“Halloween” is a testomony to the darkness that lingered within the corners of the breezy music of the Dave Matthews Band from the very starting. With Crowded Streets, that darkness moved to the fore, unavoidable even amongst supremely attractive songs like “Keep (Losing Time),” the knotty funk of “Rapunzel,” and the glossy and devotional “Crush,” the place Lessard’s Mingus-inspired bassline and blocky jazz chords impart an air of smoky sophistication. “No must bear the load of your worries/Let all of them fall away,” Matthews sings at first of the file; then he and his collaborators spend the following hour documenting all method of hysteria.
Although the DMB lineup was already huge, a large forged of company joined to fill all accessible area. Alongside jam band fellow traveler Béla Fleck on banjo, Alanis Morissette on backing vocals, and the Kronos Quartet, returning contributors included Chapman Stick participant Greg Howard, pianist Butch Taylor, trumpeter John D’earth, and crucially, guitarist Tim Reynolds, whose frenetic guitar work nudges towards prog. Although Reynolds was primarily the band’s lead guitarist on their first two albums, Lillywhite had largely directed him away from the electrical guitar. Now, he had extra artistic license: electrical was the default, taking part in in the best speaker towards Matthews’ acoustic within the left.
Lillywhite might have recommended DMB as a “non-rock” act, however the album’s unlikely first single, “Don’t Drink the Water,” embraces their rock bonafides. Like Pearl Jam’s “Given to Fly,” the tune is an overt homage to Led Zeppelin. With Beauford and Lessard locked right into a Bonham and John Paul Jones-inspired churn, Matthews explores the topic of colonialism based mostly on his childhood in apartheid-era Johannesburg: “What’s this you say? You are feeling a proper to stay? Then keep and I’ll bury you,” Matthews sings. The tune drew on his South African roots however it additionally addresses the pressured expulsion of Indigenous individuals in america. “Your land is gone and given to me,” Matthews sings, earlier than Morissette joins him for a wailing conclusion, their entangled voices suggesting the cries of the damned excess of pleasant whoops from the crowd at Purple Rocks.
Matthews makes ample area for songs that subvert the grim qualities of the epics. On “Crush,” he evokes the specter of Marvin Gaye, sounding greater than just a little like Sting, and backed by Beauford’s dynamic harmonies. The tune’s title was impressed by an in-joke about “Crash Into Me,” however it’s additionally a form of response to the previous tune, maturing from youthful voyeurism into one thing extra gentlemanly and charming. Talking with GQ’s Alex Pappademas, Matthews stated that in contrast to “Crash Into Me,” “Crush” communicates his devotional intent: “[W]hen I hear it now, I don’t go, Jeez, pal. Pull your pants up.” Following a fiery solo by Tinsley, the tune settles into an expensive jam that might prolong indefinitely.
