Live Trax Vol. 60: 8.20.95 - Cincinnati Music Hall

[Xcacel]

Originally Posted by snow1868

It's a solid release, really great show with some real highlights.

What are your highlights, Snow? Just being curious if they match with mines

[Xcacel]

Originally Posted by Cptn. Monkeyman

Just finished listening. I love this show. 1995 is their best year

I KNEW you were saying that!

[Cptn. Monkeyman]

Originally Posted by Xcacel

I KNEW you were saying that!

Haha, I do love more recent stuff too!

[Cptn. Monkeyman]

Originally Posted by Doibhin

1998 and 2000 were better imo but 1995 is also top tier

98 and 2000 are hard to top

[ToySoldier#34]

Originally Posted by Cptn. Monkeyman

Just finished listening. I love this show. 1995 is their best year

What would some of your bullet points be for 95 being the best? Just curious

Originally Posted by firedancer34

4-20-02

Great show

[Doibhin]

Best Live Trax since LT 47 imo although 58 is also great

[Doibhin]

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Doibh...-dmb-concerts/

[Cptn. Monkeyman]

Originally Posted by ToySoldier#34

What would some of your bullet points be for 95 being the best? Just curious

There's a lot for me that makes the 95 era my favorite (best is subjective, so I'll just say favorite). First of all, I'll state that while most seem to feel 98-04 is DMBs prime, I feel that 93-00 is DMBs prime. In terms of creativity, I think that is no contest. In terms of sound/music, there's certainly cases to be made from all eras. My personal music taste draws me more to their mid 90s sound, and also into the later 90s.

So why 95 specifically over 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99 and 2000? For a while I was stuck on 1993. I've also really felt 98-00 at times. But I think I always come back to 95 as my favorite because it still has the raw "grungy" feel of their early 90s sound which I adore, but the band is just at another level, and they were continuing to develop some of their most iconic songs and song structures. This is all just off the cusp, it's kinda hard to articulate but I'm trying. I'll give some bullet points for my take on '95:

- The band was still "hungry". They had a major label LP out, and had some radio success, but it was nothing like what was about to happen in April 1996. They hit a new level of fame that year, and you could sort of feel them building up to that in 1995.

- The original sound that they'd developed from around April 1993 was perfected by 1995. Everything was firing on all cylinders, the pacing of the songs was intense, the solos were hot, Carter was really unleashing some demons.

- I don't want to say aesthetic, but something like that.

- I mentioned this above, but the creative space Dave and the band were in. I feel we fans take for granted songs like #41, and Two Step which were really fleshed out around 1995. As well as earlier songs that were on fire like Seek Up, Warehouse, Minarets, Typical, etc. BTCS is my favorite studio album of theirs. But in my opinion, their best songs of their catalog were written between 1991-1995.

- Dave's voice was still where I like it to be. The way he sings in the early days up through 96/97 just sets the tone of what this band was in the 90s. Weird, eclectic, raw, kinda frantic but still in control. Some people say his voice was like Kermit the Frog lol. It's my favorite he has sounded throughout his career, but that's not to say I don't love the way his voice evolved throughout the years, and I'm glad he matured and developed his voice as he got older. I wouldn't necessarily want to hear a 40 year old Dave Matthews trying to sing Help Myself the way he did in 94.


This has become rather long winded, I guess I've never tried to put to words why I feel the way I do about what I consider the bands prime. It just captures my taste in music perfectly.

[ToySoldier#34]

Great response and really appreciate the detail as I'm always interested to see how people connect with music, especially DMB, '95 was definitely a special time for the band. I was listening to 7/8/95 in Germany and enjoyed it a couple weeks ago

[Xcacel]

Originally Posted by Cptn. Monkeyman

There's a lot for me that makes the 95 era my favorite (best is subjective, so I'll just say favorite). First of all, I'll state that while most seem to feel 98-04 is DMBs prime, I feel that 93-00 is DMBs prime. In terms of creativity, I think that is no contest. In terms of sound/music, there's certainly cases to be made from all eras. My personal music taste draws me more to their mid 90s sound, and also into the later 90s.

So why 95 specifically over 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99 and 2000? For a while I was stuck on 1993. I've also really felt 98-00 at times. But I think I always come back to 95 as my favorite because it still has the raw "grungy" feel of their early 90s sound which I adore, but the band is just at another level, and they were continuing to develop some of their most iconic songs and song structures. This is all just off the cusp, it's kinda hard to articulate but I'm trying. I'll give some bullet points for my take on '95:

- The band was still "hungry". They had a major label LP out, and had some radio success, but it was nothing like what was about to happen in April 1996. They hit a new level of fame that year, and you could sort of feel them building up to that in 1995.

- The original sound that they'd developed from around April 1993 was perfected by 1995. Everything was firing on all cylinders, the pacing of the songs was intense, the solos were hot, Carter was really unleashing some demons.

- I don't want to say aesthetic, but something like that.

- I mentioned this above, but the creative space Dave and the band were in. I feel we fans take for granted songs like #41, and Two Step which were really fleshed out around 1995. As well as earlier songs that were on fire like Seek Up, Warehouse, Minarets, Typical, etc. BTCS is my favorite studio album of theirs. But in my opinion, their best songs of their catalog were written between 1991-1995.

