Newsday.com
Sometimes inspiration comes during the darkest days.
For the Dave Matthews Band, it came in the days after the death of founding saxophonist LeRoi Moore, who died in August, from complications suffered after being injured in an ATV accident, while they were still working on "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King" (RCA).
Though the band has always been top-notch in concert, they had been struggling in the studio in recent years with production issues and conflicting views about where they were headed. On "GrooGrux King," which was Moore's nickname, their motives are clear, even while their hearts are heavy.
No surprise - much of the album is concerned with death and the weightier questions surrounding it. "Doesn't everyone deserve to have the good life?" Matthews asks in the groovy love song "Spaceman." "But it don't always work out. Cry, cry, baby, if we must."
Rating: B
