The Dave Matthews Band has broken up!
Well, maybe they haven't done it yet, but it certainly looks as though it's about to happen. So what if they were performing together as of a week ago? So what if they made a joint appearance on "the Today Show" last Wednesday? Just take a look at the facts here.
Symptom #1: Last week, Dave released his new solo album, entitled "Some Devil."
Symptom #2: "Some Devil" comes hot on the heels of DMB violinist Boyd Tinsley's own solo debut, "True Reflections."
Symptom #3: Well, this one might take a little more explaining...
You see, in what was probably an attempt to differentiate his solo outing from the DMB material, Dave jettisoned every last Band member for "Some Devil." Strangely enough, though, it still sounds like they were all in the studio with him.
In other words, to hell with the rest of them. This album proves that a solo Dave would have a viable, marketable sound that would satiate his disciples and fill the void that some might think will be left if the group splits up.
There are a few differences, but they're purely textural. The empty space left in the frequency spectrum after the departure of the rest of the gang was filled by a long list of hired guns. By far the most famous and prominently featured of them are Trey Anastasio, Tim Reynolds and Stone Gossard -- all guitarists. Therein lies the source of this album's greatest departure from the DMB sound. It is much more guitar heavy -- that's not to say that there are heavy guitars, mind you, but rather that there are plenty of songs that are driven by guitar licks instead of sax lines or violin frenzies. Now, that is to be expected when going from a band with one guitar (or sometimes two, depending on Tim's whereabouts) to a lineup with three guitar players in the booth and one at the production helm, but there are also way more strings and keyboard parts here and (obviously) fewer horns, so it's obvious that Matthews was trying to go in a different sonic direction. Compositionally, though, it is all very Davey, and existing fans will slide right into the "new sound" like they've been wearing it in their heads for years; because, when all is said and done, it doesn't come off as all that different.
One major change is the salience of the basslines. Tony Hall is nowhere near as audible as Stephen Lessard, and it's not just a function of the mixdown. On slower, more ominous DMB songs such as "Two Step," "Dancing Nancies," and, probably the single most telling example of all, "The Dreaming Tree," Lessard bounces around quite a bit before landing on his final destination, duking it out with drummer Carter Beauford every step of the way. Hall, on the other hand, is much more straightforward. Even on the dark lead single "Gravedigger," which practically begs for flava down below to complement the dual blues guitar trickery of Trey and Tim, he embellishes only minimally.
"Some Devil" comes packaged with a five-track EP of live Dave and Tim performances from a two-week span back in late March and early April. Unfortunately, this time around the songs are nowhere near as addicting as those on the appallingly appealing "Luther College" double album. The cleverness of the stripped-down duo arrangements works best when they can be compared to the fleshed-out original versions. "Stay Or Leave" is a new "Some Devil" song, so it hasn't been floating around for long enough to really engrain itself in the subconscious; "When The World Ends" has no such referance at all.The same problem plagues the alternate version of "Gravedigger," which is reprised in an unplugged form at the end of the main disc.
The highlight is a tender, poignant "Seek Up;" it's got nowhere near the fury of the radioactive "Live at Red Rocks" take, but the spirit of the song comes through nonetheless thanks to the carefully plucked riffs and ambient effects that Reynolds tastefully builds up far off in the background.
It's hard to figure out what to do with this album, because it's not as good as the better DMB albums and doesn't quite sound like one. But it still manages to appeal to the same part of the brain. It would have been great -- both in the interest of musical innovation and for pure, hilarious shock value -- if Dave had released an out-of-left-field collection of bizarre progressive tracks a la "Kid A," but for what it is, "Some Devil" has some merit.
*** 1/2
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
