Dave Matthews Band - Stand up

[20to20K]

First let me say that I don't think DMB will ever make another great AOR album again. IMO they've abandoned their older (better) formula of 6 minute jam songs that gave the band room to show their individual soloing skills.
Their new formula appears to be 3 1/2 minute, better than average pop ditties that are trying to maintain musical integrity while also garnering
some radio airplay. Basically hiqh quality top-40 pop.

With that in mind I think Stand Up is a reasonably succesful piece of work.
The songs are catchy enough to be memorable, not mundane enough to be run of the mill, musical enough to display their obvious talent, and lyrically as provocative as always.

I'm more of a fan of the bands skills with their instruments than Daves songwriting or vocal ablity so it does not approach the standard they set in their earlier studio albums like Crash, and Under the Table...
While this CD is certainly no where near the quality of their first three studio releases...it is significantly better than their first attempt at top-40: "Everyday".

As always the case on DMB CD's the sound quality is excellent. It is available on 24bit Dual Disk as well as Redbook.

Overall I'll give it a B- for performance and A for sound.

 

[ducker]

Nice write up. I agree for the most part.

If you do buy the dual-disc. Watch the DVD on the making of "Stand Up". It explains a lot. The producer of the Album is a "sampler". So he basicaly would sample a particular rift when he had one artist jam by himself and then sample it. Whether it was a drumb beat, or a bass rift, or Boyd playing the violin.

He would then take that sample, loop it, and have other members jam on top of it. and voila, a new song was born.

I agree, their live performaces are MUCH more interesting, energenic, and lively. It's a shame that most of their live stuff isn't nearly as crisp as audio recorded in a studio, but I doubt they would ever be able to create something as good in the studio as they can live.

That being said, the last Album that I liked a lot was "Before These Crowded Streets." (After "Under the table", and "Crash") Most of the tracks on "Busted Stuff" has long been being played in concerts, and their in-studio versions feel very... hm... anticeptic??

Improv, jamming, and just having fun is REALLY hard to capture in a studio I'd think.
The new live CD sets they have been putting out though are excellent I believe!!
http://stores.musictoday.com/store/default.asp?band_id=1
I haven't seen these in stores, yet I rarely go to B&M stores to buy my music anymore; pre-ordering often includes freebies that are cool.

It's no suprise that at their concerts I'd say 60% or more of their performace is from the earlier material/albums, born out of the begining of the bands existence.

 

[ducker]

First let me say that I don't think DMB will ever make another great AOR album again. IMO they've abandoned their older (better) formula of 6 minute jam songs that gave the band room to show their individual soloing skills.

AOR?? huh?? I can't figure this one out.

Also, their "older" formula of 6 minute jam songs is not really true, unless your listening to live tracks. Many of the songs (save a couple on "Crash" that come to mind) are your "standard" length.

 

[GettinDegreez]

AOR?? huh?? I can't figure this one out.

Adult Oriented Rock

 

[20to20K]

Well..

Adult Oriented Rock

....actually it's Album Oriented Rock.

As far as the longer tracks go, I don't have the liner notes in front of me this very instant, but I'm pretty sure most of the tracks on both Crash and UTTAD are at least 5 minutes long. Far too long to be played on standard top 40 radio station.

I'll check when I get home...

 

[ducker]

Adult Oriented Rock

<following doesn't make much sence because of the wrong acronym:
Ok that's funny.... no idea how old you are 20to20k, but I got in to DMB back with their "Under the table..." CD. I was in college, and hardly considered myself an "Adult" at 21.>
---

The majority of people I've found that listen to DMB tend to like Jam bands. Phish, Dead, small local bands... etc. Hippies!!!

AOR is not how I would ever classify DMB. I think bands like U2 are more AOR, then DMB. I don't really seem them in the same genra.

It's like that scene in Pulp Fiction re: foot massages... No where near the same.

<same here!!:
I think it was happenstance that they got classified as AOR, due to the number of singles that were cut from "Under the Table" and "Crash". As it is the following CD's had from 2-3 singles on them I believe.>

I guess I'm just in the mood to debate


<Edit> For tracks that are over 5 minutes... many do a radio cut shortening up the songs...
Ah... I can't find the other track lengths online... but I did find this:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2499/cdcat/610ed322.html

 

[jmgillespie]

I think its a pretty good album, but I dont' have much dmb cds. The only cd I own of there's is live in central park and I also own Dave's solo album. Also dl some of their stuff and made a greatest hits sort of. The best tracks I think are the last 4 on the album:
11. Stolen Away On 55th & 3rd
12. You Might Die Trying
13. Steady As We Go
14. Hunger For The Great Light

I also like "Old Dirt Hill (Bring That Beat Back)" pretty well and the rest of the album aight but those are the high points to me at least.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

<
The majority of people I've found that listen to DMB tend to like Jam bands. Phish, Dead, small local bands... etc. Hippies!!!

Oddly enough, in my circle, I've found the people who listen to DMB are chicks. I refer to him as a chick band.

And AOR is a radio term for "album oriented rock." I think it refers to the days when they used to play whole cuts from albums instead of just the popular songs.

 

[Resident Loser]

Since the initial post...

...is the same one over at AR...heres MY same response...

re: DMB

...zzzzzzz....zzzzzzz....snortle....zzzzzz...

With apologies to those who may hold a different opinion, what was the big deal to begin with?...admittedly, my only exposure to him was via tee-vee appearances, but come on...drone, drone, drone...like was it the same song EVERY time? Coulda' been...

To be fair, most music(that I have been exposed to) of late falls into a few categories...but it's all formulaic...one "innovator"(and I use that term with great reservation) and a hunnert carbon copies...cheeezz, they all seem to have the vocal range of about half an octave(if they're lucky) OR they can't hold a pure tone so they resort to that "oo-oo-oo-ah-ah-ah" sounds-like-they're-havin'-a-seizure warblin'...the Queen of the Night can pull it off, but these "divas" are anything but...and the songwriting just plain s*cks...anybody seen the bridge...and please don't give me the "think outside the box" cr@p...

...art it ain't...

jimHJJ(...perhaps next time I'll tell you how I really feel...)

 

[Bevan]

To a such Resident Loosers who may read this, please do youself a favour if you get the chance and listen to 'Live at Luther College'. I'm not trying to be the leasst bit facetious here.

I had a session with it last night and it reafirmed my humble opinion that it is the greatest album of the 800 or so cd's in my collection(of every musical genre under the sun)

I enjoy Stand Up truth be told, but it is not anywhere near what they are(where?) capable of. They really are capable of moving grown men to tears.

Bevan