DMB's album 'Everyday' is commonplace

Like every other Dave Matthews Band fan, I?ve spent a fair portion of my college years waiting in line for their over-priced concert tickets. But when tickets for the upcoming summer tour went on sale just last week, I could hardly be bothered.If the band?s publicists had timed ticket sales to begin three weeks ago, conveniently before the Feb. 28 release of the Dave Matthews Band?s latest studio album, ?Everyday,? I might have been interested. After hearing the band?s latest effort, however, I was pretty disappointed.?Everyday? marks a drastic departure from the band?s signature sounds ? the unique blend of Matthews on acoustic guitar, Boyd Tinsley on violin, and LeRoi Moore on saxophone. Instead, we get a whole lot of Matthews on the electric guitar, and not nearly enough of Tinsley and Moore.All twelve tracks are also significantly shorter than songs on the previous albums ? owing to a marked absence of the usual extended jam sessions. Not one song on ?Everyday? breaks the five-minute mark.?I did it, do you think I?ve gone too far?? asks Matthews, as the album opens with its first radio single, ?I Did It.? My initial reaction was ? you sure did, if that ?it? you?re talking about is ?released a bad album.?After the first sixteen or so listens, though, I was able to set my electric guitar prejudices aside and gain a deeper appreciation for what the band hasdone. Although the overall sound of the album is different, I cannot say that I am entirely displeased with ?Everyday.?After all, who can fault a band for innovation? True, the Dave Matthews Band was extremely successful with its previous albums. Also true ? stagnation stinks.?I Did It? pairs the energy and enthusiasm typical of the band?s earlier works with a more solid, electric sound. ?The Space Between? follows suit, this time juxtaposing Matthews? trademark beautiful lyrics against theelectric guitar. This song also wins points because we finally hear Moore on the saxophone, dissolving all doubt that he is indeed still a member of theband.But under the guise of new instruments, a guest appearance by Carlos Santana and shorter track times, many of the songs are quintessential Dave Matthews Band. ?Angel? is the album?s token lovey-dovey song. Translated, it is the song that tank-topped girls and their Abercrombie-clad boyfriends will sway to hand in hand at the summer tour.Similarly, the title track provides the usual cameo by some female back-up vocalists, and serves as the feel-good, easy-breezy tune of the album. Or as I like to call it, ?Stay? revisited, from the band?s 1998 release ?Before These Crowded Streets.?Overall, ?Everyday? is neither a terrible nor a spectacular album. As Matthews himself sang, ?All good things come to an end sometime.? Rather than that end, ?Everyday? seems to be just a bump in the road. No doubt ? the Dave Matthews Band has a lot left in it.