A couple of weeks ago there was some debate over whether I consider myself a “fan” of Dave Matthews Band. I don’t consider myself a fan of the group because I haven’t bought or listened to any of their past several albums (including Matthews’ solo effort). But I was certainly a big fan a decade or so ago after they released the wonderful Under the Table and Dreaming and Crash albums. So did they just lose their shine?
If I had to point to a turning point for my appreciation of the band, it would be after the “release” of the bootleg album The Lillywhite Sessions. As the story goes, the band recorded a batch of songs with respected producer Steve Lillywhite but weren’t happy with the sessions. The songs were shelved but ultimately leaked to the Web.
The band then hurriedly recorded and released Everyday (their worst album), produced by the hack Glen Ballard. Awhile later they released many of the Lillywhite songs on another album, Busted Stuff, but in reworked and rerecorded versions.
These events pissed me off to no end because The Lillywhite Sessions is the best album Dave Matthews Band has ever recorded, whether or not it can be considered an official release. Everyday was a lame rush job and Busted Stuff was a giant question mark — why release inferior versions of great songs your fans know are out there?
The official story, one consistently backed up by the band, is that the choice to shelve The Lillywhite Sessions was theirs alone. Many fans believe it must have been studio pressure for a more accessible album that pushed the dark Lillywhite material aside, but no evidence supports that claim. None, that is, other than the obvious superiority of those songs to Everyday and Busted Stuff.
Regardless of the back story, and despite the unmastered condition of the tracks, Lillywhite remains my favorite Dave Matthews Band album. Written during Matthews’ struggle with alcoholism and depression, it’s a deep, dark affair containing some of his most passionate vocals and lyrics.
All the songs are excellent but the most powerful is ‘Grace is Gone,’ a cry-in-your-whiskey tribute to a lost lover. During the first half of the song it’s unclear whether the separation is due to death or break-up until this line confirms it’s the former: “I woke with you beside me / Your cold hand lay in mine.” But really, Mathhews’ vocals make it clear from the start that he’s singing about a profound loss. Proving that all roads lead to Up this year, this could be the theme song for Carl Fredrickson, had he turned to alcohol rather than helium.
It’s 2 a.m., I’m drunk again
It’s heavy on my mind
It’s heavy on my mind
I could never love again
So much as I love you
Where you end where I begin
Is like a river going through
Take my heart, take my eyes
‘Cause I’ll need them no more
If never again they’ll fall upon
The one I so adore
‘Scuse me please, one more drink
Could you make it strong
’cause I don’t need to think
She broke my heart
My Grace is Gone
another drink and I’ll move on
One drink to remember, another to forget
How could I ever dream to find a love like this again
One drink to remember, another to forget…
‘Scuse me please, one more drink
Would you make it strong
‘Cause I don’t need to think
She broke my heart
My Grace is Gone
One more drink and I’ll move on
One more drink and I’ll move on…
You think of things impossible
Then the sun refused to shine
I woke with you beside me
Your cold hand lay in mine
‘Scuse me please, one more drink
Could you make it strong
‘Cause I don’t need to think
She broke my heart
My Grace is Gone
Another drink and I’ll go…
‘Scuse me please, one more drink
Could you make it strong
‘Cause I don’t need to think
She broke my heart
My Grace is Gone
Another drink and I’ll move on
One more drink and I’ll move on
One more drink my Grace is Gone
Meet Me In Montauk 
Do you know if this song title was the inspiration for the John Cusack film? Certainly seems that it could have been. I don’t know from Lillywhite sessions vs. studio recordings, but I know that I love their first two albums. And this latest one (also touched/stamped/kicked by death) is quite good based upon a couple of listens.
This song is lovely, and I’ve always been a sucker for such obvious word play as this. I wonder if parents subconsciously (or is it quite intentionally?) name their children such things as Hope, Faith, Destiny, Grace, Liberty, etc. with an eye to the fact that , one day, they’ll be able to say “Hope is on her way,” with all sorts of gravity. Just curious. 🙂
I don’t know for sure but I believe it was (the film title inspired by this song, that is).
