Before These Crowded Streets

Before These Crowded Streets
Studio album by Dave Matthews Band
Released April 28, 1998 (1998-04-28)
Recorded 1997–1998, The Plant Studios, Sausalito, CA & Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY
Genre Alternative rock, jazz fusion
Length 70:14
Label RCA
Producer Steve Lillywhite
Dave Matthews Band chronology
Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95
(1997)Live at Red Rocks 8.15.951997		 Before These Crowded Streets
(1998)		 Listener Supported
(1999)Listener Supported1999
Singles from Before These Crowded Streets
  1. "Don't Drink the Water"
    Released: 1998
  2. "Stay (Wasting Time)"
    Released: 1998
  3. "Crush"
    Released: September 8, 1998
  4. "Rapunzel"
    Released: 1998
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[2]
Los Angeles Times[3]
Rolling Stone[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]
Spin5/10[6]
USA Today[7]

Before These Crowded Streets is the third studio album by Dave Matthews Band, released on April 28, 1998. It was the last official album by the group to be produced by longtime producer Steve Lillywhite until 2012's Away from the World and their first album recorded at The Plant Recording Studios in Sausalito, California.[8] The album title is taken from the lyrics of the song "The Dreaming Tree."[9] It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 charts after selling 421,000 units in its first week of release knocking the Titanic soundtrack from the top spot after a run of 16 consecutive weeks at #1.[10]

Track listing

Special guest Tim Reynolds is featured on all tracks.

No.TitleWriter(s)Guest musician(s)Length
1."Pantala Naga Pampa"Dave Matthews 0:40
2."Rapunzel"Matthews, Stefan Lessard, Carter BeaufordButch Taylor6:00
3."The Last Stop"Matthews, LessardBéla Fleck6:57
4."Don't Drink the Water"MatthewsAlanis Morissette, Béla Fleck7:01
5."Stay (Wasting Time)"Matthews, Lessard, LeRoi MooreTawatha Agee, Cindy Myzell, Brenda White King5:35
6."Halloween"MatthewsJohn D'earth, Kronos Quartet5:07
7."The Stone"MatthewsJohn D'earth, Kronos Quartet7:28
8."Crush"MatthewsButch Taylor8:09
9."The Dreaming Tree"Matthews, LessardGreg Howard8:48
10."Pig"Matthews, Lessard, Beauford, Moore, Boyd Tinsley 6:57
11."Spoon"MatthewsAlanis Morissette, Béla Fleck7:33

Several short musical interludes appear between songs:

Deleted songs

Songs that were recorded during the sessions, but were not included on the final cut:[11]

MacHead

"MacHead" was a song recorded during the album's sessions, but it was never completed, so it didn't make the album. Producer Steve Lillywhite named the song, claiming it sounded like a cross between the sound of Paul McCartney and Radiohead.[12] The song's existence is only known from an image on the 1999 fan calendar with a list of the working titles of the other songs on this album and from an alleged meeting in which Jake Vigliotti claims to have heard said recording.

"[MacHead] is a song that we were working on for [Before] These Crowded Streets and it's a song that we just never got to completion before we finished the album. Who knows, maybe one of these days we'll finish it and record it again, but we finished the album before we finished the song."[13]
— Boyd Tinsley, May 2006

Some fans familiar with the idea of "MacHead" speculated it had been developed, renamed, and added to the band's catalog.[12] They speculate that "MacHead" developed into "Bartender", which debuted in January 1999 at a Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds concert just months after the April '98 release of Before These Crowded Streets. In November 2009, Jake Vigliotti claims to have heard 6 different demo takes of "Machead" from an early 1997 recording session for the album,[14] effectively confirming its existence to the fan community.[15]

In a 2010 interview with Cali from CBS Radio, Stefan Lessard was asked to give his thoughts on Machead. He replied that "Machead's this little number that I believe was the last song to possibly make it on Before These Crowded Streets and I think there's a recording I have of it somewhere. So it's just finding a recording of it and listening to it and that's on our homework list." [16] As of October 2016, no official recording has surfaced.

Personnel

Dave Matthews Band

Additional musicians

Technical

  • Steve Lillywhite – producer, mixing
  • Stephen Harris – engineer
  • Joel Cortright – assistant engineer
  • John Seymour – assistant engineer
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • John Alagía – pre-production
  • John D'earth – orchestral
  • Thane Kerner – art direction
  • Thane Kerner – design
  • Ellen Von Unwerth – photography

Charts

Year Chart Position
1998 The Billboard 200 1[17]
1998 Top Canadian Albums 6
1999 Top Internet Albums 17

References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Before These Crowded Streets – Dave Matthews Band". AllMusic. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
  2. ↑ Browne, David (May 8, 1998). "Before These Crowded Streets". Entertainment Weekly. New York. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
  3. ↑ Weingarten, Marc (April 26, 1998). "Dave Matthews Band, 'Before These Crowded Streets,' RCA". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  4. ↑ DeCurtis, Anthony (April 16, 1998). "Before These Crowded Streets". Rolling Stone. New York. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
  5. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. pp. 519–20. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  6. ↑ Berrett, Jesse (June 1998). "Dave Matthews Band: Before These Crowded Streets". Spin. New York. 14 (6): 132. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  7. ↑ Gundersen, Edna (May 5, 1998). "Stretching the usual boundaries 'Streets' a delight; Shepard disappoints". USA Today. McLean. Retrieved November 2, 2016. (Subscription required (help)).
  8. ↑ Jacobson, Jeff. Dave Matthews Band: Busted Stuff Guitar and Vocal, 2002, page 2, Cherry Lane Music Company.
  9. ↑ "The Dreaming Tree" opens with these lyrics: "Standing here / The old man said to me /"Long before these crowded streets / Here stood my dreaming tree" / Below it he would sit / For hours at a time"
  10. ↑ "Crowded At The Top: DMB on the Charts". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  11. ↑ "Dave Matthews Band". antsmarching.org. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  12. 1 2 "Dave Matthews Band". antsmarching.org. 2003-11-03. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  13. ↑ Maliszeski, Joe (2006-05-02). "Boyd takes ESPN By Storm (Wimbledon Music) (Machead)". Antsmarching.org. Archived from the original on 4 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
  14. ↑ "Dave Matthews Band". antsmarching.org. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  15. ↑ "Dave Matthews Band". antsmarching.org. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  16. ↑ "More With Cali & Stefan on the DMB Tour Bus". CBSRadio. 2010-06-10. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
  17. ↑ "Dave Matthews Band - Chart history | Billboard". billboard.com. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
Preceded by
Titanic (soundtrack) by Various artists		 Billboard 200 number-one album
May 16–22, 1998 		Succeeded by
The Limited Series by Garth Brooks
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.