DAVE MATTEWS BAND  Before These Crowded Streets  ORIGINAL RELEASE MINT UNPLAYED VINYL , SLIGHT RUB ON TOP OF COVER 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search Before These Crowded Streets Studio album by Dave Matthews Band Released April 28, 1998 Recorded 1997–1998, The Plant Studios, Sausalito, CA & Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY Genre Alternative rock, jazz fusion, progressive rock Length 70:14 Label RCA Producer Steve Lillywhite Dave Matthews Band chronology Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95
(1997) Before These Crowded Streets
(1998) Listener Supported
(1999) 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 Source Rating AllMusic [1] Entertainment Weekly B?[2] Los Angeles Times [3] Rolling Stone [4] The Rolling Stone Album Guide [5] Spin 5/10[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 200charts 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]

Contents

• 1Track listing
• 2Deleted songs
  • 2.1MacHead
• 3Personnel
• 4Charts
• 5References

Track listing[edit]

Special guest Tim Reynolds is featured on all tracks.

No. Title Writer(s) Guest musician(s) Length 1. "Pantala Naga Pampa" Dave Matthews   0:40 2. "Rapunzel" Matthews, Stefan Lessard, Carter Beauford Butch Taylor 6:00 3. "The Last Stop" Matthews, Lessard Béla Fleck 6:57 4. "Don't Drink the Water" Matthews Alanis Morissette, Béla Fleck 7:01 5. "Stay (Wasting Time)" Matthews, Lessard, LeRoi Moore Tawatha Agee, Cindy Myzell, Brenda White King 5:35 6. "Halloween" Matthews John D'earth, Kronos Quartet 5:07 7. "The Stone" Matthews John D'earth, Kronos Quartet 7:28 8. "Crush" Matthews Butch Taylor 8:09 9. "The Dreaming Tree" Matthews, Lessard Greg Howard 8:48 10. "Pig" Matthews, Lessard, Beauford, Moore, Boyd Tinsley   6:57 11. "Spoon" Matthews Alanis Morissette, Béla Fleck 7:33

Several short musical interludes appear between songs:

• A clip in which LeRoi Moore is heard answering his cell phone follows "Rapunzel."
• A clip of flute music follows "Don't Drink the Water."
• A string passage by the Kronos Quartet serves as a segue from "Halloween" to "The Stone."
• An outtake featuring Bela Fleck and Alanis Morissette follows "The Stone."
• A clip of "Doobie Thing" an early DMB instrumental song, follows "The Dreaming Tree."
• A clip of "Anyone Seen the Bridge?", a live show transition song, and a short excerpt of "Deed is Done," an unreleased song from the previous tour, follows "Pig."
• A clip now referred to as "The Last Stop Reprise" follows "Spoon."

Deleted songs[edit]

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

• "Help Myself" - Licensed for the Scream 2 soundtrack in lieu of "Halloween", which the band decided was too good to leave off the album.
• "Don't Burn the Pig" – Evolved into "Pig" during the sessions.
• "Get in Line"
• "MacHead"
• "#40 (Always)"

MacHead[edit]

"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 May 2018, no official recording has surfaced.

Personnel[edit]

Dave Matthews Band

• Carter Beauford – drums, percussion, backing vocals
• Stefan Lessard – bass guitar
• Dave Matthews – vocals, acoustic guitar
• LeRoi Moore – saxophone, penny whistle, clarinet
• Boyd Tinsley – acoustic violin

Additional musicians

• The Lovely Ladies – background vocals (5)
  • Tawatha Agee
  • Cindy Myzell
  • Brenda White-King
• John D'earth – trumpet (6)
• Béla Fleck – banjo (3, 4, 11)
• Greg Howard – Chapman Stick (9)
• Kronos Quartet – strings (6, 7)
• Alanis Morissette – guest vocals (4, 11)
• Tim Reynolds – mandolin, electric guitar
• Butch Taylor – organ, piano (2, 8)

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 (6, 7)
• Thane Kerner – art direction, design
• Ellen von Unwerth – photography