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Artist:
Dave Matthews Band
Album
Title: Best Of What's Around Vol. 1
Label:
Sony BMG
Bones:
 
Summary:
The Good, The Bad & The Contractually Obligated Part 3
Reviewed
By: 'Disco' Stu McPhee
The Good, The Bad & The Contractually Obligated Part 3: Taking a look at 3 of the world's biggest acts and their respective new compilations.
Click here for Part 1 & Part 2.
Creating and releasing a collection of the Dave Matthews Band is really an exercise in futility. Due to them not really being a hit singles band, their best work hasn't been deemed by radio play but rather by how often it gets played live. As DMB have been known to completely change set lists from one night to the next, it is right to assume that it would be difficult to cobble together a collection of greatest songs without a fight breaking out.
Even with two discs at their disposal, the cut throat process of selecting tracks would have given many a compiler a bit of a migraine. For you see, unless it is a three disc set, you could give twenty DMB fans the choice of filling up a double album and you would most likely get back twenty completely different compilations.
The easy solution? Slap a 'Volume 1' at the end of the title and we can come back same time next year and play this game again.
So on to what made it first time around. On the whole they have come up with an interesting idea. The first disc is comprised of twelve tracks, featuring two songs from every studio album. Kudos to you DMB which is more than you can say for the U2 and Oasis releases. The selection of tracks is done fairly well though the rails start to come off on the chosen songs from the last two albums. 'Grey Street' (from Busted Stuff) and 'American Baby' (from Stand Up) are essential but sadly tunes like 'Where Are You Going' and 'Dreamgirl' are missing in favour of album tracks.
Disc 2, voted by the fans online is a selection of live tracks taken from the multitude of DMB concerts. It is a nice touch because not only does it involve the fans in the decision making process, it is vital that the band's live element is exposed on their Best Of because it is on stage where DMB excel. Here you can find cracking takes on 'Stay (Wasting Time)', 'Everyday' and 'Louisiana Bayou' with special guest Robert Randolph. Once more, live favourites like 'Jimi Thing' and '#41' are absent but will no doubt get the call up on Volume 2.
Best Of What's Around Vol. 1 (nice title by the way) is an inspired but slightly flawed collection that will own sit right once the next collection is released.
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