Slow things down?

[cdtotten]

I'm sure this is just an old-school vs. new-school argument, but do you all think the band needs to slow the f**k down with their tempo on a lot of songs?

Songs like Rapunzel/Grey Street have become un-enjoyable for me now a days with their ridiculously fast tempo.

For comparison -

LS Rapunzel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKlsmOI9RL8

2013 Rapunzel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_AsUz23DMY

I know some people like the higher-energy version, so curious to results.

This is not about the new rock vs. classic sound (as I will always prefer the older sound), but simply the tempo with the same components.

[dpduke5173]

I personally don't mind Rapunzel sped up like the studio album(even though the LS tempo is much groovier) but Grey Street is starting to bother me after watching a lot of 2000-2002 versions when Carter would still play in the pocket. I definitely think his drumming is a bit busy on this one now.

[chadizzy1]

Slow and jazzy. The band I fell in love with was slower and not in a rush to speed through songs at turbo speed.

I don't give a crap about TEH ENERGIEZZ.

[ericvol]

Shotgun is way too sped up now too.

[FeelingGood]

Originally Posted by chadizzy1

Slow and jazzy. The band I fell in love with was slower and not in a rush to speed through songs at turbo speed.

I don't give a crap about TEH ENERGIEZZ.

This all day long. My biggest beef is DDTW. Slow it down like BTCS and you have one kick-ass version. I've seen a slow version performance on youtube and it doesn't hurt the show energy at all. They play it so fast and so often that frankly, I'm bored with it at shows.

edit: Rapunzel is just fine the way it is.

[hailtopitt]

the worst is Dreaming Tree

they've managed to mangle a usually perfect song. way too fast and very sloppy lately

[TMoore4075]

Depends on the song. Grey Street is too fast now. I can bitch about the 3rd verse but I know that's not coming back. So just slow it down a bit.

[KevinTH]

Originally Posted by hailtopitt

the worst is Dreaming Tree

they've managed to mangle a usually perfect song. way too fast and very sloppy lately

I think last year's decacle was not intentional. I think it started off too fast and they just didn't bring it back down. Dreaming Tree has actually been pretty awesome with this lineup.

Originally Posted by TMoore4075

Depends on the song. Grey Street is too fast now. I can bitch about the 3rd verse but I know that's not coming back. So just slow it down a bit.

That and cut Rashawn out of the solo section entirely. He absolutely ruins the song. In fact, cut Rashawn out of the picture entirely and I'm good.

[hailtopitt]

dreaming tree hasn't been good since '08 and it's gotten worse every year

[RiotAct]

Originally Posted by hailtopitt

the worst is Dreaming Tree

they've managed to mangle a usually perfect song. way too fast and very sloppy lately

Two Step gives it a run for its money

[hailtopitt]

ehh two step is still pretty good, but i know what you mean

in fact, i really loved the two step outros from 2013. at least they're still adding and changing things

dreaming tree is just a tangled web of sloppy

[RiotAct]

Originally Posted by hailtopitt

ehh two step is still pretty good, but i know what you mean

in fact, i really loved the two step outros from 2013. at least they're still adding and changing things

I don't think I've been to a show in the last 3 years where they HAVEN'T botched the transition from verse to chorus at least once.

I still love getting it in the setlist, but it's not what it was in the early '00s.

[hailtopitt]

Originally Posted by RiotAct

I don't think I've been to a show in the last 3 years where they HAVEN'T botched the transition from verse to chorus at least once.

I still love getting it in the setlist, but it's not what it was in the early '00s.

yea that's fair

[cdtotten]

Originally Posted by KevinTH

In fact, cut Rashawn out of the picture entirely and I'm good.

I agree with you there 100%. I understand he was important in keeping the band together and getting them back on track... but his sound doesn't belong with this band outside of the Warehouse salsa jam.

[Spell On Me]

Like most I agree, slow it down! Where's the fire, man.

[TMoore4075]

Originally Posted by KevinTH

That and cut Rashawn out of the solo section entirely. He absolutely ruins the song. In fact, cut Rashawn out of the picture entirely and I'm good.

I go either way with him. There has been some where I'm like eeeee but there was one show, can't remember which, where him and Jeff were doing a good job trading back and forth at the end.

But I heard it last year at Pine Knob and they do a good job of keeping it fresh from year to year there so hoping I don't hear it. That and it's my most seen song at 14 of 23 shows.

