Customer Reviews

Before These Crowded Streets

5 star:		(456)
4 star:		(78)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Ok, I'll admit it. "Crushed" was playing in the background when I fell in love for the first time in my life. But I feel hardly biased when I contend that this CD by the Dave Matthews Band is one of the richest, most powerful compisitions I have ever had the pleasure of owning. Pick any track you like, because none really stand out, nor overshadow the others. It really just feels like a balanced stroke of genius, and a consistant recording.

From the joyous dynamics of "stay" to the angry sound of "halloween", to the eeiry power of "crushed", this album has it all. The recording quality is top notch, and listners will be rewarded for their close attention. I swear the more expensive the system, the better it gets! Inspiring music AND definitive mastering??? Spoiled I am!

It is hard not to love this group, but if your experiance with them is from radio stars like "ants marching" and "crash" - you truly haven't gotten the essence of the group yet.

Spin this disc, if you don't like it, send it to me. Mine will be worn out soon.

As I'll anger the world's most fervent fan base by my opinion here, I'll try and give Dave Matthews Band a little credit - any artist nowadays needs to be praised for having ambition, and Before These Crowded Streets is full of it - big, long, crushing, over-the top ambition. Matthews wants to make an enormous record in just 11 songs, attempting a love-spirituality-personal growth melee meant to establish Matthews's credibility as an artist with ideas as grand as the legends of his live sets. The result is for one moment boldly, excitingly grand ("The Stone"), but mostly it's overwraught ("Pig"), pretentious ("The Dreaming Tree"), and even a bit exhausting ("Halloween"). The more casual digressions, the ones Matthews may have thought as throwaway compared with the more elaborate compositions around them - "Stay" and "Spoon" succeed because they don't wreak of effort. The rest of the album is not as lucky.

You could basically call this review a review of DMB itself.
BTCS is the most musically intricute, and deepest DMB album, and in my opinion it is the best DMB album. Although, I wouldn't recommend it as someones first DMB album... I'd go with Crash. All I have to say is, anyone who says DMB is a 'horrible band' clearly hasn't listened to them for more than 10 seconds, if not at all. I went from hardcore punk straight to DMB, that is a miracle inside itself. All I have to say is: Give them a chance and don't be rating an album if you haven't listened to anything more than the intro.

best DMB albums:

1. Before These Crowded Streets
2. Crash
3. Busted Stuff
4. Under the Table and Dreaming
5. Remember Two Things
6. Everyday

but dont get me wrong, they're all excellent albums, all worthy of 5 stars... well maybe not Everyday... give it a 4.

anyways... BTCS... perfect album. buy it.

If you haven't bought a DMB cd before, you might want to start with "Crash", as it has a few more familiar songs to get you started. However, Before These Crowded Streets, is absolutely perfection. Every song on here is excellent. There is a large diversity in the songs (from the uplifting Pig to the heavier Halloween), and everything flows together perfectly (which is aided by small "bonus tracks", which are little extra jams at the end of most of the songs).

1. Pantala Naga Pampa- 10/10. Perfect way to open the CD. A quick, uplifting 40 second track which is always used before...
2. Rapunzel- 9/10. Excellent song. Upbeat, fun song.
3. Last Stop- 9/10. A bit on the heavier side, definately a good song. Especially good live (as all DMB songs are).
4. Don't Drink the Water- 8/10. One of my least favorite songs on this CD, which isn't saying much since its still great. After being used to live versions of this song, the studio cut isn't quite as good. But, its still an emotional, heavy tune.
5. Stay- 8/10. The only other song that I sometimes skip om this cd. Again, its much better live (see the Central Park Concert.) I don't like the "Lovely Ladies" who appear in this song. But, its still a great upbeat tune.
6. Halloween- 10/10. Definately an aquired taste for this song, but once you get into it, its great. By far the heaviest, most emotion-filled song on the CD. You can feel Dave's anger and emotion, especially near the end when it's completely built up.
7. The Stone- 10/10. Great song, switches between a heavier and more upbeat mood.
8. Crush- 10/10. The most beautiful love song ever written in my opinion, and one of the most well done studio tracks ever recorded.
9. Dreaming Tree- 10/10. Haunting, emotional, and one of the best set of lyrics Dave and ever written. The lyrics are only surpassed by...
10. Pig- 10/10. The greatest lyrics ever written. This song starts out on the weaker side, but builds up throughout the song. One of my absolute favorite songs.
11. Spoon- 10/10. Beautiful song, and the reprise outro a few minutes after Spoon ends is the absolute perfect way to end the most perfect album.

