Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

The Dave Matthews Band made their reputation through touring, spending endless nights on the road improvising. Often, their records hinted at the eclecticism and adventure inherent in those improvisation, but Before These Crowded Streets is the first album to fully capture that adventurous spirit. Not coincidentally, it's their least accessible record, even if it's more of a consolidation than it is a step forward. Early Dave Matthews albums were devoted to the worldbeat fusions of Graceland and Sting, but his RCA efforts incorporated these influences into a smoother, pop-oriented style. Here, everything hangs out. Old trademarks, like jittery acoustic grooves and jazzy chords, are here, augmented by complex polyrhythms, Mideastern dirges, and on two tracks, the slashing strings of the Kronos Quartet. Some fans may find the new, darker textures a little disarming at first, but they're a logical extension of the group's work, and in many ways, this sonic daring results in the most rewarding album they've yet recorded. The Dave Matthews Band haven't completely vanquished their demons, however — songwriting remains a problem, especially since relying on grooves, improvisation, and texture allows them to skimp on melody, and Matthews' lyrics can be awkward and embarrassing, especially if he's writing about sex. Still, these are minor flaws on an album that relies on tone and improvisation, both of which are in ample supply on Before These Crowded Streets.

Rickey Wright, Amazon.com

The Dave Matthews Band moves its music forward by increments on Before These Crowded Streets. While the album offers more of the folkish melodies and vaguely internationalist rhythms that made this Charlottesville, Virginia, group a major record and concert draw, it also finds them adding new colorings to the mix. Alanis Morissette guests on two cuts, "Spoon" and the disc's first single, "Don't Drink the Water," and banjo whiz Bela Fleck sits in, too. More interesting, though, is the modernist string arrangement played by the Kronos Quartet on the driving "Halloween." Matthews's obvious hopes to lead something other than a jam band are at least partly fulfilled here; at the same time, Streets should keep his customers satisfied.

Dave Matthews Band: Dave Matthews (acoustic guitar, vocals); Boyd Tinsley (violin); Leroi Moore (alto, soprano, tenor & baritone saxophones, pennywhistle, bass clarinet); Stefan Lessard (bass); Carter Beauford (drums, percussion, background vocals). Additional personnel: Alanis Morissette (vocals); Tim Reynolds (electric guitar, mandolin); Bela Fleck (banjo); John D'Earth (trumpet); Butch Taylor (piano, organ); Greg Howard (Chapman stick); Tawatha Agee, Cindy Mizelle, Brenda White King (background vocals). Kronos Quartet: David Harrington, John Sherba (violin); Hank Dutt (viola); Joan Jeanrenaud (cello). Recorded at the Record Plant, Sausalito, California and Electric Lady Studios, New York, New York.

BEFORE THESE CROWDED STREETS was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. "Crush" was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.

BEFORE THESE CROWDED STREETS is a true groove salad, as the D.M.B. reports in with even more creative eclecticism than usual. Guest appearances by artists as varied as Alanis Morissette, Bela Fleck and Kronos Quartet are a testament to the collage of sounds present. Occasional ventures into Middle Eastern melodicism feel as natural a part of the band's sound as do its mellow folk grooves and funky rhythm flights. The lyrics are a glad swirl of pop storytelling and trippy mystery, brought to life by the usual confluence of saxophones, violin and precise guitar work that makes this group tick. Over a fat backbeat, Matthews carries the clever, sultry lyrics of "Rapunzel" with a whimsical vocal blend of growls and falsetto jumps, culminating in a soprano rhapsody by hornman Leroi Moore. The funk-vamp "Stay" makes you want to do just that, featuring a joyous gospel chorus and peppery, staccato horn lines. Excellent, frenetic bowing by Kronos Quartet couples with Matthews' quick picking to drive "The Stone" to a 6/8 fury, only to be resolved with delicate grace. Morisette's lilt and Fleck's colorful banjo wrap this excellent album up tastefully on "Spoon.

