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Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King

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When Leroi Moore, the extraordinary saxophonist for Dave Matthews Band, died last summer, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the band had called it quits. In fact, after almost a decade had passed since DMB’s seminal work, Before these Crowded Streets (1998), a break-up appeared to be for the best. However, with their new album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, DMB honors Moore, whose nickname inspired the title, with its best work since their '90s heyday.

Big Whiskey, which DMB began to record before the saxophonist’s death, opens with “Grux,” a graceful solo by Moore that demonstrates exactly the kind of cool the band will lack in his absence. Then, the band explodes with “Shake Me Like a Monkey,” a stellar, sexy jam that recalls the exhilarating “Rapunzel” (1998), my personal favorite DMB song featuring Moore’s all-time greatest solo. The difference between these two songs, though, is the stylistic direction of producer Rob Cavallo, who calls upon his experiences with My Chemical Romance and Green Day in creating DMB’s heaviest recordings ever.

iTunes has always defined Dave Matthews Band as “rock,” but Big Whiskey is the only time the band has ever fully integrated the electric guitar while maintaining its stylistic versatility. The album is filled with contagiously heavy guitar hooks, like the simple three-chord, Deep Purple-esque opening to “Seven,” and the cyclical groove of “Why I Am,” the catchiest DMB jam since “Ants Marching” (1994).

Yet, this isn’t a complete departure by any means: the notoriously laid-back feel of “Crash into Me” (1996) lives on in songs like “Spaceman” and “You & Me,” and Matthews’s lyrics still don’t quite reach the poeticism for which he always seems to strive. You can put Big Whiskey up there with DMB’s better work, but the band was at its best during the '90s…and with Moore in the mix.