Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff
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Free Music Notes for Busted Stuff
Free Music Review: The "New" Lillywhites
Hit: 5 Stars
DMB's newest CD does not disappoint. Although many fans already had copies of the songs on this CD by downloading the famous Lillywhite Sessions, the album still has a fresh, new feel to it. Although the absence of JTR and Sweet Up and Down are apparent, the addition of Where Are You Going and You Never Know fills these spots well. Each song has had an overhaul, and many have benifited from this. 1. Busted Stuff - sounds very much like the version on Lillywhites, which is a good thing. This is one of the weaker tracks on the album IMO but still a good song. 7/10
2. Grey Street - love the new version. Dave has changed the CD version to sound more like the live version, and has changed the lyrics from the lillywhites version. My favorite song on the album. 10/10
3. Where Are You Going - the first single off the new CD. This song is a little slow for my taste, but defiatley a good song. 8/10
4. You Never Know - slowly becoming my favorite DMB song. This is a really cool song musically, and the change in timing throughout the song flows extremely well. This is my second favorite behind Grey Street. 10/10
5. Captain - my vote for most improved song. I liked the Lillywhites version, but it seemed underproduced. This version is much tighter than the lillywhite version, and is a very good song. 9/10
6. Raven - another greatly improved song. This song was very dark and mysterious on the Lillywhites, but the new version has a new twist to it that makes it catchy and fun to listen to. 8/10
7. Grace is Gone - this is the biggest disappointment of the new album. The Grace is Gone on the Lillywhites was a slow ballad, and they sort of sped it up for the new CD. I still like the song, but the old version was definatley better. 6/10
8. Kit Kat Jam - liked it better with the words, but still an incredible song. Again, much tighter than the Lillywhites version, and a really cool song with awesome groove. 9/10
9. Digging A Ditch - most underrated song on the album. Although this song is kind of weak live(comparatively speaking), the studio version fits really well into this CD. 9/10
10. Big Eyed Fish - the intro has been changed a little, from saxophone on Lillywhites to guitar on Busted Stuff. This song, like many others, is a lot tighter than the version on the Lillywhites, and a little more upbeat. 8/10
11. Bartender - full of power. This is the perfect way to close the CD. This song is even more amazing live, but the CD captures the power and energy of the live version pretty well. 10/10
Free Music Review: Starts out familiar, then grows on you like a weed!
Hit: 5 Stars
I am not the typical reviewer. I fell in love with DMB's music in 1995, loved "Under the Table and Dreaming" and "Crash", thought "Before These Crowded Streets" was mediocre, and actually liked "Everyday" better than that. Never heard the Lillywhite sessions until the "Busted Stuff" result of them."Busted Stuff" is great, I would never regret buying it or going to the concert promoting it (Sept. 3 in KC, YIPPEE!!!). I will just break it down into pros and cons, though.
Pros: Sounds like DMB grew up a bit, but didn't forget their roots. The songs tend to grow on you; first time I heard it, I was all....."Hmmmmmm....okay, this is good, but I don't understand it yet". Two weeks later I know all the words and the mood of the CD and the songs are going through my head at work, when I'm driving and can't hear it, when I'm at the gas station paying the chick, when someone's talking to me and it's boring the songs are in my head. Mortality and alcohol seem to be large themes of this disc, with the parental-role being a key fixture in "Raven"----still haven't figured that one totally out. The songs flow together. It sounds like DMB. Gotta love it. Am pissy the enhanced CD doesn't work on my old CD-ROM, or I"d be listening to it right this second instead of "Crash". I put it on tape for my car so I could get small doses whenever I'm driving. :) It's just Dave and Band at their most recent best (and they actually agreed to put this album out, which I think is important......everyone talks about the Lillywhite Sessions and how FANTASTIC/SUPERIOR they are to this, but ya gotta remember........Lillywhite wasn't ready). To me, Lillywhite is the equivalent of taking my personal journal and sharing it with everyone before I gave my consent. Even though what is contained might be true, without permission from me it shouldn't exist.
CONS: The frequent time-changes in many songs mess up my groove. Time-changes are something that DMB does and normally is very good at, but it's not too smooth in this recording. Don't try to do air-instruments to this disc!
Really, it's a beautiful recording. It reminds me of the DMB of old, which I've missed on their last two (official) releases. And although many people consider "Where Are You Going" a ... sellout song, I think it's gorgeous, it speaks to my heart and to my life. Dave tends to do that. Buy this disc, and if you're only a casual fan, buy "Crash" and "UTTAD" to round out your collection. There is some serious talent in these boyz. :)
Happy DMBing!
Shinda
Free Music Review: Great - I love DMB!
Hit: 5 Stars
I have to admit bias because Dave Matthews Band is by far my favorite musical group. I fell in love with them after hearing their third major studio album, Before These Crowded Streets.Most of the tracks on Busted Stuff originally appeared on the famous Internet bootleg, the Lillywhite Sessions, which I also downloaded and burned faithfully. Here in Busted Stuff, the tracks have been "officially" recorded and produced. The songs are great.
The music of Busted Stuff seems to be the middle ground between DMB's ostensible jazz "meanderings" and the condensed simplicity of their (worst) album Everyday. (Everyday wasn't BAD, but Busted Stuff surely is much better.) I admire those characteristic meanderings with which DMB did away on Everyday. That's what made DMB unique: a masterful fusion of different musical genres, and thus, a coexistence of conventionality and unconventionality--a mix of accessibility and pure artistry. To eschew the musical wandering in Everyday--creating its cookie-cutter songs--was to change what's so good about DMB. So, Busted Stuff is somewhat of a return to their roots of venerable originality.
