Dave Matthews Band
Before These Crowded Streets
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Dave Matthews Band
Before These Crowded Streets
RCA, 1998
RiYL: Sting, Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon |
On his major-label debut, Under The Table And Dreaming, Dave Matthews led his band into mainstream notoriety with catchy numbers built on innovative song structures. He used tunes such as "Dancing Nancies," "Warehouse" and "Satellite," to stretch the definition of pop songs the way the Police had with Synchronicity 10 years earlier.
On its follow-up, Crash, the group's leader began to slip into a lyrical swamp, filled with uninteresting sexual imagery and other assorted, unintelligible ramblings. The rest of the band rowed in behind him and attempted to improve the quality of most numbers. And, to Matthews' credit, half the songs ended up on par with his early material -- see "#41" and "Two Step" for evidence.
After the release of a mildly interesting live recording, Matthews returned to the studio to crank out Before These Crowded Streets. With Alanis Morissette on backing vocals, Steve Lillywhite producing and the world-renowned Bela Fleck on banjo, it seems the singer has here tried to use every tired trick in the bag to maintain his ragged street rep.
Unfortunately, he ended up creating a terribly uneven record that is hurt most obviously by its lack of a creative center.
The talented band floats to the end of the world and back on Crowded Streets without ever really landing anywhere. Most numbers drone on without focus, without energy, without an inkling of the melodic genius Matthews was once believed to have.
Matthews' vocals are uninspired, his lyrics vulgar: "Open wide / Oh so good I'll eat you."
That's the opening line to a record apparently guided by -- pardon the expression -- a drunken hornball. Vestiges of his melodic sensibilities can be heard on "Crush" and "Don't Drink The Water," but there's nothing here fans haven't heard before.
Remarkably, the backing musicians somehow persevere. In fact, this might be the finest work yet for both saxophonist Leroi Moore and bassist Stefan Lessard. Solos by Moore and guest guitarist Tim Reynolds raise the quality of more than one song, including the laughable "Rapunzel."
Lessard's bass line on "The Dreaming Tree" is magnificent, flowing gently underneath a lush violin arrangement, Matthews' nimble pickings and drummer Carter Beauford's delightful, sporadic hits.
But as pleasant as "The Dreaming Tree" sounds, it cannot overshadow the raw asininity of "Stay," "Last Stop" or even the subtly stupid "Pig." It's not even the meaning of Matthews' lyrics that makes them intolerable, it's their inane repetition.
Perhaps the disc's biggest tragedy is "Halloween," previously released on the mail-order EP Recently. Where there once was a jagged, striking blow of a song, now lies a burned-out skeleton of forgotten pain.
Streets is so bad it almost makes the listener re-evaluate Matthews' earlier work. Just as the new "Halloween" ruins the old, "Last Stop" will certainly taint any future examination of "Minarets." Even the good-natured "Crush" seems to haunt any and every one of the singer's old love songs -- a real blow for a guy making his millions off pubescent lustings.
If Matthews wants to make any sort of lasting impression on music history (the way Sting has since the Police's final recording), he's going to have to pen more than one memorable album, filled with more than just tired reworkings of overplayed MTV gems.
BEN FRENCH | Ben founded NATN in the winter of 1998-1999 with fellow IU alums Troy Carpenter and Jonathan Cohen. During the day time, he's working for Nielsen Business Media, publisher of Billboard. Ben's favorite acts include Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys.