As much as I hate to admit it, I'm starting to give the Dave Matthews Band a chance.

I bought "Crash" a few weeks ago, and I just recently picked up "The Central Park Concert". Until now, I had heard plenty of Dave Matthews music, but it consisted entirely of radio singles. Ants Marching. Satellite. Stay. Grey Street. Crush. Too Much. Those are all great songs, but they are all so unfortunately played out. Also, it seems like every yuppie with an A & F on the front of his shirt and his American Eagle sweater-sporting girlfriend provides the same answer to the "What's your favorite band?" question. So, until now, I had held a certain resentment towards Dave and his violin/banjo/saxaphone-playing posse. I always figured that since everyone else loves them, I didn't need to. In my eyes, they weren't personal enough.

I bought "Crash" for "Crash Into Me", a beautifully dirty song. However, I ended up falling in love with the remainder of the album. Not only is the music great, but Dave seems to have a refreshingly strong appreciation for the goodness of life, and he conveys that in his lyrics.

The Central Park album really captures the talent and cohesiveness of the band. These guys really know how to play and how to play together. I'm impressed.

Well, since this post is beginning to read like a record review, I'll stop here. Let me just admit that by ignoring this band for so long, I was missing out on something truly special.

"So why would you care to get out of this place?
You and me and all our friends...
Such a happy human race."