Why DMB amazes listeners

Big is a good way to describe the Dave Matthews Band. Now approaching its 20th year in the music business, the DMB continues to amaze listeners with its seemingly bottomless supply of great sounds. Consistent is another word I would use to describe the Dave Matthews Band. They have not only spent these past years creating fun music, they have also consistently dominated the hit charts.

I do not know how their live recordings fared saleswise. I know the band has released several. What I do know is that the DMB made No. 1 with its last five album releases. I saw this unknown group in the hit lists and got curious and had to know. What is this Dave Matthews Band? Who is Dave Matthews? Why do they sell so much even without a rock pin-up member? Like Aerosmith has Stephen Tyler. So I checked and liked what I heard. After that it made a lot of sense that a lot of people would buy their CDs and make them stars.

The No. 1 sellers were Before These Crowded Streets; Everyday; Busted Stuff; Stand Up; and the latest, which came after a long four years and that was released only last June, Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King. It is not in the list of their No. 1’s but if you plan to get into the groove of the DMB for the first time, then you might also want to check out Crash. Released long before they cracked the big time, I see Crash as the album that shaped the distinctive style of the band and ushered them to fame.

So now, it is almost like routine for DMB. Release an album, make No. 1 and get a Platinum Record Award on your first week in the stores. That is what happened to Big Whiskey. Again I wondered, can anybody really be this consistent? They have to falter somehow. They did not. Truth to tell, the Dave Matthews Band is not only as daring, energetic, funny and sexy as in the old days, the score for musicianship in this CD is way, way over the top. This is their best work yet. These guys just sound so fantastic, I can think of another band to compare them to.

Another thing that makes the DMB so special and which I believe contributed to the outstanding results of this new album is the fact that they have no fear about showing their soft side. The band lost its sax player LeRoi Moore a year ago halfway through the production of Big Whiskey and the remaining members made the CD their tribute to his memory. So while it rocks and is funky and unpredictable, there are moments of ethereal beauty that celebrate Moore’s contributions to its success.

LeRoi was nicknamed the Groogrux King and his sax introduces the set with a cut titled Grux. I suppose it was also sadness over his death that drove Matthews to write the ethereal ballad Lying In The Hands Of God. “I am in love with nothing less/ teardrops of joy run off my face/ I will rise/ for someone that’s afraid to love/ if you knew what I feel/ then you couldn’t be so sure/ I’ll be right here lying in the hands of God.”

Another sweet tribute to Le Roi, You & Me closes the CD. And in between these is superb, supremely-evolved rock and roll from Dave Matthews on vocals and guitar; Carter Beauford on drums; Stefan Lessard on bass; Boyd Tinsley on violin; Tim Reynolds on guitar; Reshawn Ross on trumpet; and Jeff Coffin formerly of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones who took over LeRoi’s sax chores.

I would really like to pick out the best cut. Shake Me Like A Monkey perhaps or Funny The Way It Is or the real grabber, Why I Am. But I do not think it possible to say that one is better than the other. This is not what I would call a concept album but the songs are so connected that I can only recommend that you listen to the whole thing from start to finish.

You will find no need to skip cuts anyway as they all sound good and you will not mind going through the whole thing again and again. Other cuts included are Dive In; Spaceman; Squirm; Alligator Pie; Seven; Time Bomb; and Baby Blue.