Posted on 10/21/2012 6:55:48 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
There was a time when you could put on a brand new DMB record and find yourself enthralled by the stellar musicianship and driving riffs and drum fill interplay between Matthews and drummer Carter Beauford. None of that exists on 'Away From The World'. Not a shred of it can be found in a single song on a record that sounds more like the band is back in a funk and depressed dealing with the feeling of what it must feel like to be lost in the musical equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle.
With tracks like 'Broken Things' we begin to get the feeling that Matthews has taken his solo work with Tim Reynolds and basically attached the entire DMB name to it. 'Belly Belly Nice' offers nothing new in the way of arrangement or jamming that we haven't heard from the band over the last decade and a half with borrowed 1970s sax jams tossed in for good measure. 'Mercy' is another "imagine if we could all just get along' message song that is was better said back in 2001 with 'Everyday' or even 'American Baby'.
No point in waxing poetic or throwing out clever descriptions here...it's just boring songwriting and worse yet rehashed melodies strumming along into an abyss of familiar whining and darkness that makes the listener double up on their Klonopin.
But he didn't and they won't and it is out now and if this album does one thing, it gives credence to those who say the days of buying complete albums are pointless when half of a record or more (to be blunt) sucks.
Which 'Away From The World' does...and badly.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.yahoo.com ...
The $#!t-Dumpers.
I was a big DMB fan up through Busted Stuff/Lillywhite Sessions. Been very difficult to stomach anything from them since.
Oh I dunno bro. I think Robert Plant and his 5 solo bands and side projects have been very hard to deal with. His last great record was Fate of Nations. I loved everything he did post-Zep in the 80s and early 90s and then suddenly when he did the Page/Plant reunion thing...he just fell back into the hippie style of rock.
Now and Zen, Pictures At Eleven, Manic Nirvana all classics to me. He just seems to have abandoned rock music for folk rock.
Oh and this is in general chat under music ;p that makes it music news from a scathing review :)
Obviously, you know much more about Plant than I do. I’ve checked him out occasionally, and have been very impressed every time, especially, his Strange Sensation Band period (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJoarBi19QM), with the incredible guitar player Justin Adams, who since went to some weird African music projects.
Plant had a more of an afterglow than most musicians do, but even with him you see a peak and a decline. Same thing with Page. He did his best work in the Zep years, then had a couple of minor hits with The Firm, then it was just a handful of lackluster collaborations with guys like David Coverdale. In both cases their later material doesn’t come close to matching the earlier material.
And this is how it always seems to be. It’s the creative peak when they’re in their twenties and thirties, then they either totally fall off the cliff or in a few cases there’s a more gradual slope downward, like Plant with his solo albums, which were good but weren’t Zep.
As for your balls, they must be strictly metaphorical, otherwise your clothes would fit funny ;)
“Funny how musicians hit a wall and cease to be creative. I guess it’s age related.”
Perhaps. Although RUSH, at 59, 59 and 60 years old have still managed to avoid the wall. Here’s a good video (from two years ago) which had a preview song from their current tour highlighting most of their new album from this summer:
CARAVAN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3JAAPIFhwM
Same here. From “Remember Two Things” up through “Everyday” (not a big fan of “Busted Stuff”) they were incredible to listen to. The Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds Live at Luther College album is still one of the best I’ve ever heard. That said, DMB has been utter crap for years now. A true shame, but at least their older stuff will always be around.
I like early DMB, but they lost me with Everyday. Never bought anything after that abomination. LOL!
I always remember they petitioned to build a stadium in a very quiet scenic area of Va.
just another phoney ecotard.
“They” being Mathew’s and friends.
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