We can’t f*** around. Because this one is an ode…. All I was thinking was, ‘Get it right.’ – Dave Matthews

I hate to admit that I was a fair-weather fan. You hear it so often with many of the fans. You hear about the few who fell in love with the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) during their idyllic period of the 90’s, when Under the Table and Dreaming and Crash were mind-bogglingly huge, and who helped shoot this odd little band from Virginia to stardom during Before These Crowded Streets.

Then you hear about how the fans fade away with each album.

“Odd”. That was certainly my first impression of DMB at the time. Grunge had been falling apart, and the typical bands that encompassed my late 90’s were 311, NIN and Cake. I wasn’t quite prepared for an “alt-rock” act that boasted saxophones, horns, flutes, violins, pianos, and no electric guitar.

But it was hard to resist the playful melodies, introspective lyrics and impeccable musicianship. Take “41“. It’s absurd to single out one song, but if I’m going to do it, then it sure as hell better be this song. If chocolate and sex could be a song, then “41″ – with its climatic vocals and capricious swirls of violins and saxophone – is a prime candidate. But “Two Step” is a CLOSE contender as well.

The arrangements, the harmonies, the progression. Those early DMB songs are like an aural kaleidoscope that grips you and commands you to examine it note by note, groove by groove.

Most of the people I’ve talked to lost track of the band a little after Before These Crowded Streets. I didn’t. I lived and breathed DMB during my post-college years. I listened to them ad nauseam during my many hikes around Monterey, CA. I stuck with them through Everyday and Busted Stuff, the latter being more of preference.“Captain” is easily one of my favorite DMB songs, and “What You Are” has some of the old DMB passion that I love.

But yes, I tuned out after this period. I never bothered to get Stand Up and didn’t hear too much about it. It almost feels like I allowed my youth to slide away.

In the six years after Busted Stuff, the good, bad and ugly of life happened.  Lost in the noise was this great little band that I once adored.

And then I heard about LeRoi.

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We don’t find solutions in despair – we’ll find solutions in the defiance of it – Dave Matthews

In the latest issue of Relix magazine (Dave Matthews Band: Celebrating Life in the Face of Death), the band opens up about their close demise and the sudden – and terrible – loss of LeRoi Moore. They discuss how the tragedy helped re-double their efforts to make Big Whiskey & GrooGrux King as great as LeRoi knew it was going to be.

And he was right.

I’ll admit, I had my reservations at first. Nothing is worst than mediocre songs from a favorite band merely growing on you. Like being resigned to a reluctant fate. You want to be dazzled, thrilled and aroused just like in their heyday. It’s a relationship you don’t want to go stagnant.

But now I also know that there are few greater feelings than reconnecting with a love after having grown apart. That’s what listening to this new album was like. Exhilaration and re-discovery.

“Funny The Way It Is,” the first single, encouraged me to buy the album from the get-go. Besides the catchy rhythm and solid instrumentation, there is that guitar riff. The one that leads into the syncopated bridge, that burrows into your mind and makes your body shimmy and groove.

In fact, Big Whiskey is definitely the band’s heaviest album to date. “Time Bomb” exemplifies this theme, as it begins slowly and reflectively, and then climaxes to an explosion of guitars and Eddie Vedder-like growls and screams. “Seven“, a personal favorite, is a seductive song that undulates through blistering guitars and an terrific seven measure beat. “Squirm”, with its Middle-Eastern brass and gutteral chants, is another heavy groover that will have your head bobbing.

One of the most surprising revelations from the Relix interview concerned Dave’s foray into electric guitar playing. As most fans know, Tim Reynolds has augmented the band over the years and provided killer electric guitar. But on this album and at the producer’s encouragement, Dave is the wizard behind some of the crunchy and kick-ass riffs.

Dave & an electric guitar.  How awesome.

Of course, you have the typical high-spirited DMB songs, such as “Shake Me Like A Monkey” and “Alligator Pie (Cockadile).” And I can’t possibly forget the beautiful intro to “Dive In” and the pretty ballads such as “Lying in the Hands of God” and “You and Me.”

But I have to give the Heart-On-The-Sleeve award to “My Baby Blue“, which was also as a favorite of LeRoi. Dave describes this break-up song as a hard one to listen to. Yes, it does kind of punch you in the gut – but anyone who has ever heard Dave’s other lyrics of affection knows how lovely he is able to craft them.

The album cover alone makes me smile. Drawn by Dave, it succeeds in being one of those classic album covers that you can stare at for days.

Lyrically, the album is at times dark. It isn’t “Dancing Nancies” anymore. And that’s fine. We all evolve and grow. The band has matured thoughtfully, with dignity, and honoring the blessed integrity of the music.

Big Whiskey is big, vibrant, confident, moody and jubilant – a fitting tribute to phenomenal musician. LeRoi is captured beautifully through the album, not excessively as the article points out, but in just the right spots and in just the right way.

They had to get this album right, and they did. LeRoi would be gratified.

…

Funny the way it is that it takes a loss to remind me of why I need them to stick around.

Celebrate we will, cause life is short but sweet…

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