The internet has been credited with rescuing an album that the Dave Matthews Band scrapped.
The studio album that wasn't meant to be finally is. On the eve of a national tour of North American stadiums, Dave Matthews' "The Lillywhite Sessions" surfaced on the Internet, apparently without the singer's authorization, and has become something of a cause celebre among Matthews aficionados.
Apparently many people think it's the best the band has ever done.
Not only is "The Lillywhite Sessions" better than "Everyday," which has already sold 2 million copies, it's the best Matthews album ever. Whereas "Everyday" paired Matthews with hitmeister-for-hire Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette, Aerosmith) to produce as lifeless a piece of corporate pop product as Matchbox Twenty or Train could ever manufacture, the aborted "Lillywhite Sessions" achieves what all of Matthews' previous four studio releases and his myriad concert recordings couldn't: make the case for the Dave Matthews Band as a subtle, serious, song-driven groove band.
So if it's so darn great, why was it scrapped? Good question.
But, according to a profile in Rolling Stone magazine, Matthews was talked out of releasing it after the band's representative at RCA told the singer "I'm not feeling this record as a fan" - record-company double-talk that essentially means, "I don't hear any hits."
If the quote is accurate, it shows once again how myopic and bottom-line conscious the record industry has become, because on "The Lillywhite Sessions" the Dave Matthews Band has never sounded like more of a band. On "Everyday," it has never sounded like less of one. How crushing to realize that Matthews was essentially bullied out of following his artistic instincts and led straight into the lair of Glen Ballard - whose ruthless, suffer-no-solos-gladly approach couldn't be further futher from the easygoing slackness of previous Matthews Band releases.
Sounds interesting. Perhaps I'll have to find some of the songs.
