deJong Online

So…I…uh….I know, it’s been a while. Partly because I’ve been busy, partly because I’ve been listening to a lot of other good music (Gotye!), and part laziness.

But I digress…on to the music…

So over the last 4-5 weeks I’ve started listening to my DMB collection, starting where I left off last fall. The details on the reviews below may be lacking a bit….

The Gorge – Special Edition (6-Disc) – September 6-8, 2002

I thought this collection was excellent. The set lists were great, including one of my favorite album tracks, ‘You Never Know. There were also a couple of versions of “Loving Wings”, a nice soft song that starts acoustic only, then builds to full band. Overall, a really good mix of songs and IMO, they stayed away from most stinkers. The ONLY thing I had issues with, was the quality of Dave’s voice. At times it sounded awful. This is, however, a known issue at the Gorge concerts. They always occur at the end of the summer tour and by then, Dave’s voice is SHOT. As a result, he has to change the melodies of some of his songs and it ends up sounding strange to me.

Eh Hee Single

Ok, this technically wasn’t an album….and this song wasn’t on any album. So that’s why it’s listed separately. As for the song, I liked it at first (and my daughter loved it too…lol). But now, I usually skip past the song. It’s not bad, but not one of my favorites.

Live Trax 1 - Worcester, MA – 12/8/98

This was the first ever “Live Trax” album to be released and it was a doozy. An excellent mix of their first 2 albums, with a bit from their newly released “Before These Crowded Streets” including a 20 minute ‘Last Stop’ to end the concert. Throw in appearances with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and you’ve got the makings of a great concert.

DMBLive – Prism Coffee House, Charlottesville, VA – 4/22/93

This was a Dave & Tim concert, all acoustic, to a very limited/small crowd. It sounded very intimate even on the recording. Overall I thought it was a great Dave and Tim show. Because of the date, this was a selection of songs only from their first 2 albums, with a few other Tim songs thrown in. My favorite track was actually a song that never came out on a studio album, Help Myself. Sounded great acoustically.

So, that’s it for right now…Next 5 albums:

• Live Trax 18 – Virginia Beach – 6/4/96
• DMBLive – Appalachian State
• Live at Luther College (Dave & Tim)
• Stand Up
• Live Trax 10 – Portugal  5/25/07

First completed discs on my own personal Dave Matthews Band listening party…

DMBLive – Frank Erwin Center, Austin, TX – 10/24/96

I thought this was an excellent concert. DMB released ‘Crash’ during 1996, so a lot of those songs are found on this album. I thought Jimi Thing was well done. I especially liked the Recently>Water Into Wine>Typical Situation. Was killer. And to top it off, an all acoustic encore, with the somewhat rare ‘Little Thing’ and a rare acoustic ‘All Along the Watchtower’. That was crazy.

DMBLive – Kirby Fieldhouse, Easton, PA – 2/25/95

This was an interesting album. Great song selection, but there were quite a few times in which I though Dave was a bit off tune. Also heard a bit of feedback on a few songs. And, to be honest, even though the setlist was great, the songs weren’t mature at this point, so the ‘jamming’ was rather tame. All in all, a good album, but not great in my opinion. That being said, there are a few gems. The biggest gem of them all is a Recently>Water Into Wine>Blue Water>Typical Situation stretch. Blue Water is a GREAT song that does not get a lot of play and is one of the most requested songs at DMB concerts….and for good reason. This version was great as usual, but not my favorite.

Summer Sampler 2007 – Came with preorder of Live at Piedmont Park

In my opinion, one of the best DMB sampler discs out there. Includes the very rare ‘Shotgun’. This song has no studio version. Love that song. Also includes one of my all time favorites, “Sweet Up And Down”. This song was created during the ever controversial ’Lillywhite Sessions’ but never officially released. GREAT tune. Overall, great sampler disc. (Although, I’m not a big fan of ‘Out Of My Hands’)

Warehouse 5 vol 4/Warehouse 8 vol 1

This is  fan club only disc. You cannot buy these (except on Ebay). This one was great too. Blue Water>JTR is very rare. Both songs never technically released and both are great songs. Also, One Sweet World with the extended intro and Raven, another rarity. Overall, GREAT fan club disc.