I find your whole love/hate with DMB very amusing. Yes, the bootleg contained fine material–but I don’t agree that it was horribly redone on Everyday. I don’t own Busted Stuff, so I can’t comment on the reworks there.
Perhaps I have missed much of Matthew’s output, but I didn’t think there have been “several” albums since Lillywhite Sessions, so I’m not sure how you have developed such a distaste for DMB. One album you resent (Everyday) and one album you “question?” That’s what it takes to knock them out of your good stead? Really?
I know I probably shouldn’t “go there,” but you know me…I just have to….I can’t help but think that your feelings have been fueled and exacerbated by Alex’s sudden turn away from DMB (much as she did with West Wing, Friends, and various other things that you all at one time enjoyed, then suddenly held in contempt). Yes, I know there are many, many things that you like that Alex doesn’t–including Costello, Dylan, etc….but I do think that there seems to be some pattern emerging where you BOTH like something at one point and then Alex turns on it–you seem to follow suit shortly thereafter.
As for today’s SOTD, I am familiar with it from both Lillywhite and Everyday. Yes, I like the bootleg a bit better (but I generally like stripped down acoustic versions of songs–I would probably prefer an accoustic version of Ants Marching to the wonderful studio version). But, I don’t find the Everyday version bad at all. So, for your loyal readers, here is that version for their consideration:
You, sir, are horribly mistaken. None of the Lillywhite songs appeared on Everyday. ‘Grace is Gone’ (embedded above), and many of the other Lillywhite tracks showed up on Busted Stuff. Everyday was written and recorded in a matter of a few weeks in collaboration with Glen Ballard.
Busted Stuff is fine for what it is… my beef with it is that it contains inferior versions of songs that were so splendidly delivered on Lillywhite. Sure, the ‘Grace is Gone’ you’ve embedded above is lovely… but it doesn’t contain the ache of the original. Of course, if I’d never heard the original I might adore this one, but that’s not how it went.
Your Alex theory is not accurate. I “turned” on DMB before she did. She’s not really a music fan at all. She doesn’t feel strongly about new material by any artist.
Ah, well perhaps I did/do have Busted Stuff, as I am familiar with the version I embedded.
And I stand by my Alex theory. I was right there when Lillywhite became known to you, and you BOTH loved it, and you BOTH loved ADMG’s earlier albums. You then BOTH resented and hated Everyday, and The Space Between in particular. I will NOT concede this well honed theory!
…except to say this…it may be the case that, in certain instances, you, rather than Alex, are the one who begins to sour on a particular song, album or artist or show, but then Alex joins in and the two of you exacerbate the level of hatred for the song.album/show/movie.
so, in conclusion, I will add that your dislike for recent DMG, much like your dislike for later episodes of Friends, West Wing, etc….is WAY blown out of proportion and, sadly, tends to rob you of the experience of some wonderful work, as Friends came back strong, as did West Wing, after the lull where you collectively wrote them off as crap.
Ha! Backpedaling already, I see! 🙂
Actually, the album before Lillywhite was Before These Crowded Streets, which I liked OK but didn’t love.
Alex, if you asked her right now, would not have a clue what Before These Crowded Streets is, or who recorded it. Neither would she be able to tell you a single thing about Everyday.
Alex tends to attach to an album or two by an artist and then reject anything new they produce. Fiona Apple is a good example. She loves that debut album but has no desire to listen to the next two.
There’s a difference between losing interest and writing something off as crap. I do agree that it’s easier to collectively give up on a TV show, because a TV show is a weekly commitment of time usually spent together.
I do manage to watch 24, Mad Men and Survivor on my own, though.
I seem to recall distinctly Alex loving Lillywhite, and then really not liking Space Between. I will let the life stand on its own here:)
I wonder why one person has to influence the other. Why can’t they both come to similar conclusions simultaneously? If a new album/ tv show/ movie is not as good as that what has come before, chances are two people who have much in common (as a husband and wife likely do), will both come to that conclusion.
Dana and I often are sour on a film, warm to a series, tolerate an artist… perhaps one of us has influenced the other. Or perhaps we simply have the same taste.