Dave Matthews Band has always been primarily a live band, constantly playing sold-out shows and developing new material on the road. Though the band is successful at recording multi-platinum collections of catchy and soulful songs, part of the reason Matthews's latest release is so remarkable is that he stopped touring, did nothing but write material, and dug deep in the studio with his band, attacking the songs with a new approach. Before... is Matthews's best release to date, with strong lyrics and global musical influences successfully blended into a sound that is clearly his own. The album also features great cameos from Alanis Morissette, Kronos Quartet and Bela Fleck.

Ben French, Nude As The News

What happened to this guy?

On his major-label debut, Under The Table And Dreaming, Dave Matthews led his band into mainstream notoriety with catchy numbers built on innovative song structures. He used tunes such as "Dancing Nancies," "Warehouse" and "Satellite," to stretch the definition of pop songs the way the Police had with Synchronicity 10 years earlier.

On its follow-up, Crash, the group's leader began to slip into a lyrical swamp, filled with uninteresting sexual imagery and other assorted, unintelligible ramblings. The rest of the band rowed in behind him and attempted to improve the quality of most numbers. And, to Matthews' credit, half the songs ended up on par with his early material -- see "#41" and "Two Step" for evidence.

After the release of a mildly interesting live recording, Matthews returned to the studio to crank out Before These Crowded Streets. With Alanis Morissette on backing vocals, Steve Lillywhite producing and the world-renowned Bela Fleck on banjo, it seems the singer has here tried to use every tired trick in the bag to maintain his ragged street rep.

Unfortunately, he ended up creating a terribly uneven record that is hurt most obviously by its lack of a creative center.

The talented band floats to the end of the world and back on Crowded Streets without ever really landing anywhere. Most numbers drone on without focus, without energy, without an inkling of the melodic genius Matthews was once believed to have.

Matthews' vocals are uninspired, his lyrics vulgar: "Open wide / Oh so good I'll eat you."

That's the opening line to a record apparently guided by -- pardon the expression -- a drunken hornball. Vestiges of his melodic sensibilities can be heard on "Crush" and "Don't Drink The Water," but there's nothing here fans haven't heard before.

Remarkably, the backing musicians somehow persevere. In fact, this might be the finest work yet for both saxophonist Leroi Moore and bassist Stefan Lessard. Solos by Moore and guest guitarist Tim Reynolds raise the quality of more than one song, including the laughable "Rapunzel."

Lessard's bass line on "The Dreaming Tree" is magnificent, flowing gently underneath a lush violin arrangement, Matthews' nimble pickings and drummer Carter Beauford's delightful, sporadic hits.

But as pleasant as "The Dreaming Tree" sounds, it cannot overshadow the raw asininity of "Stay," "Last Stop" or even the subtly stupid "Pig." It's not even the meaning of Matthews' lyrics that makes them intolerable, it's their inane repetition.

Perhaps the disc's biggest tragedy is "Halloween," previously released on the mail-order EP Recently. Where there once was a jagged, striking blow of a song, now lies a burned-out skeleton of forgotten pain.

Streets is so bad it almost makes the listener re-evaluate Matthews' earlier work. Just as the new "Halloween" ruins the old, "Last Stop" will certainly taint any future examination of "Minarets." Even the good-natured "Crush" seems to haunt any and every one of the singer's old love songs -- a real blow for a guy making his millions off pubescent lustings.

If Matthews wants to make any sort of lasting impression on music history (the way Sting has since the Police's final recording), he's going to have to pen more than one memorable album, filled with more than just tired reworkings of overplayed MTV gems.

BEN FRENCH | Ben founded NATN in the winter of 1998-1999 with fellow IU alums Troy Carpenter and Jonathan Cohen. During the day time, he's working on his very own Measure Magazine. His tastes in music are pretty outdated honestly; his favorite acts include Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, etc etc. Readers should also not trust a damn thing he writes about Bruce Springsteen, as Ben worships him with all the might of 13-year-old girl, circa 1985, when "the Boss" was actually cool.

