Live in Las Vegas

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds are back at it again! December 12, 2009 the duo got back together to play a show in Las Vegas, and the album was released Feb 9. Tim Reynolds became a part of Dave Matthews Band last year when Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King was released, but they’ve always been together for the acoustic shows. Live in Las Vegas is the third acoustic album for the duo, following Live at Luther College (1999), and Live at Radio City (2007).

The album starts off with a song that DMB only plays live, Eh-Hee. Next up is a fan favorite written in 1994, Dancing Nancies. If you’re a Dave fan, you’ve got your Dancing Nancy window decal proving your devotion to the band. It’s played almost identical to the other acoustic versions of the song, but still, a classic. Tim does, indeed, go crazy on his guitar once the singing stops.

The duo then plays Squirm, a song from Big Whiskey. Dave plays his guitar as he would normally, while Reynolds provides us with the guitar that fills in for the rest of the instruments in the band that are lacking in the acoustic show.

Matthews vents about his broken heart and the only way he can move on in Grace is Gone from 2002. The live version follows closely to the Busted Stuff album version. At the end, you hear Dave finally speak, “Thank you kind people. I don’t gamble so I didn’t win anything, and I didn’t lose anything either. Life is a gamble!” I love when he talks at concerts.

After he finishes his gamble ramble, the duo starts playing the southern, folk, Louisiana style, “Alligator Pie.” Without the banjo, the two manage to make the song sound awesome acoustically.

Another favorite about our Mother Earth, “One Sweet World” makes my stomach rowdy as soon as I hear the introduction. Dave uses his traditional vocal noises to fill in spots where no singing of words are involved. This act by Dave is an example of his South African roots. At the four and a half minute mark, Dave decides to turn the song into a childhood favorite, Ring Around the Rosy.

The next song, Dave begins to explain it as, “Cause love can save your life more than food, you can feel it. Like water.” Then, with the guitar combined with his quote, you know it is “Loving Wings.” The guitar gets lower in the second verse and almost tricks me into thinking Stefan Lessard is back with his bass guitar. Dave begins “coughing” on beat. At first I thought he was really coughing, and then I realized he’s substituting the drum part of the song with his vocals again. Love it.

Dave gives Tim a chance to show his stuff with Kundalini Bonfire. It’s an extremely face paced song in which he needs to use a guitar pick. This song makes you think that Tim Reynolds is a crazy, crazily awesome guitar player. It’s like he can’t stop, won’t stop, and the song gets more and more intense each minute. As the crowd expresses their love for the song with a ridiculously loud and long applause, I’m pretty sure I hear Dave expressing his love for him as well.

Dave goes into singing, “Oh,” a classic song that he claimed at Radio City, to be about his grandfather. Then, as soon as the first notes are played of the next song, the crowd goes crazy. “Christmas Song,” which isn’t played live very often for obvious reasons. Talking about Jesus, “A surprise on the way, any day, any day, one healthy little giggling dribbling baby boy, the wise men came three made their way to shower him with love. It’s a very sweet song.

Then Dave and Tim together acoustically change up the style of hit song, “Funny the Way it Is,” while keeping it the same. It’s amazing how the two can use their guitars to sound like the instruments they aren’t using. “Stay or Leave,” is next up and still as beautiful as it always has been. “Shake Me Like a Monkey,” and “Lying in the Hands of God,” from the new album are also featured on this one. Both great songs in their own ways. One’s ridiculously crazy lyrics, while the other’s are more deep and thoughtful. “Save your sermons for someone who’s afraid to love… If you never flew, why would you cut the wings off a butterfly?”

At first I was waiting to hear some covers, since Dave always does a cover. I heard this new one, Little Red Bird and thought it was one. Nope, in the album booklet it says Dave wrote the song in 2009, so yes! A new song for fans to fall in love with. It’s soft, higher pitched and somewhat precious. “Guns and gods and little red birds
'comfort to count the battles won after the war is lost.”

I’m running out of room by rambling, but this 26 track, two-disc set, also features the new song, You & Me, an F-bomb in Bartender, fan favorite Crush, my personal favorite, Typical Situation, and Two Step for the encore. If I had ten thumbs, all of them would be up for this album, but I’m also obsessed with David John Matthews.

Lady Antebellum Need You Now

It’s only been two years since this trio’s last self-titled album. Most country fans know Lady Antebellum from hit singles, “love Don’t Live Here Anymore,” and “I Run to You.” Sophomore album, “Need You Now” was released Jan. 26, while the title track hit the charts in August and rose to the top through October and November. One thing I love about Lady Antebellum is that they are one of the only country bands that I know that write a majority of their own music.

Oh, remember those nights where you wake up the next day and check your call log? Maybe you were thinking about an ex way too much while a night of drinking, and you need to make sure you didn’t make any bad decisions. “Need You Now,” is a song about missing someone, and calling in search of a little T.L.C. “I wonder if I every cross your mind. For me it happens all the time. It’s a quarter after one, I’m a little drunk and I need you now.” Yeah, we’ve all had those nights!

Starting the next song with some low piano and a highly enthusiastic exclamation from Charles Kelley, “Our Kind of Love” is a song that compares love to everyday joys. “Hello World” is a mellow song that Kelley took control over vocally, while a symphony was being built up in the background.

