Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff
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Free Music Notes for Busted Stuff
Free Music Review: It's like getting hit with a car...in a good way.
Hit: 5 Stars
BAM!Then you're all of a sudden thinking "What on Earth just happened?"
That's what this album is like. From beginning to end, it is absolutely amazing. Busted Stuff opens with a nice chill solo, then you're smacked down by Grey Street, a magnificent cathartic ballad with beautiful lyrics ("She feels like kicking out all the windows, and setting fire to this life..."). Where Are You Going slows it down a bit, but is still nice and pretty, and then a cymbal hit and into You Never Know. Wow. Go look up "Elysian" - that about covers this song. Absolute perfection. The vocal arrangements here are one of the high points of the album...amazing lyrics...just amazing. Indescribable.
Following this is Captain, a smooth, jazzy song with lyrics that are, frankly, dirty. But the music is so awesome it makes up for it - Carter Beauford (the man, the drummer, the demigod) really shines here. Raven comes next, with the best DMB lyric of all time in it, at the end of each chorus. Otherwise, it's a funky, entertaining song that'll have you grooving in your seat before you know it. Grace Is Gone calms things a bit, a nicely rendered version with a Dobro in it played by Stefan Lessard (bassist extraordinaire). And just as you're thinking the album is about to calm down...
BAM!
The car backs over you. Kit Kat Jam - the baddest, funkiest, most incredible instrumental jam ever. I guarantee, it will amaze you. Carter again shines, in spectacular fashion. Calming things back down again with Digging A Ditch, so sweet as to almost be a hymn, the album masterfully sets up the final two songs. Big Eyed Fish starts out with the most ominous guitar/violin/bass work ever - I think that's what you hear when you're about to die. It gives me chills. That song works up to conclusion, then, with an awesome bassline, begins to fade out...
...into a weird violin/electric guitar mix that almost sounds like bagpipes, and right as you think you're going to figure out what it is...
...Bartender. Just as you're getting up, a semi comes along to finish what the car started. Epic. DMB's masterpiece. The whole song is tense, and though Dave sings like he's trying to be released, the drums/sax/violin keep bringing it back to tension...then...at the end...Dave EXPLODES and just yells for the most emotionally powerful 2 1/2 minutes in music history. It is INCREDIBLE. It made me cry the first time I heard it. Unbelievable.
I've been a DMB fan for 3 years, and in that time I've traded for approaching 100 bootleg concerts. I already had multiple versions of these songs when the album came out. And it didn't make any difference. The car hit me. I'm in shock. For the next 3 days or so, in my mind, "music" = "Busted Stuff". There is nothing else to listen to...
Buy this. And I hope you achieve 1/10 the enjoyment that I already have.
Free Music Review: Emotionally charged and beautiful!
Hit: 5 Stars
Busted Stuff is an album composed of songs that were supposed to be released two years ago instead of the disappointing Everyday album. It is too bad that many people became fans through that album because all the fans that had been there from the beginning knew that it paled in comparison to their first three albums. Now with "Busted Stuff" we have the songs that the record company originally rejected in favor of something more upbeat and positive sounding. Immediatly you will notice that this album is an emotionally contemplative, soul-searching, and sombre album, but it is still more upbeat than the Lillywhite sessions. I do miss the neverending chasm of melancholy that came out of the Lillywhite sessions. I'm still pleased with the way this album sounds.
The changed lyrics to some of the songs are without exception better than the original versions. This is Dave's best lyrical album of all his albums. Take Grace is Gone for example "one drink to remember, another to forget. How could I ever dream to find sweet love like you again." This song is the best song on the album and probably one of Dave's best of all time. You have to hear it if you haven't already.
Although every single song on this album is beautiful (you can listen to the album all the way through without skipping a song) there are a few standouts songs that are among the best written by this band. "Grey Street", "Grace is Gone", "Diggging a Ditch", "Big-eyed Fish," and "Bartender" are some of the finest songs on the album.
The instrumental aspect of this album is the best I've ever heard from DMB (a close second would be on BTCS). They jam out just long enough on each song but a little more jamming wouldn't of hurt. Dave's ability to create catchy riffs is advanced even more on this album. In the past the riffs have sounded somewhat unusual at times but it's all quality stuff here. It's hard to pick a favourite on this album but right now "Grey Street" is stuck in my head. I hope it stays there. The two new songs "Where are you going" and "You never know" are both really good songs that show you that Dave doesn't need any help writing songs from some famed producer like Ballard. The latter is the only track on this album that I hadn't heard before the album came out and I like it alot. It grows on me more and more everyday. To sum everything up: Where are you going? You are going down Grey street past the raven and the big-eyed fish to the bartender who will not tell you that your grace is gone or that you are in a kit kat jam, rather he will tell you that you need to be the captain of your own ship and buy this album that isn't full of busted stuff. It might just be the DMB's best album yet, you never know.
Free Music Review: This ain't the Lillywhite Sessions
Hit: 5 Stars
I loved the Lillywhite Sessions. Loved it. When I listen to it now, I still love it. But there's a reality here that has to be dealt with. The Lillywhite Sessions were not going to sell to anyone outside of the people who had already gone out of their way to download them. They were flat, lifeless, and at times incoherent and aimless (or dare I say pointless; see the LWS Raven). There was emotion on that album, but it was one emotion, riding through the whole album. As great as those songs were, they needed a boost, and bad. And the band knew it.So, here we are, two years after the original recordings, with Busted Stuff, and the band has given this album everything that the Lillywhite Sessions was missing. Songs that plodded on the LWS have a bounce to them. Songs that were completely aimless are almost poingant. The songs move through different colors and feelings. The arrangements are given a much needed tightening up, so instead of a meandering, listless mess like the LWS Kit Kat Jam, we have an up-beat, rollicking powerhouse of a song. Instead of a Grey Street that seems to forget what it's about, we've got a tight, meaningful gem. Instead of a mumbled Raven where the band seems to have hit a brick wall, we've got a Raven that hits all the emotional highs and lows that this song is capable of.