Housekeeping notes – I was able to find the Warehouse 5 vol 9 songs and i bought the Live Trax 2008 through iTunes. So add 2 more albums to the list!

Next 5 albums up:

• Live in Las Vegas – Dave & Tim
• Big Whiskey & The Groo Grux King
• Live Trax 17
• 2005 Live Trax
• DMBLive – Irving Plaza

As you may or may not know, I am a Dave Matthews Band fan. I’ve been a fan ever since the album ‘Crash’. One very strange fact: I have had a CD playing alarm clock since as a freshman in college. Because I now work the 2nd shift I haven’t needed to use it very often lately, but every single time I’ve had to use it over the past 13 years, I’ve woken up to the same DMB song, Track 1 from Crash, “So Much To Say”. And I’m not kidding. Every morning I’ve had to use it in the past 13 years, that song. And surprsingly, I still like it.

Which brings me to now. I own a LOT of Dave Matthews & Dave Matthews Band related music. They have release a LOT of live music and many studio albums as well. Here are some of the stats from my DMB Music collection. It really is remarkable, in my opinion:

• 71 ‘albums’ (This includes Fan Club Bonus discs, Download only releases, studio releases, Live releases, Dave Matthews solo album, Dave & Tim albums, etc)
• 1305 tracks
• About 6.5 DAYS worth of listening or about 156 HOURS.
• 13 GB worth of room on my iPod for JUST DMB

Anyways, back to the purpose of this post. For the last few years at some point (usually ends up being around the late summer/fall) i’ve really gotten in the mood to listen to my DMB collection. The ENTIRE collection. So, for the 4th straight year I will be listening to my entire collection of Dave Matthews Band. And of course since I did it last, there have been additional releases. My listening usually is done on the way to/from work (about 50-60 minutes per day) and at work (can be 6-8 hours depending on certain things).

What I’ve done this time is made a randomized list of the albums. From that list I will randomly pick 5 albums at a time and put them into a play list. This way, I don’t know what albums might be next and I’m not tempted to ‘fast forward’ to get to an album I like better.

Also, as a bit of a change, I will be posting a blog here based on any albums that I finished listening to that day. For example, I’ve already started listening to my collection and will likely finish the first album today. At the same time, I will probably finish one or two more today while at work. So tonight (or tomorrow morning) I will post a blog talking about those albums. Could be as simple as “I listened to this. It was good.” Or could be more specific about tracks on the album or details about it, etc. Either way, should be a fun read.

Amazingly there are a few releases that I don’t have (as of right now), but that could change while I’m going through this ‘project’. They are:

• Live Trax 19 – Rio de Jinero
• DMBLive – The Bayou 1993
• Warehouse 5 vol 9/Warehouse 8 vol 6 (Fan Club)
• Live Trax 2008 (Came with iTunes preorder)
• Warehouse 5 vol 8/Warehouse 8 vol 5 (Fan Club)
• DMBLive – Backstage Theater

So, here goes nothing. First 5 albums on the docket:

• DMBLive – Frank Erwin Center – Austin TX – 10/24/1996
• DMBLive – Allen Kirby Fieldhouse – Easton PA – 2/25/1995
• 2007 Summer Tour Sampler (Came with Live at Piedmont)
• Warehouse 5 vol 4/Warehouse 8 vol 1 (Fan Club)
• Live in Las Vegas with Bonus Songs (Dave & Time Acoustic)

As I said earlier, I’m almost already done with the first one, so look for a blog tonight or tomorrow morning talking about that album and probably a few more! We’ll see how long this takes. Wish me luck!

Jon, a Dave Matthews Band fan.