Dave Matthews Band - Away From The World (2012) [Official Digital Download]

"Away from the World" is the eighth studio album by Dave Matthews Band (DMB). Dave Matthews Band one of only two groups in chart history to have five consecutive studio albums enter atop the chart. Dave Matthews Band recorded "Away From The World" with Steve Lillywhite, who produced the band's first three studio records "Under The Table And Dreaming", "Crash" and "Before These Crowded Streets". The album debuted at No.1 on Billboard 200 with album sales of 266,000 for the week. This was the third lowest debut sales of an album since Crash but the band's sixth straight No.1 debuting studio album.

Getting back to the basics after a semi-extended break, Dave Matthews Band reunites with producer Steve Lillywhite – the man who helmed their big major-label hits of the '90s – for Away from the World, 2012's long-gestating sequel to 2009's Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. This marks the first time Lillywhite has worked with DMB since 1998's Before These Crowded Streets, and there's no denying he's the best producer for the band, articulating their elasticity with clarity and reigning in their excesses. Which isn't to say Away from the World is streamlined, as it hardly is. It has frayed ends and odd shifts, moments of great exuberance countered with quivering sensitivity, tightly written pop songs giving way to mini-epics, love songs balanced with ribald paeans to dripping peaches and full bellies. It's a little of everything that the Dave Matthews Band does, condensed to a relatively tight 53 minutes, Lillywhite giving the inherent digressions crispness and warmth, just like he did on Under the Table and Dreaming and Crash, but for as much as this recalls the sound of prime '90s DMB, Away from the World is clearly the work of a veteran band, one not so concerned with hits, one that likes to live within the well-etched world they've created. Sure, a few of these songs could conceivably cross over beyond the DMB diehards – "If Only" is underpinned by some seductive soul groove, "Rooftop" carries a big pop hook, while the sex romp "Belly Belly Nice" evokes memories of "Ants Marching" – but there is no real attempt to broaden their audience, nor is there the self-conscious stretching that marked some of Matthews' 2000s albums. Matthews is quite content where he is, writing songs about his family, wife, the world, and life as he approaches middle age, happy to consolidate DMB's strengths without quite seeming settled. Consequently, Away from the World is a bit of a rare thing: a return to form lacking an ounce of nostalgia.

Tracklist:

01 - Broken Things
02 - Belly Belly Nice
03 - Mercy
04 - Gaucho
05 - Sweet
06 - The Riff
07 - Belly Full
08 - If Only
09 - Rooftop
10 - Snow Outside
11 - Drunken Soldier

Musicians:
Dave Matthews - lead vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, ukulele, piano
Jeff Coffin - saxophone, flute
Boyd Tinsley - electric violin, violin
Tim Reynolds - electric guitar
Rashawn Ross - trumpet, vocals
Stefan Lessard - bass guitar, double bass, rhodes
Carter Beauford - drums, vocals
+ Roger Smith - Hammond organ


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