Big Whiskey & The Groogrux King

[Aaron]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Whiskey_and_the_Groogrux_King


It's the title of the new Dave Matthews Band album due out in June.  It's their first album without LeRoi Moore who died last year.  Jeff Coffin from Bela Fleck & The Flecktones will play on the album along with Tim Reynolds.



Interesting album title but Groogrux was LeRoi's nickname (that's from the Wiki page)

[murlough23]

Personally, if a guy in my band died and was replaced by a man named "Coffin", I'd get the hell out of there.

Looking forward to this, though. I'm guess some of Leroi's work will surface posthumously here, since we was involved in pre-production of the album.

[Aaron]

Personally, if a guy in my band died and was replaced by a man named "Coffin", I'd get the hell out of there.

Looking forward to this, though. I'm guess some of Leroi's work will surface posthumously here, since we was involved in pre-production of the album.

yes

[Aaron]

A rip of the album has surfaced.  Listening to the album now.  Horns and Sax on "Shake Me Like A Monkey" are ridiculously good and bring the damn funk. This album is a solid return to the outstanding albums they made at the beginning.

[murlough23]

A rip of the album has surfaced.  Listening to the album now.  Horns and Sax on "Shake Me Like A Monkey" are ridiculously good and bring the damn funk. This album is a solid return to the outstanding albums they made at the beginning.

No more crappy drum programming? Does Carter actually, y'know, play on this album?

[Aaron]

No more crappy drum programming? Does Carter actually, y'know, play on this album?

Yes.

[Josh]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but: The new Dave Matthews is really good. Their finest album yet by a country mile.

The loss of Leroi Moore snaps everything back into focus for the band, who play with real determination for the first time in ages. Dave plays a lot of electric, which gives these songs some much-needed weight. The leaden production of their past few albums is gone, replaced by a big dose of funk-rock and some ballads that recall Sting and Peter Gabriel in their prog-jazz fusion. The lyrics, of course, are often terrible-- this is Dave Matthews we're talking about-- but there are some surprisingly thoughtful moments, and even when he's writing ham-fisted metaphors he's at least writing with real, soul-searching passion. The jams are loose and limber and the arrangements are busy, but never fussy.

It's a winner!

[Aaron]

It's about a B+ album.  First half is a solid A. 2nd half lacks a bit and is around a B-.  It's the best album they've released this decade but just behind Under The Table & Dreaming and Crash.

[worldofcm]

I've never heard a full DMB record before - but I got this one last week through Play MPE - and I have to say there are a surprisingly high number of very strong songs on this record (from a musical standpoint).

I like what I'm hearing so far...

[Josh]

My review:

http://thehurstreview.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/dave-matthews-band-big-whiskey-and-the-groogrux-king/