The exemptions are completely understandable. Sweet Up and Down was a complete waste of time. It's one of the least ambitious, least original songs the Dave Matthews Band has ever recorded, and Busted Stuff is a better album for it's absence. Monkey Man has some potential that remained completely unrealized on the Lillywhite album, and probably needed more work than they were willing to put into it. JTR is an incredible song that wouldn't have fit on Busted Stuff in any way shape or form. Regardless, all of the exemptions are more than atoned for by the inclusion of You Never Know, which is one of Dave's absolute finest songs, and a reminder of just how complex this band can be.
As good as the Lillywhite Sessions were, this album trumps that one at almost every turn. Yes, it comes off as more commercial, but it had to be (remember please that the Lillywhite Sessions weren't even finished). Regardless of how much more commercial it is, it is the album that finally captured DMB closest to it's live sound. It's the album that shows what a tight, cohesive group of incredible musicians DMB actually is, without risking losing that under a flood of guest artist. It contains the best performances yet on record from the band, combined with some of Dave's best songs. It is DMB at it's best, and very possibly DMB's best album.
Free Music Review: A most welcome return!
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't mean 'return' in the usual sense since the DMB hasn't really been away. I mean that Busted Stuff is a welcome return to the lively interaction and infectious jams that were sorely missing on Everyday. They're well rid of Glen Ballard and his production work, which spotlighted Dave and treated the other members like a nuisance to be subdued as much as possible. Here nobody's buried in the mix. The group chemistry is as electrified as ever. They're all rejuvenated and ready to let loose, and Dave's wonderful ear for melody hasn't produced anything this addicting in years. It's good to have them back.Even with such a set of well-written tunes as Busted Stuff offers, a couple examples stand out - the joyously sunny instrumental "Kit Kat Jam" (have they been listening to a lot of Dixie Dregs lately?), the simple but powerful sound of "Grey Street," and the hymn-like "Bartender".. particularly its achingly sweet three-minute jam that ends the disc. The not-quite-bluegrass "Grace Is Gone" is also smooth and pleasing; nevermind that it's got the most wretchedly unimaginative lyrics Dave's turned out in a good long time. That track is the exception, however. Dave's lyrical skills have grown beyond what he showed on Under the Table... and even Crash. Check "Grey Street" which paints vividly drab pictures of a woman's slowly fading faith. Check the Kafka-esque parables of "Raven" and "Big Eyed Fish." There's a fair amount of bitter cynicism floating through the songs, with some occasional flashes of hope.. even if it's in the fatalistic thoughts of "Bartender" or "Digging a Ditch."
There are some CD-ROM features and an extra DVD included with some unreleased live video footage and interviews, but everything's a secondary bonus to the music. If you like the band's videos it'll be a nice plus. If not.. well, it's free anyway.
Busted Stuff is a more than worthy addition to the group's catalogue, an example of their distinct pop/rock/jazz sound in fine form. In terms of strength and performance I rate it even with the near-perfect Crash. It shows once again why the B in DMB is vitally important; without the intense splashes of color and wonderful tones of Boyd and Leroi, not to mention Carter's endlessly inventive percussion, this could very well have been an average alt-rock group.. albeit one with a nice knack for memorable hooks. But the music these guys produce is more than the sum of its parts. It's Dylan meets Coltrane meets Bruford with a little Bela Fleck tossed in. Get some of this Stuff.
Free Music Review: Matthews does not disappoint
Hit: 5 Stars
Busted Stuff, Dave Matthews Band's follow up album to the 2001 release of Everyday does everything that Digging a Ditch (which was later called the Lillywhite Sessions) was supposed to do and more. All of the fan favorite songs are there and the weaker songs have been wisely excluded (songs such as "Monkey Man" and "Sweet Up and Down"). While the Lillywhite Sessions seemed the logical follow up to the 1998 release of These Crowded Streets because of the layered instrumental accompaniments expressing its melancholy and pain, Busted Stuff is more of a return to what Dave Matthews Band used to be. The songs have shifted from a dreary depression to a much lighter mood. Dave uses an acoustic guitar instead of an electric on songs like "Busted Stuff" and "Grey Street". Moore's woodwind riffs remind me of a style that has been absent in many Dave songs since Under the Table. Songs that have noticeably changed for the better are "Raven" and "Kit Kat Jam." You can actually understand the lyrics now in Raven and the Jam is now wordless, which I think was a wise decision. The oldest song on the album is actually the most changed though. "Captain" (which is an older song that used to be called "Crazy") is the most changed. It is no longer just a mediocre filler, but now stands out far above many of the other songs. It is much neater and its hook is very tight. This song's sound is very thick and one can hear the orchestration under the guitar and bass. To me this, along with "Grey Street," are the two best songs on the album. "Where Are You Going" is a much better song then the first single off of Everyday ("I Did It"). It is more true to the Dave Matthews style that many of his older fans love. As a whole this album works very well. Some of the songs are simple ("Where Are You Going" and "Digging a Ditch") and others are much more complicated ("Captain" and "Grey Street"), but all of the songs are great. Matthews uses a collaboration of everything that he has learned from his five other studio releases in Busted Stuff. There are parts of each song that sound like styles from other albums, creating a whole new and refreshing style. For those of you who have and love the Lillywhite Sessions, this album changes enough of those songs that it will keep you interested and for those who do not know the songs, this is a great way to be introduced to them. Dave Matthews Band is back for all of the fans that were scared off after Everyday; they have abandoned the poppy lyrics and gone back to what they started with...the straight jam.