Looks like there’s going to be a new festival in town this summer, as the Dave Matthews Band Caravan has added a Chicago stop to their list of destinations. Rather than downtown Grant Park, however, the caravan will be instead traveling to the South Shore area of Chicago where the US South Steel Works used to reside. It’ll be interesting to see if folks will be willing to pony up $195 to travel to the (relatively) far south side of Chicago, but in the meantime, the caravan boasts such acts as David Gray, Ray LaMontagne, Kid Cudi, The Flaming Lips (performing Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon), Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and of course, DMB themselves. While the price alone puts it squarely against Lollapalooza, the grandaddy of Chicago summer festivals, the lineup looks like it could very well be something of a Bonnaroo north, but with a more intimate setting.
What may just be the first relevant album the band has released since Before These Crowded Streets, Big Whiskey… at the very least, attempts to push many of the sonic boundaries that DMB has been skirting for much of the last decade.
Release Date: June 2, 2009
Record Label: RCA
Rating: 88
After nearly a decade of what appeared to be an image crisis for the band, not to mention the inner turmoil which has recently been brought to light, it’s rather disheartening that it took the death of a fellow band member for the band to get back on track. That being said, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King is a touching tribute that easily would have pleased LeRoi Moore and is sure to gain attention with fans who were starting to lose faith in the band.
The straightforward adult pop-rocker “Funny the Way It Is” is a deceiving single, as Big Whiskey– as the album art implies– is essentially a menagerie of life. While Matthews has never been the strongest lyricist, the observational writing works very well here, with each track serving as a vignette or slice of life– and it allows the musicianship to take center stage for much of the album.
There are two songs where both aspects, the songwriting and the lyrics, shine however, and that is on “Lying in the Hands of God” and “Squirm.” The former is a somber, intimate piece that between Tim Reynolds wonderful guitar-work and the lush production, could easily be considered one of the best songs the band has produced. The equally staggering “Squirm” is a brooding rocker that has some Middle Eastern musical queues and eventually warps into what is far and away the most interesting musical piece on the album.
Though the album has its rough spots (the clumsy “Alligator Pie” could’ve almost been substituted for the studio version of “Corn Bread”), there are more than enough positives to put a smile on the face of anyone who was ever once a fan. Experiencing Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King is a bit like running into an old friend– there’s some familiarity to be sure, but over the years you realize how much has changed in that time. Luckily for them, Dave Matthews Band, in their attempt to find themselves without their venerable founding member, has made their finest album in years.
Well the countdown for Daveheads turned out to be worthwhile as the anticipated single “Funny The Way It Is” was finally revealed in its entirety as the band released the single as a free download via their webpage.
While the overall sound is decidedly mainstream, it’s actually in a good way for once as “Funny The Way It Is” could very well have some staying power in terms of airplay and it doesn’t completely abandon the elements that made DMB what it was in the first place. If nothing else, the pairing of Rob Cavallo and the band appears to be an outstanding match musically speaking.
The album, Big Whiskey & the Groogrux King will be released 6/2 via RCA.
01 "Grux" 02 "Shake Me Like A Monkey" 03 "Funny The Way It Is" 04 "Lying In The Hands Of God" 05 "Why I Am" 06 "Dive In" 07 "Spaceman" 08 "Squirm" 09 "Alligator Pie (Cockadile)" 10 "Seven" 11 "Time Bomb" 12 "My Baby Blue" 13 "You And Me"
It has recently been announced that LeRoi Moore, best known as the saxophonist/flutist for the Dave Matthews Band, has passed. According to the press release from the bands website, Moore died from sudden complications relating to his ATV accident back in June, where he suffered a punctured lung among other injuries. Dave Matthews Band is still set to play their Staples Center show tonight as scheduled with Jeff Coffin of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones playing in his place (he had been filling in for Moore since the injury). Moore was only 46 years old and will be sorely missed by all.
While there has been very little info as of yet, the following video does prove that Dave Matthews Band is in fact working on their new album, which is slated to come out later in the year. Rob Cavallo, who previously worked on all of Green Day’s major releases, My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade and Alanis Morisette’s “Uninvited”, serves as producer for the yet-untitled album. While the pairing may seem odd based on Cavallo’s previous work, it should turn out a hell of a lot better than what resulted from DMB’s session with hip-hop producer Mark Batson. Other news is that virtuoso guitarist Tim Reynolds is said to be featured on the album heavily once again for the first time since 1998′s Before these Crowded Streets.
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