Anthony Decurtis, Rolling Stone issue 786

With the notable exception of its 1994 breakout single, "What Would You Say," Dave Matthews Band has always been more about sound than songs. This continues to be true on the group's propulsive new album, Before These Crowded Streets. Teaming up again with producer Steve Lillywhite, DMB is more successful on this outing than ever before in translating the roiling energy of its stage show to the studio. The band also pushes in adventurous new directions, incorporating bright new hues into its highly distinctive, instantly recognizable sonic palette.

DMB's lethal secret weapon has always been its extraordinary – and criminally underpraised – rhythm section. If you want to organize a band with a front line of violin, saxophone, and acoustic and electric guitars, and your music relies on tricky time signatures, complex arrangements and fevered ensemble playing that bolts into reckless improvisational flights, your drummer and bass player better swing like Joe DiMaggio. Stefan Lessard and Carter Beauford more than fill the bill – they anchor this unwieldy outfit without ever weighing it down. And when it's time to fly, they give the band wings.

Building on that foundation, Matthews makes some bold moves on Streets. With violinist Boyd Tinsley and saxophonist LeRoi Moore leading the way, "The Last Stop" shimmers with keening Middle Eastern melodies. Matthews also extends his own repertoire of vocal strategies on this track and elsewhere as he explores a range of growls, guttural moans and fervent, upperregister wails. Sassy background vocals lend a sensual R&B feel to "Wasting Time." On "Halloween" and "The Stone," the Kronos Quartet, an avant-garde string combo, brings a nervous disorientation to tales of fear and flight. Bela Fleck's banjo embroiders the edges of three tracks, including "Don't Drink the Water," the album's first single. Even Alanis Morissette – remember her? – turns up to breathlessly croon her way through a verse of "Spoon," the concluding song on Streets.

As for Matthews' lyrics, well, let's just say that the Pulitzer committee won't be phoning anytime soon. His words – and there are plenty of them – read like afterthoughts to some other activity, most likely writing music. They consist largely of wacky sex chat ("Ha open wide/All so good/I'll eat you"), good-hearted pieties ("Just love will put the hope back in our minds") and folkloric allegory ("Mommy, come quick/The dreaming tree has died").

It's best, for that reason, to think of Matthews' lyrics purely as a vehicle for his expressive voice-and to think of that voice as another instrument in this group's potent musical arsenal. For the members of Dave Matthews Band, after all, playing is the thing, and on Before These Crowded Streets they play as if their lives – and yours – depended on it.

Leora Broydo, Salon.com

Forget Viagra. "Before These Crowded Streets," the third studio album from the Dave Matthews Band, could make even Church Lady feel like a sexpot. The release, which might have been more aptly titled "Before These Crowded Stadiums," coincides with the start of DMB's 54-show U.S./European tour, which is selling out huge concert venues within minutes.

The album delivers more of what has always attracted fans to the band: the jazzy rhythms and spirit-raising jams that have become the DMB's stock and trade, as well as lyrical echoes of albums past; there's hungry Dave ("Open wide, oh so good I'll eat you"), thirsty Dave ("Let me drink you please, I won't spill a drop, I promise you") and, of course, merry Dave ("Come sister, my brother, shake up your bones, shake up your feet").

If Matthews hikes up his skirt a little more here than on previous works, the world he shows us is deeper and darker than anything the band has laid down to date. Matthews takes his vocals to Araratian heights in "The Last Stop," an emotional plea for Middle Eastern peace. In "Don't Drink the Water," Matthews does an eerie impression of Peter Gabriel and grumbles about greed with an angry (is she ever anything else?) Alanis Morissette singing backup. "Halloween" is a demented carousel ride à la Tom Waits, backed with disturbing horror movielike tracks by the Kronos Quartet.

Matthews says of the album's darker sentiments, "I don't think the overall effect will be depressing." He's right. Somehow, when Matthews engages any spirits, be them dark or light, it's a pleasurable experience.

© Frank Steven Groen