Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinTH
My opinion is not myopic. My personal opinion is "Sweet Up and Down" has devolved into a shell of what it once was. In that case, I do not care for how it sounds anymore. When they brought it back in 2007 I was really disappointed. A lot of the things that made that song great were missing. I don't think the Lillywhite version is the best ever, but as a studio track I am satisfied with what we have. So I have no interest in hearing them record a new studio version the way they have been playing it the last handful of times. Songs change for the better and sometimes for the worst. In my opinion, that's what happened to "Sweet Up and Down". I would say the same thing about "Grey Street" had they not polished it to perfection on "Busted Stuff".
I've gone from really not liking the new DMB, to finding some real enjoyment in it. I've been listening to some of the 2019 shows from the Sirius rips, and there's some really great stuff. The version of "Sugar Will" from Bethel was fantastic, for example. I'd even argue it was the best version I've heard since 2004. I'm not myopic and down on the band, but there are things that I would say, yeah, maybe let well enough alone. "Monkey Man", "JTR" and "Sweet Up and Down" were part of a magical gift we all received as fans 21 years ago. It would be great to see them live more and more, but let them be as they are in the studio...unless of course they want to release fully mixed and mastered versions from those sessions. That would be rad.
I'd argue it's more myopic to just accept everything that's thrown at you. I'm not overly critical of this band, and have generally leaned in their favor, but as a musician and songwriter, myself, I enjoy being critical to some degree. this band has made some interesting choices musically and professionally, which has opened them up to criticism. It's genuinely interesting to me how bands work and function, so I enjoy studying the process and find criticism can be constructive.
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I agree with you. How can you record classic unreleased material anyways now without Boyd and Roi who are major contributors to songs like JTR and Sweet Up and Down. I'm with you SUAD and Sugar Will are both kind of "going through the motions" these days. They have the notes and the structure of the songs but the heart is missing. Maybe they can find it again on them... but over 10 plus years of hearing those live rarities, it doesn't seem likely..
JTR is still a great song, though you're not going to find a better version than the ones we have. a 2021 DMB JTR studio cut is not going to it justice.
Monkey man was never really a song. It was kind of hodgepodge of unfinished ideas with a cool riff. But it didn't go anywhere after the first minute.
I'm over asking for rare songs live just because they'r rare. Look what happened to Last Stop. I mean they played it quite a bit in 2019, but they bastardized it. I believe this is Dave's way of saying be careful what you wish for. I wish he knew that on a song like that, it's the whole package. A 4 minute version of Last Stop is not Last Stop. We like the whole story. It's like turning Shashank redemption into a TV show or something. They could probably tell the whole story in 30 minutes, but you're going to miss a lot of the details that make it interesting.