Plus, most of the songs have excellent lyrics, too. Dave Matthews can write simply and sweetly (as with the title track or with "Grace is Gone," a song with a sort of twist at the end), but he also displays his profundity. The song "You Never Know" tackles the Matthews motif of living our finite lives fully and meaningfully (think of Before These Crowded Streets' "Pig," Crash's "Lie in Our Graves" and "Two Step," or Under the Table and Dreaming's "Ants Marching"). Matthews also writes about God ("Bartender," the only true meandering song on this album) and about dreaming ("You Never Know" and the thoughtful "Digging a Ditch") and pithily tells mini-parables ("Big Eyed Fish"). You also get a funky instrumental, "Kit Kat Jam," and, of course, the wonderful single "Where Are You Going."
So go buy Busted Stuff! If you want more, I recommend Before These Crowded Streets, a very diverse and brilliant album, and also Crash, an album full of GREAT songs.
(By buying Busted Stuff, you also get a DVD--which has concert clips of the songs "When the World Ends" from Everyday and "Bartender"--AND some computer extras.)
Free Music Review: A Matthews masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
One of the biggest controversies concerning downloadable music came a year or so ago when a rejected Dave Matthews Band album (nicknamed "The Lillywhite Sessions" after the band's erstwhile producer Steve Lillywhite) surfaced on the Internet and was fervently downloaded. In response to his fans'--and, reportedly, his bandmates'--requests that the album be released anyway, Matthews relented. "Busted Stuff" is a completely re-recorded "Lillywhite," circa 2002, with a few changes that were deemed necessary.Contrasted with the Band's over-electric, sometimes insipid 2001 release "Everyday," "Busted Stuff" sounds much more like the DMB of old, with impeccable work by reed man Leroi Moore and violinist Boyd Tinsley. Most of the songs clock in at five minutes or more, and often end in lengthy, jammed-out outros. This, however, is where the similarities end. While the Band's other albums are abundant with themes of love and merrymaking, "Busted Stuff" starkly illustrates a low point in Matthews's life. Some of the subjects of its eleven songs are death, non-conformity and its negative consequences, inevitable loss of a love, the existence of a higher power, and banishing troubles by "digging a ditch" for them.
Strangely enough, as Matthews sorts through these issues, his music reaches a new transcendence. Gone are the heavy guitars and peppy percussion of "Everyday," replaced by evocative instrumentals and brooding lyrics. Matthews's voice, in perfect symmetry with his moods, effortlessly changes from a deep growl to impassioned falsetto to expressive cry (demonstrated in the album's eight-minute zenith, "Bartender," a meditation on death and resurrection). His lyrics are a profound and almost painful accompaniment, from the lovelorn yearning of the title track and "Captain" to the gorgeous--yet defeatist--songs "Grace is Gone," "Big Eyed Fish" and the Peter Gabriel-esque "Grey Street."
"Busted Stuff" is a cathartic journey through many of the thoughts that remain untouched by most. But Matthews handles these topics deftly and gains a great respect for putting himself out there, regardless of how raw and troubled the listener might perceive him to be. In the future, look for a return of the carefree attitude that has defined the Dave Matthews Band for so long; but be sure to appreciate this while it lasts.
Free Music Review: DMB's New Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
In one word: unbelievable. The musicianship leaves you breathless. The complexity leaves you speechless. The absolute beauty leaves you wanting to listen to it over and over and over again. If you only have enought money to buy one CD this year, this is definitely money well spent.It starts with a pretty average song in Busted Stuff, but it brings you in. Even for just an average song, some pretty unaverage things are happening in the background. Boyd is playing the violin with a wa-wa effect, and Roi is subtly playing a pennywhistle - you know this album is about ready to explode. And it does on the next epic masterpiece: Grey Street. This song is destined to be one of DMB's defining moments. The desperate lyrics, the doubled over violin and sax, the subtle voice effects and Carter's distinct background vocals all build up to a climatic, epic ending that will leave you crying in sadness and joy. The CD moves on to the relaxed Where Are You Going, a song we are all familiar with from the radio, and then moves into You Never Know, the second and only other true "new" song on the album; this one will knock your socks off. Pay attention to the lyrics. They are so simple, yet so complex, and they easily paint a mental picture. And lets not forget the boys in the background going absolutely nuts with a very complicated yet smoothly varying time signature. Next Captain, a song that has changed a bit from it's previous inception, but remains true to it's roots. Raven - great violin work from Boyd and sax work from Roi. Then Grace Is Gone, a song that has been layered much more and has returned to the greatness it showed in concert with it's beautiful violin in the background. They all knock your socks off. Kit Kat Jam, entirely an instrumental, will leave you absolutely stunned. How many drummers are there? Surprisingly, just one. The we go to Digging a Ditch, a song that just screams Dave sitting on the porch telling you his sad story. And then the great finally...Big Eyed Fish, with it's infectual violin-plucking riff moving into DMB's Stairway to Heaven: Bartender. And at the end all you can do is grab for your asthma medicine. It is just that good. This dethrowns Before These Crowded Streets as the undisputed Dave Matthews Band Masterpiece.