Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds
Live At Luther College

Browsing here and there on Debaser, I noticed, quite surprisingly, that this album has never been reviewed, so, after a necessary lick of the chops, I get to work to try to fill this gap.

This double album recounts a concert held in 1996, but released only 3 years later, where Dave Matthews presents himself in acoustic version without the aid of his band, accompanied only by Tim Reynolds, a guitarist with whom he has practically always collaborated regularly.

Those familiar with the Dave Matthews Band know how essential Carter Beauford's drums, Stefan Lessard's bass, Boyd Tinsley's violin, and LeRoi Moore's (RIP) winds before, and Jeff Coffin and Rashawn Ross later, are to the fabric of their sound, especially live. DMB is indeed defined as a jam band, finding their most congenial dimension in their now-legendary live performances, in which every musician (and note, it is quite different from being merely a "player") can give their best in fiery improvisations.

So, what happens when the songs are stripped of their rich arrangements and presented in the barest version possible? One might think that much of their charm is lost, but that is not the case here.

The reason is simple: Dave Matthews knows how to write damn beautiful songs, capable of standing on their own even in the absence of that sonic machine we talked about earlier and perhaps even shining more in their pure beauty, in the magic created by the intertwining of a voice and two acoustic guitars.

The rapport between the two is formidable, if Dave is the main protagonist, the one who brings the songs to life with his voice and guitar, Tim is an excellent co-star, who knows how to weave interesting interventions and tasteful solos around him.

The setlist draws evenly from the only two albums released by DMB at the time, the phenomenal "Under The Table And Dreaming" and "Crash", but there is also room for a good number of unreleased tracks, one of which ("Stream") is by Tim Reynolds, making the listening experience even more interesting.

It is difficult to extract any particular piece from the context, for mentioning "#41" rather than "Typical Situation", "Crash Into Me" rather than "Cry Freedom", or "Seek Up" rather than "Two Step" would be unfair and not very nice; this is an album to be listened to from the first to the last note, a genuine record, where you enjoy the pleasure of hearing fingers rubbing on strings or strings rattling on the fingerboard, reminding us that real music, the true kind, is the one played with hands and heart.

Ergo, we give thanks to Dave Matthews.