REVIEW: DAVE MATTHEWS BAND - WALK AROUND THE MOON

4/5

Matthews On The Moon.

Giants steps are what Dave Matthews band take, taking a 'Walk Around The Moon'. All for DMB's first album since the 'Come Tomorrow' of 2018. Also, sadly the group's first album since the loss of founding member Boyd Tinsley. May he rest peacefully. Dave Matthews and his band of brothers remain one of the best bands of all-time...let alone the most successful and 'Crash Into Me' famous. They've even had 'Dream Girl' Julia Roberts in one of theor music videos. Some may hate, but what about the love they show? The act may have sold out shows in Central Park, but the Charlottesville, Virginia born band have also performed benefit concerts, raising money and spirits, rallying a cry for freedom in the state of today's America that's missing the United front. Their call to embracing arms, reaching everyday people in all sorts of ways. All as DMB try to remove the DMV of their and the fans', who still sleep in line for a place at the front of the stage, carbon footprint. And you thought the broken Moe's Tavern bottle glass shard recycling R.E.M. were the golden 90s era, environmentally friendly act of modern American music. 

Confronting mortality like a band-leading GQ feature or the man Dave Matthews paid tribute to like his name was Al, Paul Simon. They release their mellow yellow spiritual new set on the same day Art Garfunkel's former partner in rhyme does for Simon's first album in five-years too ('Seven Psalms'). Highlighting a subtle but beautiful New Music Friday with the desert discs of amazing album artwork in compelling collage that extends a palm to you in black and white. All as their tribal blossoming roses from concrete welcome abroad new member Buddy Strong to their hold. From the sands where you can see the stars this trip 'Around The Moon' like a Michael Stipe sun was preceded by the protest single 'Madman's Eyes'. With the 'Wide Open Light' of activist and fellow accomplished artist Ben Harper's new album on the June bug horizon, this is the music of meaning we need tight now as we make our way through the woes of a world of worry and heartbreaking hurt. 

"Oh, little Billy's got a gun/Little Billy's having fun/Shooting bottles on the wall/Dreams the hero come home from war/Is this real?/Is this make-believe?/We think we know how everything's supposed to be/Like a train blowing full steam ahead/Can't hear what you're saying with everybody screaming", the storyteller tells us like it's all too real. Although Dave Matthews eggshell treads carefully as he doesn't want to be the white male telling us how wrong everything is. Yet, Matthews has always tried to convey a better way in his music, guided by love. He can get political like Dylan waxing lyrical all he wants if he's protesting for peace. We need to worry less about that in a world where we need to be more concerned about how some people's pride is boosted by shaming others. If we're trying to bring people together, there's nothing wrong with that...right? Rest assured, Dave will set you on the right path of feeling loved and appreciated in a time that sees the search through eyes a lot more weary and weathered by the storm than they once were. 

The amazing album track serves as not only the opening, but the latest chart release. Yet, it's the second single 'Monsters' that penultimately really roars. "Even if fear don't put you down/Oh, won't you lean on me while I'm around/No rope to hang the dead/No line to save the drowning man/Just the monsters in your head/Nothing in the closet/Nothing underneath the bed/Just the monsters in your head/Killer's eyes and painted faces/The Devil wants your soul, but Jesus saves/Traffic jam is a angry maze/The Devil wants your soul, but Jesus saves", Matthews growls with his own Psalms over a lyrical video and photographic collage of the people for our collective memory, reminding us the world is as one under the sun. 

Their COVID album 'Looking For A Vein' in the pandemic for the planet, finds one like the solo falsettos of 'Grey Blue Eyes' that was like a 'Lift Me Up' from a singing Springsteen. Stream 'The Ocean and the Butterfly' and you will find the same beauty in a song that spreads its wings as a new fan favourite. 'It Could Happen' to you too like Nicolas Cage's cop and Bridget Fonda's waitress winning the lotto as Matthews scores, "Oh, how it happened, blew the lid/And got a taste, some kind of magic/It could happen like it did/Like we awoke, we were still dreaming/When it happened like it did If I wasn't there, I wouldn't believe." The poetry and power of his prose remaining subtly profound to all around. 

But 'After Everything' (or before in this case) on an album that deals with the spectre of meeting your maker, it's the standout cut 'Something To Tell My Baby' that's the real deep cut. A classic you could leave your kids when you're gone. "Well, you know/Someday we're all gonna leave here/Maybe sooner than we wanted/But it's special because it's fleeting/All of the things that we did/What do we leave behind us?/Something that will remind them/Something to make them smile/When they think about it/Something to tell my baby/Something she could reach for", he tells us like it is, in a song that would make anyone respect their elders. The statesmen and veteran in this game stating it plain. Look out for those that did you, because we'll all be old one day...if we're even lucky to get that far. 

The break-up ballad 'All You Ever Wanted Was Tomorrow', in the same vein as when Bruno Mars yearned for the time he was your man (giving you all his flowers and hours in retrospect for love and life), could be steeped in the sadness of passing friends as much as it is relationship regret. "When all you wanted was tomorrow/Your picture albums on the wall/The good old days and times of sorrow/Yeah, but tomorrow never comes/Oh, tomorrow never comes", yearning for the friends of yesterday, to go along with the hearts. 'The Only Thing' continues this calm that hides a songwriting storm, before 'Break Free' does like Queen for these kings. Set for the stadiums it's showed out in. "I drink your poison if you fill the cup/You make me crazy baby, don’t let up/And if I’m fallin’ I don’t want to stop/I give up everything to have your love." Nobody sings about f#####g with this much heart. 

'Singing From The Windows' calls the end to this album for all an audience to hear as you sing from your showers with a reckless abandon like you were in the mountains of this album's artwork. But herein lies the real rub, however. "When the war is over/And we go back to every day, every day/Will it be the same again/When you've been turned inside out and outside in?/Singing from the windows/Shadows on the wall, the way they dance/Not much of nothing/But look at this fire burning bright." Dave Matthews, who grew up in South Africa and now is as Seattle as Macklemore or Frasier Crane, sees peace after the protest. Love amongst all the hate. A mellowing mediation of meaningful joy between the misery and malaise. There's nothing to juxtapose here or look at in irony. The influence of DMB is one of positive inspiration. Dignified without a shred of preachy pretentiousness. After all, these are the small steps they practice every day to make their giant leap. Man, be kind. It's the only way to walk and make it around. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Madman's Eyes', 'Something To Tell My Baby', 'All You Wanted Was Tomorrow'.