Bring That Beat Back to Me Again

It's the last day of Dave Matthews Week here on the 9th Green and today is what inspired the whole specialty week, the review of the latest Dave Matthews Band Album. So here it is.

At the start of the new Dave Matthews Band album, Stand Up, we are treated to a pseudo-choir intro followed by the fluff love song, Dreamgirl which is reminiscent to the giddy in love songs that were more prevalent in the early years. In the song, it sound like if Dave is repenting for the creepy stacker guy from Crash into Me. "I was feeling like a creep as I watched you asleep, Face down in the grass in the middle of a hot afternoon. Your top was united and I thought how nice it would be to follow the sweat down your spine."

American Baby, the first single, sounds like something left over from the Everyday sessions. It is a hopeful song about some one trying to hold onto love in the mist of chaos. "Nobody's laughing now, God's grace lost and the devil is proud. But I've been walking for a thousand miles just one last time, I could see you smile."

The album as a whole has a more soulful feel to it than the previous album and the reason most likely is due to the new producer, Mark Baston, who is Dr. Dre's long time bassist and contributor and has worked with all of Dre's protégés. Baston's influence in most prevalent than on the song Smooth Rider. Every time I hear the opening organ to the song, which Baston plays, I can't help but to think of the Dr. Dre produced B Please. It also might be at Baston's behalf that more piano playing has crept into this album, which was split between Matthews, Baston, and longtime DMB touring pianist, Butch Taylor.

The highlight of the album is surprisingly sparse Out of my Hands. The song features Dave on the piano and not much else. The song starts out with a solitary note played over and over again. Then as more notes are added to the solitary note, Dave begins to sing, "On the window ledge I don't feel safe, stay looking down you. It's out of my hands for now." The creepy song sounds like a soundtrack to a suspenseful movie where we, the audience, are let in on the big reveal in slow-motion. I'm not sure why this was not saved for another solo album as Boyd and LeRoi are nowhere to be found, but I'm glad that it's found its way on to an album.

Speaking of soundtracks, Louisiana Bayou sounds as if it's hoping for a Waterboy sequel so it can be the centerpiece of that film. Another song deeply rooted in the south is Stolen Away on 55th & 3rd. A soothing song about regretting to approach a women, "Saw you there dancing and I was afraid, I might get in the way." Any guy who has pined for a girl at a high school dance or a club, and that is certainly me, can relate to this song.

At first listen to Stand Up, I knew there was something wrong with it. Like How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb before, the problem is that their is not that song (or more) that I instantly latch on and think "that is the song I be listening to obsessively for months." Granted there are songs on the U2 album that has since grown on me and that may happen for Stand Up. The other problem I noticed with the album is, that like Everyday, Boyd and LeRoi seem to be pushed to the background with them missing completely from one song. But like Everyday, I hope them get to shine more once they start performing the songs live.

Stand Up gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Since I bought Stand Up through the official DMB store, I received a limited edition CD with my purchase, along with a Stand Up sticker. On it, it has two previously unreleased studio tracks, Joyride and Trouble with You. Also, it has live versions of Recently, Crash into Me, and Hello Again. The CD is worth it for Joy Ride which includes the lines, "If you're lost, I got a bobblehead Jesus. And all it cost you, get on your knees," and, later in the song he also offers you a bobblehead Buddha for good measure.