Music » Jam Bands Music

In 1999, Train came out of nowhere with the single "Meet Virginia" and soon after found themselves the proverbial overnight success. The San Francisco band with a penchant for the Southern jam could very easily be one of those acts that fade from memory after a lone hit. But the follow-up Drops of Jupiter makes that misfortune highly unlikely. The band employs tools of the roots-rock trade--mandolin, harmonica, bongos, and crisp acoustic guitar--to evoke that sort of "everything's gonna be all right" sentiment common in so many great pop rock songs. But this isn't a band that relies solely on its precursors for inspiration. These accomplished musicians never overplay, and understand the value of a well-placed synthesized accent or guitar effect. On tracks like "I Wish You Would," they command a plugged-in assertion that lends an inspiring jolt to their acoustic instrumentation. The title track is the album's epicenter. With swelling strings and chorded piano melody, the song sounds as if it were lifted from some lost tapes of Elton John's Madman Across the Water. It sweeps you up in an irresistible top-of-the-lungs sing-along and becomes the reference point for the rest of the album. Radio-friendly rock bands these days tend to be virtually indistinguishable from one another, but Train breaks from the crowd, charging full steam ahead. --Beth Massa

Train is building a reputation as one of rock's tightest outfits one single at a time. The clever and sweet "Meet Virginia" was eclipsed by the gorgeous "Drops of Jupiter." My Private Nation may well prove these guys can squeeze more than one hit out of the album--although none are as enchanting as their breakthrough single. They continue to gravitate toward Elton John-inspired keys-and-guitar arrangements that are marked by studied rhythms and stellar production. While there's inventiveness to be found in these songs, there's a sameness to the tracks that makes the album as a whole fall a little flat. While attempting to recapture the grandeur of "Drops of Jupiter" on the opening song, "Calling All Angels," they overreach, and the pop-culture references scattered throughout date almost instantly. My Private Nation is a clean, intelligent disc, but it's also safe and middle of the road. Train's fans would be richly rewarded if the band took a few more risks. --Beth Massa

Release Date: 1996-04-30, Audio CD, RCA

Vibrant, broadly accessible adult rock that features soaraway, acoustic-based melodies, intriguing fusion overtones (check the sax/violin interplay on "Dancing Nancies" and "Warehouse") and a vocalist as cool and poised as Sting. Jeff Bateman

Jorma Kaukonen's first solo album remains one of the crowning achievements in his distinguished musical career. First released in 1974, Quah drew on the same folk and blues influences that powered his Hot Tuna project, but did so with a gentler, more delicate touch. Produced by his Hot Tuna partner Jack Casady, the album mostly features just Jorma and his deft fingerpicking, although three songs feature tasteful string-section overdubs. The opening "Genesis," a poignant ode to his failing marriage (recorded on Valentine's Day), is perhaps his most touching original composition, while another original, "Flying Clouds," is a graceful melody as far from acid rock as one can imagine. There are also two uplifting covers of his biggest influence, Rev. Gary Davis. Originally, Quah was supposed to be a full collaboration with Tom Hobson, whom Jorma describes as a "quirky roots performer." Hobson was apparently too quirky for the suits at RCA, since only two of his contributions survived the original cut; though always considered a bit odd by Jorma fans, Hobson's songs have over time acquired a certain charm. The 2003 reissue adds four unreleased bonus cuts: two Hobson vocals, an instrumental duet, and a solo instrumental by Kaukonen. Those who associate Jorma Kaukonen with more jam-oriented projects may be surprised by just how lovely and enchanting Quah is. --Marc Greilsamer

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: HOT TUNA
Title: HOT TUNA
Street Release Date: 07/02/1996
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

The Dave Matthews Band is moving its music forward incrementally. While Before These Crowded Streets offers more of the folky melodies and vaguely international rhythms that made this Charlottesville, Virginia, group a major record and concert draw, it also finds them adding subtle new colorings to the mix. Alanis Morissette guests on two cuts, "Spoon" and the disc's first single, "Don't Drink the Water"; banjo Bela Fleck steps in, too. Most intriguing, however, is the modernist string arrangement from the Kronos Quartet on the driving "Halloween." Matthewsat least partly fulfills his obvious hopes to lead something other than a jam band here; at the same time, Streets should keep his fans satisfied. --Rickey Wright

Release Date: 1997-10-28, Audio CD, RCA

It's often been said that the studio recordings of the horribly named Colorado roots-rock trio Big Head Todd and the Monsters fail to accurately capture the fluent stylistic shifts the band makes effortlessly in concert. That may be true, but it's hard to nitpick when the trade-off is the woodsy, well-crafted and smooth Americana showcased on their self-produced Riviera. Frontman Todd Park Mohr's honeyed voice falls somewhere between yearning and world weary, and when he gets harmonic assists, notably on standout tracks like the driving, poppy, soon-to-be-chestnut "Wishing Well," the results are quietly thrilling. The slow-cooking "Gary Indiana Blues" delivers just what you'd expect from a song with that title, while the melody within the pleading, propulsive album opener, "Julianna," is every bit as pretty as its protagonist, even if she's about to walk out the door on our man. Riviera isn't likely to bust open all kinds of new doors for the combo, but for their dedicated following--and anyone seeking so-honest-you-can-taste-it adult contemporary rock with shades of jazz and blues--you can't go wrong. --Kim Hughes

Unplugged and set apart from his bandmates, Dave Matthews is transformed from a fusion rocker to something of a fusion folkie. Indeed, this two-disc, two-man concert recording (cut in Iowa in the winter of 1996 and shelved for nearly three years) posits the South African-born bandleader less as a Blues Traveler fellow traveler than a dexterous, jazz-inflected minstrel in the tradition of Tim and Jeff Buckley, Terry Callier, and Ellen McIlwaine. As with those considerably less-successful performers, multiplatinum Matthews is enticed to soar ever higher by his considerable vocal prowess. Ultimately, Matthews takes his tunes in dizzying directions because he can! All those exhibitions of elasticity have earned Matthews disdain in less-is-more circles. Here, however, more than ably complemented by frequent DMB guest and fellow Charlottesville, Virginia, denizen Tim Reynolds, Matthews virtually bursts through 23 tunes that leave his audience wanting more. They needn't worry: even his worst critics wouldn't accuse Matthews of being stingy when it comes to music. --Steven Stolder