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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Dave Matthews Band

  • The 200-Word Review: Dave Matthews Band’s “Big Whiskey”

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    Much has been made about the spectre of loss lingering over Dave Matthews Band’s new LP “Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King”. After all, it’s the first album the band’s released since the unexpected death of sax player LeRoi Moore. Truthfully, though, DMB’s no more fixated on loss on this album than they’ve been at any other point during their career, and “Big Whiskey” is by no means a mournful set. The quartet powers through a song cycle that’s more of a celebration of life and love (and sex) than it is about death, with the only obvious nods to Moore’s passing being the sax noodling that opens and closes the album.

    With veteran rock producer Rob Cavallo taking the reins on this album, it retains a shiny gloss while sounding far dirtier than 2005’s overproduced “Stand Up”. Highlights include the wickedly upbeat “Shake Me Like a Monkey”, the uber-jammy “Alligator Pie” (with it’s wildly shifting tempos and semi-nonsense lyrics), the ominous “Time Bomb” (on which Matthews howls Eddie Vedder-style), and the sexy “Seven”, on which Matthews unleashes a playful falsetto. The album flows together nicely, and although a major part of their operation may have departed, “Big Whiskey” finds the DMB in as good a form as they’ve ever been.

  • New Release of the Week 6/2/09: Dave Matthews Band

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    “Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King” is a bit of an unwieldy title, eh? It’s the DMB’s first album of new material in four years and also their first album since the death of saxophonist LeRoi Moore last summer. As one would expect from Dave and co., the album is rumored to be as celebratory as it is melancholy. A lot of folks were a little put off by the extra-glossy production of ’05’s “Stand Up”, and the addition of producer Rob Cavallo (Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day) should muddy the sound back up (of course, this is all relative). All of this to say, I’m super stoked, probably more than I’ve been about any release so far this year. So while I’ll be standing in line for this album, there are several others that you may be looking for in addition to or instead of “Big Whiskey”. Here are a couple of highlights.

    311 Uplifter: These guys came in on the big Sublime ska/punk wave of the mid-Nineties, and nine albums later, they’re still going strong. “Uplifter” is their first album in four years (I guess that’s a theme this week). They’ve already got a hit at modern rock radio with “Hey You”. While the title is indicative of the band’s peace and love vibe, the album was produced by Bob Rock, most famous for producing Metallica, so “Uplifter” should have a pretty interesting sound.

    Taking Back Sunday New Again: Are these guys the biggest emo band in the country? Assuming that Fall Out Boy is now a traditional rock band more than they are an emo outfit, I guess they are. This is the Long Island band’s fourth album overall, and their first since 2006 (OK, so four years is not a running theme). Quotes from various band members have pegged this album as being somewhat experimental, it’ll be interesting to see if their fans stay aboard.

    Elvis Costello Secret, Profane & Sugarcane: On his umpteenth label, Mr. MacManus returns barely a year after his last album, “Momofuku” (where does he come up with these album titles?). The album was produced by Grammy-winner T-Bone Burnett and has a bit of a rootsier sound than we’re used to from Costello, dipping a toe in genres ranging from country to blues.

    Chickenfoot Chickenfoot: I’ll admit, I included this album just because I love the band name. Who is Chickenfoot, you are probably asking? Well, it’s a supergroup, featuring guitar god Joe Satriani, drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, bassist Michael Anthony of Van Halen, and the inimitable Sammy Hagar on vocals. These guys formed after playing together at a Hagar concert, and reunites former Van Halen members Hagar and Anthony for the first time in the better part of a decade. No word on whether one of the album’s tracks is called “Suck It, Eddie”.

    Get your full list of this week’s new releases right here.

  • Chart Chat 5/27/09: Eminem, The Real American Idol?

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    In the biggest chart no-brainer of the year, Eminem debuts at #1 with “Relapse”, which scans 608,000 units in it’s first week. It’s by far the biggest debut week of the year, although it’s the slowest start for an Eminem studio album since “The Slim Shady LP” debuted in spring 1999. Granted, the music industry was in a much different place then. To put things into perspective, if the year was to end today, “Relapse” would be 2009’s #9 album with only 6 days of sales. Em should easily enjoy a second frame at #1 with no major releases out this week (although his partner in controversy Marilyn Manson should enjoy a Top 5 debut), although his reign will come to an end when the new Dave Matthews Band album comes out 6/2.

    Elsewhere on the albums charts, it’s a sea of debuts and “American Idol”-led jumps. The top 10 hosts 7 new albums. In addition to Eminem, there’s the latest hits collection from Kenny Chesney at #3, Method Man & Redman’s “Blackout 2” at #4, Dane Cook at #5, Busta Rhymes at #6, Tori Amos at #9 and newcomer Kate Voegele at #10.

    A little further down on the charts, a couple of collections by this year’s American Idol champ and runner-up debut, and to no one’s surprise, Adam Lambert’s collection (#33, 16K) outduels Kris Allen’s (#50, 10K), although it looks like Kris has the edge when it comes to individual tracks.

    The chart’s biggest gainers this week also relate back to the “Idol” finale. Rod Stewart’s “Definitive” collection is up nearly 400% to 10,000 units, landing at #52 on the chart after being off of it the previous week. You might remember that Rod the Bod performed a generally atrocious version of “Maggie May” on the show. David Cook also finds himself the beneficiary of some “Idol” goodwill. His self-titled debut is up 111% to land at #29 with 17K in sales.

    On the other side of the coin, it’s bad news for Cam’ron and Paul Wall, as both rappers slide over 60% in sales in their albums’ respective second weeks. Killa Cam drops from 3-35, while Paul Wall plummets from 15-64. Yikes, folks. Might hip-hop be the genre suffering the most from illegal downloading? Or are people just reacting quicker to bad music?