Read Review of Under The Table & Dreaming by Dave Matthews Band
Review Summary
About the Author
DMB: Not The Best of What's Around
May 13 '03 (Updated May 13 '03)
Pros What Would You Say, Army Ants, Jimi Thing, Rhyme and Reason
Cons EVERYTHING ELSE
The Bottom Line What is it *exactly* about Dave Matthews Band that rubs me the wrong way? The music (yes), the attitude (yes), the instruments (yes). Oh. I guess everything.
Full Review
I have spent many a night and day during the past eight years defending my position. I have tried time and time again to explain to people that Dave Matthews Band isn’t anything special. I have tried, and I have failed. It seems that all too much of the DMB fan base blindly follows the pop-rock band. And maybe, once a long time ago they still had soul and they still had an edge. But today, the band is nothing more than the less talented and incredibly snotty little Virginian brother of true blues rockers and contemporaries including Blues Traveler and The Black Crowes.
Yes…you read that right. I am by and large one of a small group of people who not just dislikes but HATES with a burning, seething passion everything about Dave Matthews and his band. Now does that mean that the music they have assembled over the past eight or nine years is all crap? By and large, yes with the only notable exception being the band’s earliest and least overplayed studio album Under The Table and Dreaming. This isn’t to say that I think it is a masterpiece by any means but at least it doesn’t send me running to the toilet to regurgitate my salad.
Sure, I’m overstating my ire for Dave Matthews Band, but not by much. Since their popularization they have become nothing more than a Technicolor pop band with a guitar and self absorbed front man. One girl in particular thought they were cool because everybody smoked pot at their concerts. I looked at her, and said with a straight face that they smoke pot at Britney Spears concerts…does that make her “cool?” But I don’t fault her for her ignorance…she was an 18 year old college freshman and at that age I was just finally pulling free from the binds of grunge.
Anyway, Dave Matthews Band is clearly the product of South African vocalist and guitarist Dave Matthews. He formed the band in the early 1990’s after recruiting the talents of Stefan Lessard (bass, piano), Leroi Moore (flute, sax, whistles), Boyd Tinsley (violin), and Carter Beauford (percussion, drums). The five-man outfit soon released their live, independent debut Remember Two Things. While it was not an official debut, it sold well enough to land them a major label deal with the clearly desperate RCA.
And then came the album that changed it all for Dave Matthews Band--Under The Table and Dreaming. While not perfect, the album did have fair share of high points including hit singles and lesser-known gems. Produced by Steve Lillywhite (Counting Crows, Joan Armatrading, Big Country, U2) the album was positioned and funded by RCA with the goal of selling millions in mind. And, by the time the band released 1996’s unforgivably bad Crash, their major label debut had sold some 4 million copies.
The funny thing about Under The Table and Dreaming is that it really doesn’t come across as well today as it did even five or six years ago. I guess the problem lies in the fact that other bands have hit the scene and done the DMB shtick as well or better. But with that said, I can point to a few songs on their major label debut that still appeal on some deeply buried and incredibly embarrassing level.
Now. These songs are few and far between, and include both hits and largely ignored selections. The surprise of course is that I in fact do at all appreciate any of the tracks. Ants Marching, Jimi Thing, What Would You Say, and Rhyme and Reason are the best songs of Under The Table and Dreaming with the worst being in my opinion Satellite, The Best of What’s Around, Pay For What You Get, Typical Situation and hidden album closer #34.
If you notice, the songs that I most appreciate are indeed those that are more chipper and usually more funky with the exception of the cool, calm, and collected Jimi Thing. It is clear why Ants Marching and What Would You Say were released as singles. Both are perfect radio and MTV material with innocuous messages and kinetic melodies. Of the two, the more popular overall was What Would You Say--the track I would classify as the breakthrough for DMB. But it is Ants Marching that proves most viable these years later.
Ants Marching is marked from the beginning with strong percussion and saxophones. And once the guitar and bass guitar enter the picture, the track comes into focus. While it is clearly intended to sell records, I can’t help but enjoy the lyrics and melody. And while I don’t believe Matthews to be a great lyricist, I do believe him to have some moderate talent—something that cannot be said for all pseudo-rockers.
But not everything about Under The Table and Dreaming is good. Heck, I despise the band when they get all whiney and wishy-washy. They are a better upbeat band then they are emotional and pensive. While they were both hits, Satellite and The Best of What’s Around should have indicated to me in 1994 the direction the band was headed. I find it difficult to respect and appreciate a band that has two skills—playing fast and playing slow in either case with an obviously chipped shoulder. The Best of What’s Around starts the album off on the wrong foot. Admittedly, it sounds fine enough but regardless of technical quality a band must also have a soul and songs must have a point. The Best of What’s Around unfortunately does not.
Satellite on the other hand never appealed to me. I actually purchased Under The Table and Dreaming before it was released as a single a full two years after the album and from the beginning I always pressed the skip button. From the lightly feigned emotion to the incredibly annoying guitars the song drills a hole through my eye and wiggles around in my brain like some sort of aural parasite. This is what is wrong with the word of rock. Satellite is pure bubblegum pop.
The lesser-known songs Pay For What You Get, Typical Situation and #34 also distinctly and painfully rub me the wrong way. Typical Situation in particular is derivative of Satellite and as such has never found a home in my stereo. Pay For What You Get is certainly intended to showcase DMB as a jam band. With a slow, plodding pace and noxious guitars I have great difficulty digesting the track. #34 is hidden (for good reason) at the end of the album on (take a guess)—track 34. Wow, these are slippery fellows! Or not. The instrumental is mediocre and bland.
Those tracks I didn’t mention could have been a lot better or worse but in any case they didn’t completely suck. Dave Matthews Band has never particularly appealed to me. Under The Table and Dreaming is my favorite album from them, and all the rest are worse. I’ve tested each of the subsequent releases and with the exception of an occasional song they are wholly embarrassing. Sometimes I think my distaste for the band stems from something I can’t remember in the past (college was fun), but then again there are certainly some things worth investigating on this disc although I cannot recommend it to anybody but avowed DMB fans.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Track Listing:
1. The Best of What's Around
2. What Would You Say
3. Satellite
4. Rhyme & Reason
5. Typical Situation
6. Dancing Nancies
7. Ants Marching
8. Lover Lay Down
9. Jimi Thing
10. Warehouse
11. Pay for What You Get
34. #34
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