[bowa36]

Originally Posted by chadizzy1

Slow and jazzy. The band I fell in love with was slower and not in a rush to speed through songs at turbo speed.

I don't give a crap about TEH ENERGIEZZ.

Originally Posted by KevinTH

In fact, cut Rashawn out of the picture entirely and I'm good.

Originally Posted by cdtotten

I agree with you there 100%. I understand he was important in keeping the band together and getting them back on track... but his sound doesn't belong with this band outside of the Warehouse salsa jam.

These guys know what's up

[Utopia]

Definitely slow it down.

The most painful part of the recent PNP>Rapunzel is Tim's guitar. It's tooo fucking much.

[hailtopitt]

Originally Posted by Utopia

Definitely slow it down.

The most painful part of the recent PNP>Rapunzel is Tim's guitar. It's tooo fucking much.

yea Pantala Naga Pampa is completely ruined nowadays

can't hear Dave at all

[sweens2002]

I'm not a musician and have no idea how one speeds up or slows down. For you musically inclined folk out there, who's to blame for the speed? Is it a carter thing? Or is it just the entire band going nuts?

[Jordan#41]

Slow it down. DDTW is lightening fast now.

[cdtotten]

The drummer controls the tempo, but there's no way in hell you can tell me that Carter decided one day to speed things up on his own. Carter used to live in the pocket of the music, controlling the band's sound and adjusting as necessary for the song. Now a days, he does seem to enjoy playing outside of the pocket with fills that are usually not necessary.

There appears to be a direct correlation with Tim coming back (and also butch leaving) and speed slowly building up to where it is today.

[tyler3440]

it would be nice to see the band slow down rapunzel especially the jam and defently Need to slow down DDTW and grey street. On grey street Jeff and rashawn need to stop trying to play louder that each other and carter needs to do the drum roll fills like he used to do. On DDTW they need to slow down the tempo of the whole song and Tim needs to take a much smaller role in that song. He really drives that song I would like to hear saves gutar. I really like tim as a gutairist he's one of the best in the buissnes I like what he adds to most songs but some songs he drains out the jazzy sound of the band.

[bowa36]

I wish Tim would play DDTW like he did on Live in Chicago 98. Subtle and great. But I mean, I'm just going to try and enjoy the songs now for what they are. A lot of songs have changed yeah, but the sounds I love ('96 - '05) are gone and they're not coming back. Still like the songs even in their current form though.

[space_raven]

Originally Posted by bowa36

I wish Tim would play DDTW like he did on Live in Chicago 98. Subtle and great. But I mean, I'm just going to try and enjoy the songs now for what they are. A lot of songs have changed yeah, but the sounds I love ('96 - '05) are gone and they're not coming back. Still like the songs even in their current form though.

Was going to post about the subtleties of Tim's playing from the early days, but BOWA covered it. TBH, May-June 2008 Tim was still pretty subtle. Skip ahead to the Rothbury Festival release, and he's front and center. Makes me wonder did LeRoi have THAT much of an influence on the bands overall sound?

To answer the question though, slow things down. Play with feeling and emotion again. Granted, the sound of the DMB I started out liking is gone for good, the distance between early DMB and DMB now is way too far apart. The gap for me personally, is too much of a leap in sound. Jeff and Rashawn need to tone it down and stop trying to one-up one another, IMO, that's a huge factor in the sound of 3.0.

[bowa36]

Yeah I'm not at all a fan of the horn battles at the end of some songs. Jeff should just solo...no reason Rashawn needs to be fucking screeching over literally everything...but I digress. Been a fan of this band for a long time and I should just enjoy the music. Always good to be optimistic.

[Squirm_34]

Depends on the song. Listener Supported as a whole is too slow for me, to the point of being absolutely boring. Speeding through songs like DT, Grey Street, or Hello Again (when it was brought back in 2010), is also not good either. I like it in the middle, a good tempo that's a bit faster than the studio cuts, but not so much that the musicality is lost.

And I like my DDTW fast and heavy

[DreamingStreets]

Grey Street and DDTW, definitely.

But Proudest Monkey needs to be sped-up. I can't listen to it post-1996, it's that slow.

[cdtotten]

They could never play Satellite --> PM again and I would be ok with that.

[Utopia]

Originally Posted by cdtotten

They could never play Satellite --> PM again and I would be ok with that.

But what if they played PM>Satellite, since that's usually the way it's played.