Dave Matthews

Some Devil

1 stars

Genre: Adult Alternative Pop/Rock

Next of Kin: Sting, David Gray, Counting Crows

The careers of Dave Matthews and Adam Sandler have followed similar paths. After mediocre but loveable starts, both found that there was fame and boatloads of money to be made by playing to the chic and preppy crowds. Targeting the Abercrombie circuit, Matthews and Sandler both produced sugar-sweet fluff that was as feather-light and as easily consumable as it was soulless. Now Dave Matthews hopes to pull a ‘Punch Drunk Love’ with his first solo album, Some Devil.

Leaving behind the showboating soloists from his Dave Matthews Band, Matthews clears the sonic clutter that has prevented him from ever making substantial music. Freed of his co-stars, Matthews still has one problem to face. He hasn’t written a decent song since his sophomore release, Under the Table and Dreaming, a slump that has lasted almost a decade. Luckily, Matthews finds a way to bust his sense of melody out of the gutter for at least part of Some Devil.

On the album’s single, ‘Gravedigger,’ Matthews sings, ‘Gravedigger, when you dig my grave/ could you make it shallow/ so I can feel the rain,’ lyrics that are pitch black given Matthews’s penchant for the carefree. ‘Gravedigger’ is actually a decent folk song, but always one to go for the Hollywood ending, Matthews over-dramatizes it. Drenching it in strings, guitar solos and overblown emotion, the song loses any of the gentle sadness that the lyrics are capable of.

Good songs with poor execution are a theme on Some Devil. The gospel-tinged ‘Save Me’ sees Matthews yearning unconvincingly for redemption. Even behind a soulful chorus, Matthews doesn’t muster the passion to get loose and really let his voice soar. He lets another opportunity to make a solo statement slip by.

Other songs like the pretty ‘So Damn Lucky’ and the title track fare much better with the aid of Matthew’s serviceable falsetto and the subtle guitar work of Phish’s Trey Anastasio.

Fans looking for a preview of what songs they’ll be doing the J. Crew boogie to from the opposite side of a stadium next summer will be disappointed by the lack of upbeat songs on Some Devil. Only on the album’s opening track is the Dave Matthews Band’s watered-down world beat groove evident.

Instead, Some Devil’s songs are simpler than the average DMB song – which is a good thing. The dour ballad ‘Grey Blue Eyes,’ with just vocal, guitar and percussion, is so nice that ripping off the Velvet Underground’s ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ can almost be forgiven.

On Some Devil, Matthews shows that he’s better off without the constraints of his band, but also shows that he doesn’t have the creativity to be a successful solo artist. Some Devil may not be Matthews’s ‘Punch Drunk Love,’ but in all fairness it’s no ‘Little Nicky’ either.

Published on September 29, 2003 at 12:00 pm