Can't Leave Behind</i>), added two new songs, and came up with <i>Busted Stuff</i>, a polished commercial spin on music widely considered the darkest, most revealing work Matthews has yet created. Remarkably, these songs not only retain their emotional core even after they've been cleaned up, but they perhaps even gain more resonance in this setting. After all, Steve Lillywhite is hardly Steve Albini, and while the initial versions of these songs were raw, it was as much because they were not quite finished as they were Matthews exposing his soul. Here, these songs have been completed, not just in the writing but in the arrangement and production, so they sound just as personal to Dave Matthews, but also sound like fully realized DMB songs. And while they do jam a bit — in, surprise!, a song called "Kit Kat Jam" — that's not the emphasis of their performances; in these slow, moody pieces, they provide supple support to Matthews' elliptical, winding melodies and searching lyrics. The band sounds unified, and so does the album; one of the new songs, "Where Are You Going," sounded dull on its first appearance on the <i>Mr. Deeds</i> soundtrack, but here, it's part of the fabric of the album, equally effective in sustaining the reflective, not depressive, tone of the album. Here, there's none of the loose-limbed, frat-boy funk from DMB's previous albums, none of the smirking jokiness that has plagued their up-tempo jams, while the heartache and yearning that once seemed affected in their ballads is palpably real. It's not so much a departure as it is an unexpected twist in their career. By leaving behind the key elements that defined their music, DMB has revealed that they can hit a deeper emotional chord and, in the process, deliver what's unquestionably the best album of their career.</p>—<b>Stephen Thomas Erlewine</b> |
| Dave Matthews Band | The Summer So Far (The Lillywhite Sessions) | |
| Dave Matthews Band | The Central Park Concert | <p>Here is yet another live album by the Dave Matthews Band. This one is from his Central Park Concert in 2003. This one is three CDs, loaded with hits and near-misses, from one of the most successful stage bands in the business. The Matthews Band is tight, full of enough funk and sass to keep it interesting, and yet is able to convey real emotion to tens of thousands of people, as evidenced by their many live recordings. What sets this one apart is its presentation of one concert in its entirety, and its willingness to leave rough edges in. While the sound is pristine, and the performance reflects the band's well-rehearsed acumen, there are those spontaneous moments on this set that get left off of most band's live recordings -- including Matthews' previous ones.</p><p>In addition, this one rocks harder, and is more visceral, than his other offerings of this type. There are 20 tracks spread over this triple-disc, and without doubt, many of the same tracks that have been issued now nearly countless times are here as well: "Ants Marching," "Dancing Nancies," "All Along the Watchtower," (this one shouldn't be issued again until they can read it as dynamically as they did with steel guitar boss Robert Randolph). There is also a guest appearance by Gov't Mule's and the Allman Brothers' Warren Haynes on Disc Three, for a smoking cover of Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer," and a band jam called "Jimi Thing." If you are a fan of Matthews' idiosyncratic rock, this will definitely be a welcome addition to your shelf -- though it's worth speculating that you have tons of bootlegs already. If you are part of the uninitiated, but curious, this is a pretty fine introduction, though admittedly, it is a very big dose all at once.</p>— <b>Thom Jurek</b> |
| Dave Matthews Band | Some Devil | |
| Dave Matthews Band | Weekend On The Rocks | |
| Dave Matthews Band | The Best Of What Is Around | <p>For those just joining the cult surrounding the Dave Matthews Band, The Best of What's Around, Vol. 1 is actually a stellar introduction. There are two discs in the package, one compiled from the group's studio offerings and a live disc of previously unreleased material (at least "officially" unreleased). But then, this set is unique in another way also: the tracks were selected by DMB fans via the band's website. This is the way best-of and compilation recordings should be issued — by fans, not the suits upstairs. The studio disc contains two cuts from each RCA-issued album, from Under the Table and Dreaming straight through to Stand Up. To everyone's credit, there are two picks from Busted Stuff, a record that was undeserving of the ire it received from some members of the music press. Beginning at the beginning: "What Would You Say" and "Crash into Me" are obvious picks. (The latter is a track well deserving of its smash success, and one of those songs listeners will be hearing in whatever form radio goes for a very long time.) A thoroughly modern love song, its simple melody, hook, and chorus are memorable from the first time through. Other standouts from the first disc include "Crush," "Grey Street," "Grace Is Gone," and "Hunger for the Great Light." The live platter is wonderfully assembled, jumping back and forth across time from 2000 to 2006. All but one of the selections were recorded in the States, and the performances are stellar — even the version of "Ants Marching," the most over-recorded song in DMB history and one listeners should all get a break from, is wonderfully refreshing here. There are a couple of tracks with guest performances: "Everyday" with the great Vusi Mahlasela on vocals, and a scorching read of "Louisiana Bayou" with the inimitable Robert Randolph on pedal steel (if you've never heard Randolph, get ready for a mind-blowing treat). Those uninitiated who are wondering what all the fuss has been about for the past decade get a real opportunity here to check out the very best of what's been recorded, and get a small taste of the band live as well. Longtime fans who don't already have the shows referenced here will want to pick it up for the live set alone.</p><p>—<strong>Thom Jurek</strong></p> |
| Dave Matthews Band | Warehouse No. 8 Volume 2 | Live music from Dave Mathews fan club. |
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