Breathe: The bluegrass tribute to the songs of Dave Matthews

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 8, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cmh Records
• ASIN: B00005B69D
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,049 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dave Matthews Banjo?, September 5, 2001

By 

J Cox (Raleigh, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breathe: The bluegrass tribute to the songs of Dave Matthews (Audio CD)

Hailed as one of the best live bands to ever tour the U.S., the Virginia-born Dave Matthews Band has gone from rags to riches with their grassroots sound. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the music world is ready to witness some truly unique praise from the world of bluegrass.
Recently released as a summer tribute album, Breathe: A Bluegrass Tribute to the songs of the Dave Matthews Band is both an accurate tribute, and possibly a new perspective. Dave Matthews and his five-piece band have amazed audiences with their mix of violin, sax, and acoustic guitar. Taking that mixture one step further to include banjos, mandolins and a fiddle (or bluegrass violin) could either bring cheers or jeers from loyal fans.
Musically, the album works hard to be a fitting tribute to the band. Completely lyric-free, the songs are explored solely with instruments, although the lyric melodies are retained in some parts. The album features a decent mixture of versions from both new and old album material. Favorites like Ants Marching, What Would you Say, Two Step, and Don't Drink the Water are featured in their own bluegrass interpretation.
Although bluegrass may not be quite as popular in college mainstream as the Dave Matthews Band is, musically you can not miss the fact that this is an excellent tribute despite its genre. Fans of DMB and their work will quickly recognize any of the songs and they are actually expanded upon in some areas with bluegrass-style solos. Although Crush and Don't Drink the Water are difficult to place at first, the opening riffs to Jimi Thing, Rhyme and Reason and Satellite are familiar ground for anyone familiar with the band.
While this may not be a staple album for every college student, those who are Dave Matthews fans and appreciate well-adapted tributes will find this album pleasing. The tribute is achieved well, without doing any sort of injustice to the original product. Sadly, those who are not fans already will most likely not enjoy this album as well, and those with an aversion to bluegrass should avoid it at all costs. Don't expect to hear this one blasted loudly from any cars on campus, but for relaxed "chill time" on your own it can be both soothing and entertaining.

The Bottom Line: Fans of DMB will enjoy the familiar feeling of a tribute within another genre, while others may find the bluegrass to be undesirable. Regardless of your stance, this is an album filled with the styling of some very professional musicians covering a band no less exceptional in their work.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very cool for a DMB fan, yet lacking juice, October 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Breathe: The bluegrass tribute to the songs of Dave Matthews (Audio CD)

If you are a Dave Matthews Band fan, this CD is really cool. This definitely isn't the right CD for a first time listener, but I know for me as a fan it really helped me to appreciate the original recordings more. The musicianship on this CD is definitely top notch. They manage to play through all the songs without the need of drums for extra background! My ownly complaint, besides length, is the lack of dynamics. As a musician and lover of music I know and can appreciate the importance of crescendos and decrescendos, and that's one reason I love DMB so much. They do a superb job of building and winding down throughout the song which adds a lot to the energy. This Breathe CD, on the other hand, is very musical and creative and together yet it seems to lack that original DMB juice. It is a pretty cool CD that's worth the 15 bucks, but don't expect it to be as great as Dave.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, if not essential listening, July 29, 2001

By 

James Hymans (Muncie, Indiana USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breathe: The bluegrass tribute to the songs of Dave Matthews (Audio CD)

While I agree with the earlier review that this is an unnecessary release, I fail to see what's so wrong about that. I'm a fan of bluegrass, so that probably helps, but it only takes one listen to see that the musicianship on this CD is first-rate. The songs are kept shorter than their DMB-performed counterparts, but to honest, that takes nothing away from them, as it would be difficult to do something different with multiple verses of vocals. Add into that that the performers evidently really did their homework, drawing not only from the obvious studio versions of these songs, but from live versions as well, often in the same song (listen closely to What Would You Say). And on top of all that, the song selection sometimes makes forehead-smacking sense (Two Step, Tripping Billies, Lie In Our Graves), and sometimes is very surprising (Rhyme and Reason, Recently, Don't Drink the Water [which even more surprisingly eschews the use of a banjo, even though it's DMB version contains one]), but it always works. Overall, unless you're a die-hard DMB fan, it's not an essential CD, but if you love DMB, or love well-performed Bluegrass music, or preferably both, it's a great CD to own.