Charger Arts & Entertainment

New live DMB cd leaves room for improvement

Wes Garner, Charger Staff

I am not the biggest fan of popular music or of pop culture. And it took several years of changes in musical taste and a great amount of maturing before I started really looking at music for what it is. So if something does not fulfill my tastes, I verbally murder it.

I have great respect for the Dave Matthews Band. Just because the band is considered to be in the pop music genre does not mean that they totally lack in the talent department. In their new live album, members Carter Beauford, Boyd Tinsley, Stephan Lessard, Leeroy Moore, and Dave Matthews definitely show that they are very talented and mature musicians.

The way they play shows the amiability they have acquired from performing for so long. The band is very tight despite this comfort, which one would think would slow them down. They roll through a variation of time and key signatures with ease. Sometimes I believe that their comfort with the whole touring scene pushes the limit. This “limit-pushing” I refer to is guided more towards burning time on simple licks or breaks than anything else. I acknowledge the fact that a live setting carries that certain aura about it where time flies when you are having fun.

Still, if one is to put out a live album, that certain someone must realize that he is not playing to avid fans of which the majority are probably intoxicated. He/she is playing to someone driving to school or sitting in a room doing homework. It is a completely different environment.

The last big disturbance of mine is the amiability with lyrical content. This is more of a moral dispute of my own than anything else.

His comfort with the audience (which is probably also due to some liquid outside sources) caused him to drop a couple of F-bombs in that area. That and the fact that his song content is, for the most part, based on sexuality. These put a real damper on the music for me.

Despite little problems that only I would find on the album, it is not too bad. It is definitely not the band’s best work, but every band has their ups and downs.

This new release would be a fine addition to any Dave Matthews Band fan’s collection. Check it out this holiday season.