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Before These Crowded Streets (or BTCS) is the third studio album by Dave Matthews Band, released on April 28, 1998. It is the last official album by the group to be produced by longtime producer Steve Lillywhite. The album title is taken from the lyrics to the song "The Dreaming Tree." Currently, it is the only album by the band available on vinyl. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 charts after selling 421,000 units in its first week of release, which in turn knocked off the Titanic soundtrack from the top spot after a run of 16 consecutive weeks at #1.
[edit] Track listing
Special guest Tim Reynolds is featured on all tracks on the electric guitar and mandolin.
| # |
Title |
Length |
Guests |
Notes |
| 1 |
Pantala Naga Pampa |
0:40 |
|
|
| 2 |
Rapunzel |
6:00 |
|
- Album's fourth single
- Segues into following track
|
| 3 |
The Last Stop |
6:57 |
|
|
| 4 |
Don't Drink the Water |
7:01 |
|
- Album's first single
- 24-second jam at end of track
|
| 5 |
Stay (Wasting Time) |
5:35 |
- The Lovely Ladies – background vocals
|
|
| 6 |
Halloween |
5:07 |
|
- Originally appeared on Recently (EP)
- Segues into following track
|
| 7 |
The Stone |
7:28 |
- John D'earth – trumpet
- Kronos Quartet – strings
|
- 28-second jam at end of track
|
| 8 |
Crush |
8:09 |
|
|
| 9 |
The Dreaming Tree |
8:48 |
|
- 29-second jam at end of track which was later elaborated upon to become part of the end of JTR
- Jam also resembles "Doobie Thing,"[1] an upbeat jam played as a segue into Ants Marching only 8 times in 1993.
|
| 10 |
Pig |
6:57 |
|
|
| 11 |
Spoon |
7:33 |
- Alanis Morissette – background vocals
- Béla Fleck – banjo
|
- 90-second outro to "The Last Stop" at end of track (hidden track)
|
[edit] MacHead
"MacHead" was a song recorded during the album's sessions; however it was never completed, therefore it didn't make the album. Producer Steve Lillywhite named the song, claiming it sounded like a cross between the sound of Paul McCartney and Radiohead. The song's existence is only known from an image of a piece of paper circulated on the internet with a list of the working titles of the other songs on this album.
"[MacHead] is a song that we were working on for [Before] These Crowded Streets and it's a song that we just never got to completion before we finished the album. Who knows, maybe one of these days we'll finish it and record it again, but we finished the album before we finished the song."[1]
[edit] Personnel
[edit] Musicians
[edit] Additional personnel
[edit] Production
- Producer – Steve Lillywhite
- Engineer – Stephen Harris
- Assistant Engineer – Joel Courtright, John Seymour
- Mastering – Ted Jensen
- Mixing – Steve Lillywhite
- Pre-Production – John Alagía
- Orchestral Arrangements – John D'earth
- Art Direction – Thane Kerner
- Design – Thane Kerner
- Photography – Ellen Von Unwerth
[edit] Composers
- All songs written by David J. Matthews except "Rapunzel" (Matthews/Lessard/Beauford), "The Last Stop" (Matthews/Lessard), "Stay (Wasting Time)" (Matthews/Lessard/Moore), "The Dreaming Tree" (Matthews/Lessard), "Pig" (Matthews/Lessard/Beauford/Moore/Tinsley).
[edit] Charts
| Year |
Chart |
Position |
| 1998 |
The Billboard 200 |
1 |
| 1998 |
Top Canadian Albums |
6 |
| 1999 |
Top Internet Albums |
17 |
[edit] References
- ^ Maliszeski, Joe (2006-05-02). Boyd takes ESPN By Storm (Wimbledon Music) (Machead). Antsmarching.org. Retrieved on 2007-05-06.
