Amazon.co.uk Review
With three years passed and a new producer at the helm, the Dave Matthews Band find themselves stretching beyond the borders of
Before These Crowded Streets to more emotionally explorative territory. On
Everyday Matthews's clenched-jaw delivery has an unrelenting constancy that's cunning and determined. "I Did It" opens the CD in an aggressive groove, while "When the World Ends" follows with clipped licks that dive into a muddier, open-flowing chorus. From there on out, the floodgates open into something that recalls
Peter Gabriel, which is ironic given that the band replaced producer Steve Lillywhite--whose work with Gabriel is legendary--with Glen Ballard, whose work with
Alanis Morissette is of equal note, if not acclaim. The album is Gabrielian in scope, from Matthews deepening rasp to the epic instrumentation. Yet, what's lacking is Lillywhite's ability to capture a sense of naked honesty. Instead, Ballard dosses down the tracks in designer-suit production, unable to save a band that might simply not be up to the task on such an ambitious sonic endeavor. That, combined with Matthews' tendency to eschew conventional hooks, leaves the album stalled between the group's jam-band compulsion and radio-appeasing packaging. To capture the latent majesty of this album, you're going to have to hear it live, and with this band, that's always been precisely the point.
--Beth Massa
CD Description
The hugely successful EVERYDAY is a testament to the Dave Matthews Band's persistence and self-awareness in sticking with a sound and style of music that has changed little since its inception. With the exception of certain production flourishes and a more direct approach in the songs' presentation, it's an album that the band could have made anytime in thepast decade, which is of course the secret of the band's success--it consistently delivers exactly what's required.
And some of what's required this time round is an infectious, sexy shuffle in the form of "When the World Ends", which is about hot sex at the apocalypse (sample lyric: "your legs don't work 'cos you want me so"), a stadium-sized Bic-balladin "The Space Between", the Matthews speciality stream of consciousness "Dreams of Our Fathers", and a Spanish-tinged "Mother Father" featuring, you've guessed it, Carlos Santana,on flamenco-inflected guitar. Carter Beauford is, as always, a one-man drum tutorial, and Matthews plays the stoner troubadour to perfection throughout. While the hot jamming is somewhat truncated on this outing, it's more than compensatedfor by the album's focused feel.