"Before These Crowded Streets" is defintely a great dmb album but nothing beats "crash" in my opinion. This album is worth getting just for "don't drink the water" because that's probably one of the best dmb songs ever written. I was a little disapointed in the overall feel of the album, through the whole thing I felt like something was missing. But with dmb being an amazing band they can make an ok album sound awesome. Probably not one of dmb's best albums but it's defintely worth getting. I can't wait till I see them on tour this summer.

This is a very ambitious album which I think is first rate. The compositions are rich and full. The songs flow well and never become excessive, despite their length. I also enjoy the pieces joining each song together. This disc also contains some of the bands darkest material, reminiscient of Rhyme & Reason from Under the Table. Where Under the Table gave the sense of a bright sunny day at the fair, this disc, with the exception of Stay, feels like a dark night. A truly satisfying listening experience.

I am completely in love with this album!
It was the first DMB album I got.. and the first time I'd heard of them!
I'm in UK and they aren't too well known over here, which is a shame.

This album makes me smile..
Patala Naga Pampa is great.. it's so happy and alive..

Rapunzel is so up-beat, it's alive.. it makes you want to move along with it no matter where you are.

Last Stop - What can I say? I thought it was a little corny at first but it's grown very much on me.. I love it.

Don't Drink The Water - Very good words.. Very good music.. Very good message.. it speaks for itself.

Stay - Makes me smile.. this is quite personal for me.. this is a dream I wish to come true about the friend in CA who sent this album to me.. thank you!! A nice, happy, contented song.

Halloween - The violins at the beginning are amazing.. the lyrics go well with the instruments playing. I love the rough voice being used, is great if you wanna sing really loud..lol

The Stone - Starts nice and slowly with strings. Then a nice tune using pizzicato and bow takes over.. builds up more when a bassoon (i think) does a drone underneath it all.. is just a lovely build up to a lovely song.

Crush - This has a big personal meaning to me.. I love the bass at the beginning.. then the saxaphone solo.
The words are beautiful.. to me, the overall sound of this song is so sexy..

Dreaming Tree - Oh this one makes me cry.. the lyrics are beautiful, written in a very special way with lots of meaning.
Is very 'dreamlike' at the beginning..tells aan all-too-true story of life. Lots of emotion in Daves voice here.

Pig - I just like the name! Who else would come up with titles like 'Pig' 'Stone' and 'Spoon'?
Nice happy song to break away from 'Dreaming Tree'. A nice observation of life again, beautiful metaphors.

Spoon - Beginning sounds like waves crashing on a shore to me.. natural and calm.
I love the lyrics tho I'm not entirely sure why. I like the simplicity of them.. 'I scratched my head' and 'crack!'

Overall.. this album is amazing. I hope to buy them all.

When I first listened to this album...wow. That's all I could say. It is by far the best DMB album ever made. From the energetic opening of Pantala Naga Pampa to the amazing chorus of Crush, I loved it. It was the only thing in my stereo for at least a month. o_o' Anyway, if you don't have this album, get it! Thank you *bows*

To start off i am a huge dmb fan. i have over 150 cd's most of which are live but i do own all the studio realses too. This studio relese is in my opinon the best studio release by the band. It is solid from start to finish. And one time i even read a quote from dave saying he felt this was the best studio effort by the band so far. (can not remember source)
What makes this realse stand out form the others besides having great songs is the songs between songs and the good flow of the album as a whole.
If you are just looking to start to listen to this band i would actually not reccomend this cd. i would reccomend getting crash or before these crowded streets and or a live release from the band and then ease your way into this cd to truly appreciate it. If you are already fimilar with the band this is a must buy for you and once you listen to it you will know why.

DMB's first two (or 3 if you count Remember) albums were simply amazing. Before These Crowded Streets is good, not great. I've really tried to get into all of the songs but some I really like and a couple I realy dislike. The sounds of the album are more eclectic as the band clearly tried to experiment a bit with more instruments and beats and the result is some successes and some failures. "Crush," "Pig," and "The Dreaming Tree" are great songs because everything comes together so nicely for the band, but "Rapunzel" I cannot stand. So when it comes down to it, late at night when I'm trying to relax, BTC is a good CD to pop in, but I'd rather listen to another of DMB's albums like Under the Table.