MadMax, RM95, ima, Vengeance, etc - Need Your Help

first of all, it aint his band, it's their band......

but anyways, a consesus of hardcore DMB fans would probably all agree that Beyond These Crowded Streets was definately their best work studio-wise. terrific top to bottom. songs like pig, the stone, crush, PNP--->Rapunzel, stay, the last stop - alright, the entire album is good. a lot of "true" fans hype up the dreaming tree and halloween, but i don't really like either one. halloween's ok (would like to see live of course), but TDT sucks IMO.

you already have two of their best - and most popular - albums. most fans agree that Everyday is by far their weakest album. i happen to agree 100%, although there are a few decent tracks.

their first 2 albums (kinda), Recently and Remember Two Things are great albums as well. if you like Under The Table And Dreaming, you'll like both those albums.

the infamous Lillywhite Sessions are highly regarded as some of their best work, but it was considered too dark and was scratched and replaced with Everyday. most of the songs eventually turned into Busted Stuff, their latest album. busted stuff is a solid album, but not one of my favorites. you should check out the different versions on Kazaa. just search for Lillywhite sessions. it's interesting how some of the songs change.

their best live album is Live at Red Rocks. awesome album. a must-have. their other live albums are all good as well. i actually prefer the live albums to their studio work, but that's just me.

there ya go. i'm sure RM95 or vengeance could get more in depth than me; i've only been a fan for a little over a year.

 

Funny, I posted a thread just like this back in February and got lots of great input. Part of the reason I got turned on to DMB was this bbs.

I agree with SWT, Crowded Streets is a great way to start for the reasons he listed. Busted Stuff is the album that turned me from a casual fan to a fanatic. The album itself as a whole is so-so, but the standout tracks like Bartender, Where Are You Going (not "where are you live") and Grey Street are amazing. I can just put Bartender on repeat and listen all day long.

What I did was I "got" all the studio albums first and became familiar with all the songs. Once I did that, I started getting the live albums. IMO, you have to know a song before you can truly appreciate what they do to it live. Otherwise, the studio version of the song may seem a little square when in reality, it's not.

I'd go with Crowded Streets, then Busted Stuff since you already have Crash and Dreaming. Then later on, get Listener Supported and Live at Red Rocks.

I'm sure longtime fans like RM95 and MM can (and will) give better feedback.

 

No, everyday has some nice tracks on it: Everyday, the Space Between, When the World Ends, I Did It, and a couple of others I can't think of off the top of my head. Of course, different fans are going to like different songs. I think Crash is a great song, MadMax said his fav is Ants Marching (IIRC), RM95 likes Crush. I am not at home, so I don't remember which albums they are on, but look out for Stay(Wasting Time) and Say Goodbye, to songs that don't get as much play as they deserve, IMO.

 

I can't really add anything to what's already been said. BTCS is their best, IMO. Pig is my favorite DMB song of all-time. However, I would get Live at Red Rocks ASAP. Their live stuff is so great.

I think Everyday is a decent album and they've done some good stuff with the songs live.

 

Crash and Under the Table will suffice until Dave puts out another album worthy of his talent.

 

I have no DMB albums, so I'm off to amazon to buy live at red rocks (unless I quickly find it cheaper elsewhere)

I figure, "why not?" I've let you guys influence and possibly mellow me over the years, so why not check out your music too?

 

Manny, our musical tastes differ, but, IMO, Busted Stuff should be your next buy. Just a great CD from top to bottom. Bartender is easily one of the band's best-written songs, and you'll love the other stuff like Grace is Gone and Big-eyed fish.

After that, go for Before these crowded streets(I try to avoid all the abbreviations, mainly because I still haven't memorized a lot of them), Live in Chicago, Red Rocks, Remember Two Things, and Listener Supported in that order. That way, soon enough you will have a fair amount of both Studio and live material. I actually reached my current state of fandom only after I heard his live material, so I wouldn't stick to studio material only.

On Everyday, I thought it was okay, and it certainly has a few good songs(A few of which are actually excellent live), but it is easily the weakest of DMB's CD's.

Manny, E-mail me if you have any specific q's...

 

Manny --I don't think there's anything for me to add. Buy everything Dave ever made...see whatcha like best!

Crush is my favorite all time song...there's no DMB album I don't like...I like some better than others...but, honestly, even the worst DMB album is better than most other band's best, in my opinion. Their sound is unique...and I freaking love it.

 

Beyond These Crowded Streets is by far their best album, even though the two you have are pretty damned good. Everyday was big time stinker, but the original Lillywhite Sessions you can get off Kazaa was a much better work. They thought it "too dark" but hey, if that's what you feel, why try to fake it and go happy? Busted Stuff was all right, but I thought the original versions of the Lillywhite sessions tunes sounded better, warts and all. I would have to say that Live at Red Rocks is their best live CD, but I guess I'm biased because I was at that concert. The other live discs you can't go wrong with, but if you just had to buy one, that would be the one to buy.

 

Again, I must say that you sound just like me when I hit that stage in my fandom 6 months ago! You're on your way, there's no turning back now.

As far as Crash goes, my favorite song is Drive In Drive Out. That.....is bad as sh*t! I love the end when they break it down and Carter starts going OFF with the poly-rhythms. Also, Say Goodbye is great. I love the flute solo w/Carter grooving on the toms at the beginning. Proudest Monkey is a great ending song. That's another one that you could just listen to over and over again and never get tired of, sort of like Bartender (my personal fav). The whole song is one chord but it works.

I have all their studio albums as well as Listener Supported and Live at Red Rocks. I will probably get Live at Folsom Field next. Still waiting to find out if anyone bootlegged the Houston show.....

 

the CD that really got me into DMB was actually Live @ Luther College. i was really big into acoustic songs, and that CD got me hooked (Say Goodbye was on repeat for weeks). as for favorite Crash song, it's #41-->Say Goodbye w/o a doubt. the way the segue into each other is awesome. So Much To Say would be close behind.

YES. if someone has this, please let me know.

 

#41 and Two Step are my favorites...though my son loves Too Much, so it's growing on me even more!

 

Are you a Sig from Southwest Texas?

 

It only has DM and Tim on guitars....no band. As a result, I wouldn't own it because to me, the attraction is Dave+ the band. Dave and an accoustic guitar is not as interesting.

 

Live at Luther College is good, but like bamaslammer said, it is an acoustic album with no band. Just Dave and Tim Reynolds(A guitarist who works with the band often and appears on many of their studio albums). If you plan on buying all of the band's CD at some point or another, this is definitely a good enough CD to buy, IMO. The setlist they performed at that concert is probably my favorite of all of the live albums(20-something songs)...if only DM had performed it with B.

Here's how I rank the live albums:
1. Chicago
2. Red Rocks
3. Listener Supported
4. tie - Folsom Field/Luther College

You should definitely come out to a concert next time he comes through(Hopefully next summer).