This past May, DMB released Stand Up, which was arguably their first real studio album effort in four years. 2001 brought us Everyday, a poppy, radio-friendly album that even some of the band members have been quick to chastise. As a community, we felt slighted after 1998's brilliant album, Before These Crowded Streets. Although the band had been in the studio prior to the Everyday sessions, they scrapped that material for the songs recorded with producer Glen Ballard in 2001. 2002 brought Busted Stuff, consisting mostly of the rerecorded material from the scrapped (pre Everyday) Lillywhite Sessions, but by then all of the songs had been familiar concert staples, having been played on the road for the two years since their initial inception.
So in late 2004 when the band returned to the studio, many fans had decided that this album was going to make or break their devotion to DMB. We had followed Dave through his 2003 solo recording, Some Devil, an exceptional album that featured Phish's Trey Anastasio and long time DMB collaborator Tim Reynolds, and even forced ourselves to buy violinist Boyd Tinsley's solo album, True Reflections, a major debacle in itself. At this point we wanted to know just where this band was going. Early speculation that a producer such as Dr. Dre could produce the album led many to worry. The thought of a hip-hop producer had fans wondering just how much more they could endure. Had Dave Matthews Band degraded themselves to the world of shallow lyrics and digitally synthesized drum beats
Fast forward to March 2005. The band had developed a website offering clips of themselves working in their Charlottesville, Virginia studio. We were introduced to producer Mark Batson, a native Brooklyn boy who had worked with artists such as India.Arie and Eminem. The uproar that emerged from the nancies.org message boards seemed to cause a major rift in what was already a somewhat shaky community. There were three circulating opinions. You either felt that, A) the band had lost its creative side and was uninspired. Dave could no longer write the same lyrics that he had written ten years earlier. B) All bands eventually branch out and experiment with new styles and such a change should we welcomed C) Who cares about the studio album? It's the way that these songs are transformed at live performances that counts.
I personally favor the third option. The truth is that this album does not blow me away. It has its highlights such as "Hunger for the Great Light," "Hello Again," and an ethereal "Out of my Hands." The album's first single, "American Baby," is a clear plea by a politically charged Matthews, begging that we not forget what makes this country so great. However, as tight and over produced as these songs may come across on Stand Up, hearing them live and having them jammed out, raised them to a whole new level. Throughout the summer and winter tours the songs just kept evolving and getting better. In the seven months between my first show in the Roseland Ballroom and my last show in Philadelphia's Wachovia Center, I was shocked to see what had become of this album. "Smooth Rider" had managed to become even sexier while "Louisiana Bayou" had become even more vivacious (often with the addition of Robert Randolph and his Sacred Steel Guitar). The band had still managed to play classics such as "Warehouse" and "Too Much" while bringing back older songs that hadn't been played in a while, namely '#34', which hadn't shown its face in twelve years. At the same time the band did away with the majority of those Everyday songs that nobody wanted to hear to begin with. But now another tour is over and after six years and eighteen shows, the same question still lingers in my mind - Where is this band going?
I wish I had some idea. Every time I think that they're heading one way, they veer off and move in a different direction. Every time I think that I'll never hear a certain song again because it's been shelved for a few years - they bust it out with a vengeance - often sounding a lot different than it previously had. People constantly ask me whether or not I feel the band has sold out. I think the answer is fairly obvious. Yes, they have. But it's not what you'd think. They've sold out Madison Square Garden, Giants Stadium, the Staples Center.... And with good reason.