I had some driving time yesterday, so I popped in the latest gift from the Dave Matthews Band fan association. The Warehouse, to the initiated. This CD, part of the Live Trax series, is a recording from a very early show at the Wetlands Preserve in New York City.
The show was recorded on August 19, 1993, very early in DMB's career, and I was struck by a few things as I listened:
Dave's voice has mellowed a bit from nearly 20 years ago (from age, most likely. Most everyone's voice deepens as they get older). He's still instantly recognizable (at least to my ears) whenever I hear him, but his younger voice is reedy and a bit tense, almost like he's uncomfortable singing. His style is still evident, though, and the guitar work is solid.
Boyd Tinsley (violinist) wrote a song called True Reflections, that is well formed, and sounds good, but definitely shows his influences are different from Dave's (Dave writes most of the songs for the band.) True Reflections has a bar-band rock style, with a standard verse, chorus form and less surprising chord structure. Dave's songs are sometimes more meandering, structurally and harmonically.
I was mostly impressed with how little their core sound has changed through the years. The instrumentation, over the course of many years of mega-touring, has been augmented with keyboards, additional singers, guest musicians, and the permanent additions of Tim Reynolds and Rashawn Ross (and Jeff Coffin taking LeRoi Moore's part after Moore's untimely death in 2008.) However, the sound is still unmistakably DMB. The violin punctuating and underscoring Dave's vocals and guitar, the jazz-soaked saxophone, and Carter and Stefan's always tasteful drum and bass underpinning the whole thing.
I like the stripped down sound that they had in the early 1990's. And, as a devoted fan, it is great to hear that they were as solid and well-developed then as they are now. The best part: I get to see them play again this summer! ♫♥
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