Rating:

There are probably thousands of albums throughout the history of music that deserve a rating of zero Beets. In fact, it is almost certain, given the amount of schlock released every year. But Stand Up is by far the highest profile record I’ve ever found that has absolutely no redeeming value. Produced by Mark Batson (Eminem, 50 Cent, Beyoncé, Seal), the album is as shiny as a new penny, but unfortunately it’s worth less that that. Never before has Dave Matthews sounded so vapid, weak, and, quite frankly, bad. Although he has written his share of gems, songwriting has never really been Matthews’ strong suit and past DMB albums have generally been half-composed affairs that depend of the band’s loose, jammy feel. On Stand Up, there is no loose, jammy feel. As a matter of fact, the songs all sound lifeless and staid, and are ridiculously repetitive. Perhaps that’s a product of Matthews sharing all the songwriting with Batson (as he did with Glen Ballard on 2001’s weak Everyday), or perhaps the Dave Matthews Band is running out of steam as they get older. What it really sounds like, though, is DMB trying to sell records. Not in a marketing sense, mind you, but in the sense that they made music they thought would get them a new, album-buying audience. But does a group that has gone multi-platinum on every studio album they’ve released need to pander to the “adult alternative” market? Absolutely not, and the music has suffered greatly for it. It would be surprising to me if the band even liked the record. Dave Matthews and his cohorts have made a regrettable album, but the band is not irredeemable — they just need to remember to make music they like.

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– Kevin

This 0-beetsreview was posted on June 26th, 2005. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.