Dave Matthews Band
'Recently'
»
Dave Matthews Band
'Recently'
Bama Rags, 1994
RiYL: Nirvana's Unplugged In New York, bands who are great until they become famous |
Recently captures the Dave Matthews Band at a brilliant period. Already legends in Charlottesville, Va., the band's grass-roots following was picking up steam, and its debut Remember Two Things was selling at an astounding rate for a record with no major distribution paths besides the live show.
Recently served as a single/EP, using an edited version of the Remember track as its selling point and title, but more importantly showing the band's evolution through three new songs and an inspired Dylan cover.
"Dancing Nancies" and "Warehouse," both recorded acoustically with just Matthews and Tim Reynolds on guitar, still stand as two of the former's best songs. These original incarnations show the songs fully constructed, but with their inventive progressions presented in a rawer format than their yet-to-be-realized full-band versions on Under The Table And Dreaming.
Sure, everybody and their mother covers "All Along The Watchtower." But this here is one of the most original-sounding and inspired versions ever to be pressed. It starts subdued, with Matthews picking out the juciest bits of the riff on his acoustic for the first verse. But at "two riders were approaching, the hour was getting late," he lets go of the guitar, holding that last vowel out as a cue to the band you almost forgot was there.
When he kicks back in on the other side, the tempo is faster, the direction different and four of this decade's tightest musicians are coming up from behind to rock your ass. Trying to keep his voice in command, Matthews brings forth a growl far removed from the happy couplets in the title track. After another breakdown in which Matthews' hands dance funky rhythmic excercises on his fretboard, Leroi Moore lets out an otherworldly wail on his saxophone, and the growling begins again, racing to a fierce ending.
"Halloween" is the last of the EP's fine treats. This version beats the crap out of the band's sad attempt at a studio recording four years later on Before These Crowded Streets. The sincere angst Matthews showed in his earlier days finds its best forum in this menacing tune. If the growling on "Watchtower" was a switch from the first three tracks, the fierce unintelligble roar Matthews adopts at the peaks of this one takes it two steps further.
About the only thing that could hope to compete on a power stage is drummer Carter Beauford's spectacular fills, which relieve Matthews halfway through the song. For the remaining two-and-a-half minutes, the song is Beauford's, though the other players punctuate his all-over-the-place drum extravaganza. Matthews is left screaming "Carter Beauford on the drums!" five times in a row at the end of the song, and listeners are left spent.
That was only five songs? Damn.
TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.