Live at Radio City by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds (2007)

I think I lost it for Dave Matthews with his “Everyday (2001)” album, because I read this article in Rolling Stone where it was stated that all the new material for the album was trashed because it was seen by the record company as being too depressing and not upbeat like what people have come to think of The Dave Matthews Band. So, what happened was that the material was trashed and “Everyday” was then co-written with Glen Ballard, a producer that co-wrote Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill.” The rest of the band was left out of the writing process. The article billed it as a triumph, but I saw it as a sell-out. Despite the fact that I love “when the worlds ends” and the Dave’s solo performance of “Everyday” at the concert for 9/11, the album “Everyday” seemed like the start of the decline of the Dave Matthews Band. Their next album “Busted Stuff” seemed banal, like Dave Matthews was trying to re-create the easy care free music of the first three albums, and let’s not even talk about the last album, which I never picked up.

Now, there was a solo album from Dave Matthews, “Some Devil,” which was a bit of redemption for ole Dave Matthews. It was dark and personal. There were a few really good songs there, depressingly sad, but good. Sadly, the title track “Some Devil” was used in the second season of “House M.D.” which what I think of now when I hear it.

Before all of this, before things went south, Dave Matthews put out an acoustic live album with Tim Reynolds in 1999. “Live at Luther College.” It was great! It was Dave Matthews at his best. I think one of the best albums of the 1990’s.

This Dave and Tim Reynolds put out another solo acoustic live album in this year, Live at Radio City. The music was mostly focused on music from the last seven years including Dave’s solos album.

I always loved music that was boiled down to its essence, because that is where the emotion hides. So, Tim and Dave get into it with just two guitars, a piano, and nothing else. It’s funny how that is enough.


Many of my friends can’t stand Dave Matthews but will appreciate that he is good on guitar. I can’t really argue with them, because I don’t care for Cat Power or Peaches. However, this acoustic is seems miles away from the DMB machine. It is easy to overlook the music from the marketing of it or the sub-cultures that follow it. I was just speaking to a 24 year old girl who lambasted DMB for being part of the stoner culture of her High School. I think it is best no to focus on that. With this recording, you have slow soulful rhythm of a singer-songwriter at his best.

There is a lot of chatter from Dave, none from Tim, where he speaks about soldiers from Iraq, and goofs off. They do a great version of “Crush”, which I never thought could be done acoustic. There are plenty of covers songs, two songs from Tim Reynolds, and a few DMB standards like “Crash into me.” It has the new single “Eh Hee,” and for the first time Dave plays the piano in a live performance.

Although, I certainly don’t own any of the live DMB stuff, and am missing the last album plus any of the more obscure stuff, I do find this recording to be excellent. I like that he brings redemption to his work from “Busted Stuff.” The recording here is better than the studio albums, and this rare when an artist can do that. The only one I am familiar with that does that consistently is U2. Having said all of that, there might be a familiarity necessary to truly appreciate this. I have known Dave’s music for over ten years now. Boy does it make you feel old to say that. Nevertheless, I think if you were unfamiliar with Dave Matthews I would still say, get this release and the “Live from Luther College” albums. I think they are the two best that will stand the test of time. “Under the table and dreaming” ain’t bad either.

Happiness in magazines – Graham Coxon (2004)

Music for graphic designers, it seems like it would help if you were single, somewhere between 25 – 35 years old, artsy, and urban to understand where ex-Blur guitarist Graham Coxon is at with this album. If you are, I think you might love it. Happiness in magazines is a formidable guitar driven disc, typical of Coxon’s fluidity with a Fender.

It is hard not to hear Blur at the start of each song. It is like a George Harrison album in that way. Harrison’s style defined the Beatles sound. Likewise, Coxon’s style gave Blur an added lift and balanced out Damon Albarn’s lyrics.

With this album, Coxon’s is confident and in control of his music. The songs seem focused, energetic, and developed. Songs like “Freaking out,” which I think is the best track here, are semi-punk assaults on the listener. Most of the album is a full-fledged rock album. The songs are short, loud, and the lyrics aren’t bad either.

Coxon performs most of the album entirely by himself and he painted the album art.

Coxon writes about what he knows, his friends, living in London, and his emotional state. My favorite lyric is from the song “no good time,” is “graphic designer, you could look no finer in your eyeliner and your silas jeans.” He paints very a specific pictures and I know exactly whom he is talking about. Another song like “hopeless friend” takes you into this hipster/artsy world. These songs are more like an exposé’s of these people’s lives, and it is not always positive. He isn’t trying to sound hip or necessarily write music that these people would listen to.

There is something very honest here, and it comes out as confidence in the songs. There is an intelligence and sensitivity that is easy to feel and connect to.

The US version of Happiness in magazines has 13 tracks on it, which includes the bonus one. About 10 out of 13 are good.

The track, “bittersweet bundle of misery” sounds a lot like “Coffee and TV” from Blur, which I think is their best song.

This album is really hard to find. I couldn’t find it in New York City. I found it at Reckless Records in Chicago, which is small chain of used records stores.

Overall, I really like this album. It is easy to get into, and I find myself wanting to listen to the whole album instead of a single track or two.

The Good, the Bad, and the Queen – Live from Soho (itunes Exclusive EP) – 2007

The Good, the Bad and the Queen, the self-title debut, has been the best album I have heard so far this year. In April of 2007, they put an out live EP in New York while on tour. It was part of the “live for itunes” series. (“itunes” is Apple’s popular mp4 music store.)

The band played five tracks:

The History Song
Herculean
Behind the Sun
Natural Spring
Three Changes

In many ways this EP was better than the album. Of course, the album has more tracks. However, this EP sounded better. Even though it was a live recording, you can’t really tell that there was an audience present, expect for the claps at the start. What I really like about this recording was how clear everything sounded. The strings sounded beautiful here as oppose to the how they sound on the album, which pushed down and flatted in the background. The vocals, acoustic guitar, and electric bass sounded like you were in the same room.

The band had been touring for a while before they preformed this live session and you can hear how tight they were playing together at this point. Of course, the band members are all stars. Paul Simonon of the Clash, Damon Albarn of Gorillaz and Blur, Simon Tong of Verve, and Tony Allen make this band. All are all veterans and masters of their craft.

I am not normally a fan of these “live for itunes” series. I think of these itunes only recordings as a waste of money, because they seems to be neither a real live performance with a big audience to affect the music nor a proper studio performance where everything as perfect as it can be. However, this time, you are either getting a brilliant supplement to the original album or a well made sample of the band, depending on how you look at it.