- Dave's voice was still where I like it to be. The way he sings in the early days up through 96/97 just sets the tone of what this band was in the 90s. Weird, eclectic, raw, kinda frantic but still in control. Some people say his voice was like Kermit the Frog lol. It's my favorite he has sounded throughout his career, but that's not to say I don't love the way his voice evolved throughout the years, and I'm glad he matured and developed his voice as he got older. I wouldn't necessarily want to hear a 40 year old Dave Matthews trying to sing Help Myself the way he did in 94.


This has become rather long winded, I guess I've never tried to put to words why I feel the way I do about what I consider the bands prime. It just captures my taste in music perfectly.

Great stuff here. Excellent explanation, Cptn. Monkeyman.
1995 was truly a time of big development, for the band, but the creativity impulse was insane till 2000. The LWS was really the breaking point. From 2001 on, still a lot of great performances, though.

I wonder how do you compare this release to RR95. Have you done any comparison yet?

[Xcacel]

Also, if anyone here is in possession of the physical copy: can you post a photo of the back-cover?
Who is credited for recording and mixing?

[bwillis1975]

Originally Posted by Cptn. Monkeyman

Do they really need a pre-order to know at this point? I imagine the sales for these things from the pre-order period through the first couple weeks past the release date are all pretty similar across the various volumes. Am I incorrect? And I'm not talking about the first 10 or 20 LTs, they may have sold more varied numbers. But LTs 25-60 have to be pretty similar sales.

Springsteen's Live Archive series releases the download on announcement. If you want a CD, you have to wait about the time we wait for Live Trax, so it is currently being done.

[RSSR]

Would be cool if they offered FLAC 24/96 downloads of these whenever they can sooner. I'd probably still buy and wait for the CDs too.

[RSSR]

Finally listening to my copy, on Jimi Thing, this release is amazing..

[btpeters]

Mine arrived yesterday. Started listening on my work drive and got thru Nancies into the first verse of Warehouse before stopping. Hold smokes this lovely so far. Even Satellite is kicking. Those 95 Dancing Nancies performances are truly unbeatable. Can't wait to keep going.

[Cryfreedom09]

Originally Posted by RSSR

Finally listening to my copy, on Jimi Thing, this release is amazing..

I really enjoy this entire show but for me, from Jimi Thing through the end of the show is pretty much perfection. This may be cracking my top ten Live Trax. Gets better with each listen.

[OutofDarkness]

Originally Posted by Cptn. Monkeyman

- I mentioned this above, but the creative space Dave and the band were in. I feel we fans take for granted songs like #41, and Two Step which were really fleshed out around 1995. As well as earlier songs that were on fire like Seek Up, Warehouse, Minarets, Typical, etc. BTCS is my favorite studio album of theirs. But in my opinion, their best songs of their catalog were written between 1991-1995.

IMO '95 was far and away the best year for Nancies and Seek Up. Especially Seek Up. The Chet made that riff pop like no other.

[snow1868]

Originally Posted by Xcacel

What are your highlights, Snow? Just being curious if they match with mines

Sorry, just saw this.

- I really enjoyed the Water into Wine, you could tell it was practiced during the soundcheck and that it wasn't perfect.
- Listening to the growth of #41 was nice, I'd only heard versions from the Spring beforehand.
- The fills Dave does in the Two Step intro are really cool, very similar to the RR and LT5 intros.
- Jimi was excellent and proves it's a great song that has been absolutely ruined by length and interpolations since 2005.
- How cool was that Raven? So cool, I know.

Love how you can tell they're okay coloring outside the lines during this show and were taking risks that paid off. That's one of the main reasons 1995 is so special, they're raw and polished at the same time; while when 1996 rolls around, they're polished, slick, and ready to take over the world.

[cantstopagain]

Does the packaging smell good? I always love the way CDs smell when you open them.

[Cscottrun]

Finally listening. Really enjoying it.

[Jsc6545]

Great release. Love these 95 Jimis. Anyone ever tab out the riff Dave is playing in the outro? Same as on LT 5.

[RSSR]

Hey doby, how does LT60 rate out in the loudness scale?

[Cptn. Monkeyman]

This show was 27 years ago today. Giving the CD another listen today on my way to WPB

[KevinTH]

Downloaded today and realized it was played today 27 years ago. Psyched to dig into this. Only thing that can make a release like this any better would be accompanying footage, but I’ll take this any day!

[Cptn. Monkeyman]

It’s cool that they gave a shout out to dmbalmanac on the liner notes of the cd

[Sabres914]

Originally Posted by Cptn. Monkeyman

It’s cool that they gave a shout out to dmbalmanac on the liner notes of the cd

Wow, do they really? What does it say or can you share a picture?

[Xcacel]

Originally Posted by Sabres914

Wow, do they really? What does it say or can you share a picture?

They credited the almanac for the ticket stub shown in the back.

https://images2.imgbox.com/a6/96/IJjj6vA3_o.jpeg

[Cryfreedom09]

This release has brought me much joy and helped reignite my love for this band. Such a solid release.

[Sabres914]

Originally Posted by Xcacel

They credited the almanac for the ticket stub shown in the back.

https://images2.imgbox.com/a6/96/IJjj6vA3_o.jpeg

Wow, thank you. I just love it. Almanac deserves so much credit and this is cool to see.

[Crashintotable]

Awesome about the almanac. What a great tool for all things DMB. Love that about this community.