I’m
not a fan of live recordings and I’m not a fan of
Dave Mathews either. But I will give credit where credit
is due and for this album Dave Mathews is deserving. The
first thing that makes this album listenable for a non-Mathews’
fan is the fact that there are no super radio hits on here.
It’s a live performance, recorded flawlessly, as far
as catching the clear crisp plucks of the guitar strings
and inflections in Mathew’s voice. There is an energy
on this record that is hard to find in a live album- unbridled
enthusiasm.
There
is no denying that DMB is a strong sonic force. They’ve
been around for about a decade and it shows. There performance
is tight. Mathews’ has a strong voice that holds pretty
well through out the entire album but does waver a bit.
That’s okay though, if I wanted vocal perfection,
I’d check out a studio album. And it seems Mathews
even has a sense of humor with his remarks like, “Damn
something smells good,” and I’m sure he’s
not talking about the sewage he may or may not have dumped
on a city street last month.
Boyd, Leroi, Carter and Stefan are probably over looked
more often then not, seeing how it is Mr. Mathew’s
band, but they did a fine job. Drums, violin, piano, bass
all sound great together, although Boyd’s violin could
be turned up just a notch, it’s overall a pretty smooth
balance, and like I said before if I wanted balanced perfection
I wouldn’t be listening to a live album.
Overall,
every song is listenable and one might even say enjoyable.
Don’t get me wrong, I'm not going to grab my Birkenstocks,
burn my Marilyn Manson records and jump on the I love DMB
band wagon, but I actually wont delete this music from my
I-Tunes collection.
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