I feel like I’ve told the tale of my history with the Dave Matthews Band a dozen times on this blog.
In a nutshell: Loved their early stuff, really loved the unreleased Lillywhite Sessions, hated the album they released instead (Everyday), resented the inferior official release of those Lillywhite songs (Busted Stuff) and haven’t really liked them much since.
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.
Meet Me In Montauk 