My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: #3

This is it. The Top Three. I said the top 6 were thisclose, and they were. But I did not decide on what would be 2 and what would be 3 till this morning.

#3. Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King - Dave Matthews Band

September Eleventh. My life changed that day. When the clock struck midnight and 9/12 was upon us, I knew my life would never be the same. I’d say there’s maybe a week or two’s worth of watershed days in my life. There I was, at one of the area’s more famous locations at the time when everything I thought I knew was exposed as myth. Continental Airlines Arena. September 11, 1999.


It was the first of many Dave Matthews Band shows for me – events that would define this decade in my life. In the irony of all ironies, this “ultimate college band” didn’t make my rotation till the months after I graduated college. But I would spend the next ten years making up for lost time, and then some, as I traveled up and down the northeastern seaboard in pursuit of the higher plane of existence that comes with the DMB Experience (and 6 hour tailgate).

Before “Big Whiskey”, the band had cut 3 studio albums this decade. All enjoyable in their own right. None came close to the genius of their late 90’s trifecta of Crash, Under the Table and Dreaming, and Before These Crowded Streets. Until Big Whiskey.


Before the album was finalized, the band lost founding member and saxophone great LeRoi Moore, and to a degree, the entire album is a tribute to him, right down to his nickname “Grux”. LeRoi alone was worth the price of admission to a DMB show, whether he was opening the concert with a solo for “One Sweet World” or keeping you going on an extended bridge for a long jam like “Crush” or “Jimi Thing”. His presence both in the studio and live on stage has been sorely missed. Owners of “Big Whiskey” are treated with a short LeRoi solo to start the album, titled simply as “Grux”.

Maybe it was the loss of LeRoi that forced the band to get back to basics. After three consecutive “over produced” albums, BW&TGGK brought it all back home to what made the band so damn good in the first place: Insightful and emotional lyrics that were neither judgmental or preachy combined with instrumentals that felt more organic than manufactured. The band knocked this one out of the park.

The Highlights:


-After “Grux” fades away on the album, the fellas get right down to business with arguably the best song on the album: “Shake Me Like a Monkey”. One of many, many Matthews tunes with not-so-subtle sexual references, this classic jam translates very well live on stage.

-It’s followed up by their first released single from the album, “Funny the Way It Is”. While the lyrics are a little, say, simple, taken as a whole the song is classic DMB. If you love DMB staples like “Crash” or “Satellite”, you could argue that this is the best song on the album.

-The much more mellow, tempered and deep “Lying in the Hands of God” comes next and honestly, my only real gripe is that it can disrupt the flow of the CD. It’s a petty hang-up and really shouldn’t be held against them cause I could never dream of putting such incredible words together like that. Those who really dive into lyrics, emotions and human imperfection may argue that this is the best song on the album.

-“Alligator Pie” is arguably the best song on the album. A tribute, albeit an odd one, to Matthews’ youngest daughter, violinist Boyd Tinsley is the star of the show here.

-What one could consider the best song on the album, “Squirm” is a throwback Matthews tune that would have fit perfectly on “Crowded Streets”. An introspective analysis of humanity, that also confirms Dave’s infatuation with the fact that we all came from apes.

-If you like the vintage Matthews track “Tripping Billies”, then you’ll absolutely love “Spaceman”. The beat is much different but the “Eat Drink and Be Merry For Tomorrow We Die” theme is stronger than ever. Bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator and you’ve got yourself and your partner in life, if you’re so fortunate. Everything else is ancillary. It just might be the best song on the album.

-All in all, what I have come to accept as the best song on the album, “Why I Am”. It’s Why I Am unlikely to agree. Yeah. That line does it for me. The song is the band’s formal tribute to LeRoi and everything he meant to them, everything he inspired in them, everything he taught them, and everything they miss about him. If it wasn’t such an incredible balls-out jam, it would choke you up, in particularly the closing line of the last verse: “When my story ends, it’s going to end with him. Heaven or Hell, I’m going there with the GrooGrux King”.

I’m not giving enough credit to “Seven”, “Time Bomb” and especially “Baby Blue” – all near-perfect in their own right, but honestly, I’m spent.


The only “miss” on the album is the closing “You and Me”. In all seriousness, this song sounds like it should be the opening theme to a 80’s family sitcom.

Bringing it all back home, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Dave Matthews Band for the memories they provided me with over the last ten years; the dear moments I spent with my closest friends and family, my wife, and new friends I made along the way at the many different venues and hotel rooms throughout this quadrant of the nation. From Charlottesville to Albany, from Camden to Hershey, and smack in the belly of the beast on 33rd and 7th, the band and the people I shared the experiences with kicked my ass all decade long and I’m a better person for it.


And thank you for closing out the decade with a nearly perfect work of art (and using the word “Whiskey" in the Title)


Rest in peace LeRoi.