DMB notorious stage performances fails to transcend onto its album

Dave Matthews Band is an enigma. It attracts thousands upon thousands to its shows, luring them…

DMB has a great stage presence, but doesn’t resonate the same sound on its new album.

Dave Matthews Band is an enigma. It attracts thousands upon thousands to its shows, luring them in with the promise of 25-minute-long songs, guitar solos and too many tie-dyed shirts to count.

Those whom the band attracts seem to be under a spell — blind to all else except the notes of LeRoi Moore’s saxophone, Boyd Tinsley’s violin and Dave Matthews’ fairly average vocals. These are the utterly spellbound fans who have already listened to the group’s latest album, Away From the World, 10 times without interruption, refusing to stop until the 11-track work has been ingrained in their brains.

Luckily, there are those of us who sit on the other side of the fence, away from the obsessed DMB fans: those that hate the band and want nothing to do with the eerily similar songs that have been produced over the past 18 years. We are an enigma ourselves — music lovers who refuse to buy tickets to each summer tour and blast those who do. We might be outnumbered, but we are not alone.

After giving Away from the World time to sink in, it becomes apparent that something is wrong. Every track sounds the same. “Why is this a problem?” a DMB fan asks, appearing out of nowhere, ready to pounce on any dissenter of the all-knowing band’s fearless leader. Well, it’s a problem because music is about creativity.

“A saxophone, violin and trumpet sound pretty creative to me,” the same creepy Dave fan says. “How many bands do you know that have all those sweet instruments?” None, and for good reason.

While it can be said that songs such as “Gaucho” from the album add an extra layer by relying so strongly on the variety of instrumentation found in the group, this does not excuse the fact that every song has a certain undeniable similarity to it. All too often, added instruments are used to distract from the overall quality of the music, instead creating a mix of various instruments that sound cluttered. Though every musician in the band is extremely talented, the jam-band style of DMB’s music allows the artists to relax and focus less on playing skillfully.

The notes may be different, the chords ever-changing and the lyrics all original — except for an homage to the nursery rhyme “Jack & Jill” in “Belly Belly Nice” — but each song manages to remind you of the last.

Why do they mesmerize some, yet polarize others, pushing them away from the dragged-out solos and faux-Eddie Vedder sound of Dave Matthew’s voice? Because it’s easy.

When listening to DMB, true fans seem to be given the ability to block everything around them. They are completely concentrated on the music, smiling silently as it rocks them back and forth in a slow, swaying motion. There is little attention to detail, as if all that matters is that the band has been set in motion and is capable of producing music with good vibes fit for a relaxing concert spent sitting in the lawn section.

Maybe it’s the transition from the concert venue to the studio. Even non-Dave believers tend to enjoy Dave Matthews Band concerts, seemingly so caught up in the fun around them that they give in to the environment.

Unfortunately, we don’t always listen to music at a concert. Sometimes it’s through our headphones as we walk to class or as we try to get work done. Tracks like “If Only” are clearly made for an outdoor setting — a relaxed song which would be great in concert but does little over the speakers of a laptop.

This is one of the problems with Dave and his band: They may not be your typical jam band, but they are a jam band, nonetheless, and groups of that nature are destined for the stage, not the iPod.

With music so dependent on the experience, it seems that the music itself often falls by the wayside in order to make room for a horde of fans who are utterly devoted to DMB. Thankfully, we’re not all under the spell.