Before These Crowded Streets (1998)
Hmmm. I’ve never liked nor listened to this band since a brief flirtation with ‘Under The Table And Dreaming’. The reasons? Well, I find Dave Matthews a bit corny. I also hate his voice at this point. That hate is enough to keep me away from anything potentially interesting that might be on any DMB album…most of the time. Besides the little intro song, the shortest song on this album is over five minutes long, and several songs reach towards nine minutes. It was very difficult to listen to it.
I imagine a Yanni CD would have much the same effect. His songwriting CAN be interesting at times (Which it better be on 8+ minute songs). On this album I count three “compositions” that are fairly well-written to my tastes. The rest I regard as unlistenable and shiver when I think of. Thanks, Dave.
Grade: C-