A song to make everyone happy, “Perfect Day,” written by the trio again along with Jerry Flowers, starts off with deep, rock guitar that plays softly throughout the background while the country twang picks up again. “It was a perfect day
What I’d give if I could find a way to stay lost in this moment, now
Ain’t worried about tomorrow when you’re busy livin’ in a perfect day.” With lyrics like this combined with Scott’s vocals, you can’t help but smile – or hit the back button to listen to it again!

Well, I know it’s hard but after a “Perfect Day,” something has to go wrong. For example, you have a clearly, not mutual crush. It can be painful, can’t it? “Something about her, it just don’t work. But I can’t walk away. It’s like I love this pain.” Although it’s not an extremely positive song, the beat is tremendously appealing. Again, Kelley starts off with an energetic “Come on!” to get all of us country fans pumped up. “Love This Pain,” sung by Kelley, provides our ears with catchy guitar and relatable lyrics.

“When You Got A Good Thing,” is a slower, sappier, love song with a traditional country twang. There aren’t too many of these on this CD. Near the end an intense guitar solo was used to fade out the song. Maybe it was to pump us up for, “Stars Tonight,” where Kelley and Scott alternate singing. Reaching the chorus, you hear a few chantable yeahs until Kelley picks it up again. Rather than singing about stars in the sky they are singing about us being stars! You heard it, us. Now all of us can have our 5 minutes of fame with this one. “On the floor, in the stands, tonight we’re all in the band. We’re screaming out yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“If I Knew Then,” takes us back to that traditional country, sappy song. I feel bad because I lose interest with these ones. With only about four of them on the album, I should be lucky. While Kelley sings about how many times he blew his chance with a girl, even mentioning a time in the back of his car where he took it too far, he mentions, “If I knew then, what I know now I’d fall in love.”

It’s hard to imagine Charles Kelley being related to a pop singer (Josh Kelley) when he’s got such a southern voice. “Something About A Woman” really allows Kelley to express his southern voice. Written by the trio along with the help of Craig Wiseman, Kelley takes full control of vocals for this song. No worries though, Scott hops in on the next song with the power now, and you almost forgot how nice her voice is. “I’m ready to feel now, no longer am I afraid of the fall down, It must be time to move on now, Without the fear of how it might end, I guess I’m ready to love again.”

Overall the album was a solid, alternative country album. With outstanding guitar playing and only minimal twangy instruments, you almost forget that these three are part of a country band. Well that is, until they start singing. With voices and lyrics that stand out, and are so original, it’s hard to pass up this album.

Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky

1/14/2010

After five years of silence from OK Go, they finally release a creative, trippy album, Of The Blue Colour of the Sky . OK Go is best known for their hit single, released in 2006, “Here It Goes Again.” Rather than being the same dance, pop-punk as Oh No was, this album is more artistic and combines multiple genres of music emphasizing synthesizers to create magical beats. Through this album, it’s clear that Prince’s vocals, along with other musicians’ styles, were influences. Needless to say, there wasn’t one specific style or idea for this album.

Starting off with a song titled, WTF?, which was released as their first single from the album last November, the album starts off kind of grungy and loud. Damian Kulash Jr., lead vocals, softens the grunge with his high-pitched singing (not to mention the cowbells). Lyrically, it’s a song that pretty much is asking the question in the title. “WTF is happening? Whatcha do with my head?” Towards the very end of the song, we finally are reintroduced to Kulash’s “Here It Goes Again” voice.

Conan O’Brien accepted OK Go on The Tonight Show, January 8, to perform track 2 on the album, “This Too Shall Pass” with backup vocals from a gospel choir. The song provides distinct bass guitar from Tim Nordwind, and aggressive drumming from Dan Konopka. Yes, the gospel choir did add a motivational feel to emphasize the fact that hard times won’t last.

Eventually, the album loses its originality and OK Go ends up putting a creative spin on other artists’ music. Personally I find the majority of the songs enjoyable, but awfully closely related to MGMT, Daft Punk, Band of Horses, and Prince, all of which are bands I enjoy listening to.

The best track to move to, “White Knuckles” is a combination of Prince’s voice and Daft Punk’s electronic beats. Yes, an interesting combination, but no, not a bad thing. The beat is intense and enticing, while the voice is just as fitting. There are some Prince-like spastic screaming and some mind activating lyrics. “But couldn’t good be good enough, cause nothing ever doesn’t change but nothing changes much.”

The album slows tempo, and mellows the synthpop for “I Want You So Bad I Can’t Breathe” which was featured on the new 90210 series last year. Slower than the other songs, it still is a song that everyone can dance to, like most of the tracks on the album. Kulash has the same Prince-like voice until the next track.

“While You Were Asleep” seems creepy for the first 30 seconds, but as soon as Kulash comes in, the creepiness diminishes and it sounds like a beautiful, wind chime, lullaby. Halfway through, there is a drum roll to prepare for Konopka to pick the beat up. Although it was peaceful and meditating for two minutes, the creepiness picks up at the end to provide is with a dungeon, nightmare feel.

The title of the Album comes from a book by General A. J. Pleasonton, The Influence of The Blue Ray Of The Sunlight and of the Blue Color of the Sky. The album can be found on iTunes for $9.99, and in other stores now. If you want a CD that contains a little bit of everything, with a synthpop vibe to it, then here it is.