Dave Matthews pares down everything except the magic

Reviewed by SCOTT SWINDELLS
Collegian Staff Writer

With Tuesday's release of Live at Luther College, local residents had the opportunity to preview the Dave Matthews acoustic show that's coming to town on Feb. 3.

Those who picked up the exceptional live two-disc set, in which Matthews collaborates with guitarist Tim Reynolds, were lucky enough to find a slew of crowd favorites. But without the other four members of one of America's favorite bands, fans might have been wary to pick up the new release, recorded Feb. 6, 1996, in Decorah, Ill.

After all, many fans listen to the Dave Matthews Band because of Matthews' emotional lyrics and voice. But Dave doesn't make this band unique. After all, singer/guitarists are a dime a dozen.

What distinguished this band in the early ‘90s and earned it such a large fan base was the instrumentation -- the combination of Boyd Tinsley's fast-paced violin with the slow and sultry horns of Leroi Moore were welcome changes to pop music. The band brought improvised jams to the radio world while keeping the best aspects of jazz and rock music.

In short, the things that made this band unique are not contained on this disc.

But don't expect the emotion and energy of the full-band recordings of these songs to be lost on Live at Luther College. It doesn't matter that the violin and sax are missing -- the songs are so familiar, you hear them in the back of your head anyway. Matthews and Reynolds take advantage of this, playing off each other and mimicking some of the violin, horn and bass sounds with their guitars.

In fact, the recording will be refreshing to many DMB fans who trade live tapes and prefer the energy and spontaneity the band offers on stage. The honesty of Matthews' mistakes -- like stopping short of completing a crescendo twice in the bridges of "Satellite" -- can really grow on listeners.

It's a welcome change to take Under the Table and Dreaming or Before These Crowded Streets out of the disc changer and listen to just one man's take on the band's songs. "Dancing Nancies" and "Jimi Thing" seem like they were meant to be played this way, and the two dueling guitarists manage to keep "What Would You Say" and "Ants Marching" rocking. The Creedence-inspired guitar solo in "Jimi Thing" is much bouncier than the Live at Red Rocks version. And be sure to check out the frenzied picking on "Stream."

Hey, it's not a Dave Matthews Band recording. But the emotional core of each song is still there, proving exactly why it is Dave Matthews' band.