The Lillywhite Sessions

Infobox Album
Name = The Lillywhite Sessions
Type = Studio
Longtype = (bootleg)
Artist = Dave Matthews Band


Released = March 2001 (unofficially leaked)
Recorded = Winter 2000–Summer 2000
Genre = Rock
Length = 1:09:39
Producer = Steve Lillywhite
Reviews = *Allmusic rating|4|5 [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:87620r3ai48c link]
*Music Critic rating|4.5|5 [http://www.music-critic.com/rock/dmb_lillywhite.htm link]
*"Entertainment Weekly" (A-) [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,129859~4~~,00.html 2001-06-08]
Last album = "Everyday"
(2001)
This album = "The Lillywhite Sessions"
(bootleg)
(2001)
Next album = "Live in Chicago 12.19.98"
(2001)

"The Lillywhite Sessions" is a collection of songs recorded by Dave Matthews Band in 1999 and 2000 and produced by Steve Lillywhite. The songs, recorded by the band as a follow-up to their 1998 album "Before These Crowded Streets", were ultimately scrapped by the band. This is frequently attributed to pressure from RCA executives to wrap up the sessions and release an overdue (per contract), up-beat album (the LWS were considered on the darker side by RCA). This is substantiated further in the fact that Dave Matthews was directed to producer Glen Ballard who, in association with Matthews, wrote and recorded the album "Everyday" in a record 10 days. This was driving far from the band's traditional style of writing, which involved much interaction among the band members in the studio allowing for heavy collaboration. Ironically enough, the fact remains that the band's best reviewed album to-date was never even officially released. The recordings later emerged on the internet and created controversy among fans as well as the music industry, early in its campaign to curb illegal file downloads.

Track listing

#"Busted Stuff" – 4:05
#"Grey Street" – 5:53
#"Digging a Ditch" – 4:24
#"Sweet Up and Down" – 4:43
#"JTR" – 5:36
#"Big Eyed Fish" – 5:16
#"Grace Is Gone" – 5:12
#"Captain" – 5:27
#"Bartender" – 10:09
#"Monkey Man" – 7:21
#"Kit Kat Jam" – 5:34
#"Raven" – 6:24

*Also recorded but cut from the album is "Build You a House".

Recording sessions

The sessions were supposed to continue a successful formula, as Lillywhite had produced the band's previous three studio albums. Having recorded with the band in various locations including New York City, Woodstock, New York and Sausalito, California, Lillywhite was no stranger to the group. However, for this album, the band purchased a house in their hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, which the band later used to successfully record their 2005 album "Stand Up". The band tried some new things, which included Matthews playing a twelve string guitar. Things initially seemed fine, as Lillywhite posted a report about the sessions in progress on the band's website. Lillywhite announced that the band had recorded a number of new songs including "Sweet Up and Down," and had reworked a song which the Dave Matthews Band performed with Santana in 1999, "John the Revelator" as "JTR," as all references of the biblical figure were removed.

During the recording of the sessions, RCA Records executive Bruce Flohr asked drummer Carter Beauford about his feelings about the songs at that point, to which he replied that he "didn't feel it" and was almost certain that the other band members "didn't feel it" either, implying that the sessions were not going in the direction in which the band had intended. The songs which had been recorded at the point were set in very dark tone, which Dave Matthews, himself, claimed was partly inspired by his alcohol consumption during the sessions that inspired him to write "sad bastard songs" that were full of pity.quote|" [The songs] inspired pity, self pity, or pity for the sad bastard that wrote them. I felt like I was in the process of failing, in the process of letting everyone down. In the process of not supplying the band with songs, not giving the producer the music, not giving the record company tunes—so inside that environment, I was continuing to do just that, come up with these sad bastard songs."|Dave Matthews

The album was slated for release in the second half of 2000, however, the band eventually decided to scrap the sessions, and perform their summer tour without a completed album to tour behind. The band played a number of new songs that summer from those sessions, including "Grey Street," "Raven," "Sweet Up and Down," "Grace Is Gone," "Bartender," "Digging a Ditch" and the reworked "JTR."

"The Summer So Far"

Although "Rolling Stone" referred to "The Lillywhite Sessions"' original title as "The Summer So Far",cite web |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5932312/the_long_botched_summer |title=The Long, Botched Summer: The birth, death and rebirth of a DMB album |accessdate=2007-01-23 |first=Greg|last=Heller|date=2001-07-09 |publisher="Rolling Stone"] the album was never intended to be titled as such. The title "The Summer So Far" was simply the name of the band's most current recording of the sessions, dubbed by engineer Stephen Harris, who later produced "Busted Stuff". Dave Matthews himself has claimed in several interviews that he intended to title the final album "Busted Stuff",cite web|url=http://www.dmbml.com/archives/articles/072600.html|title=Road test: Matthews running late on album, but tour offers a taste|first=Michael|last=Mehle|date=2000-07-24 |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20010421095246/http://www.dmbml.com/archives/articles/072600.html |archivedate=2001-04-21| publisher=Dave Matthews Band Mailing List Website|accessdate=2007-04-19] which he eventually did when the band went back in the recording studio in 2002 to re-record the album. The title "Lillywhite Sessions" was dubbed by fans, and the name quote|"When we stopped recording for the band to start their summer tour, I returned to England with one of the eight CDs that I had made. Five for the Band, one for [Steve Lillywhite] , one for Bruce Flohr, and the one for myself and had written on them 'the summer so far'. We only did that because all the other CDs that I had made up to then, I had called 'the story so far'. 'The summer so far' was never going to be an album title, by the way, just a way to distinguish what was then the most up-to-date CD."cite web|url=http://nancies.org/about/faq/dmbfaq.txt |title=The Dave Matthews Band FAQ| accessdate=2007-03-06|date=2002-11-16|publisher=nancies.org|format=TXT] |Stephen Harris

"Everyday"

During the tour, Matthews was introduced to producer Glen Ballard, and discussed completing the shelved "Sessions". However, during the time they spent together, Matthews and Ballard wrote an entire album of new songs, before the rest of the band had joined them. The album, which featured electric guitar by Matthews and a minimal use of the rest of the band was released in February, 2001, as "Everyday". The album, which sounded very different from previous Dave Matthews Band albums, was the band's highest selling album to date. However, a vocal group of fans on Internet newsgroups were dissatisfied with "Everyday" and longed to hear the shelved sessions, which were said to sound more like the band they knew so well.

Internet leak

In March 2001, Craig Knapp, the lead singer of Ants Marching, a Dave Matthews Band cover band, received a CD from a friend containing the lost Lillywhite Sessions. He then contacted producer Steve Lillywhite about what to do with the tracks, and posted his message on the message boards at dmbml.com.:"Hello Mr. Lillywhite,

:"I thank you in advance for taking the time to read this E-mail. I have unintentionally placed myself in a very precarious situation.

:"About a week ago, I received an E-mail from a DMB fan who claimed they had some unreleased material from the new Dave Matthews Band CD. He asked if I wanted a copy, and I said yes, thinking it was going to be acoustic takes from "Everyday." In any event, I received a package yesterday, and it was indeed the session that you and DMB recorded in Virginia.

:"I love it very much, excellent work. I am blessed to receive this gift.

:"My question for you is one of moral standards. I would really like to share these songs with the DMB trading community. However, I feel that if the Dave Matthews Band and Steve Lillywhite didn't release these songs, then what gives me that right? I don't want to disrespect the band, or yourself. I guess my question is simply this:

:"Am I disrespecting the Dave Matthews Band and Steve Lillywhite by making these songs available?

:"I would really appreciate a response when you get a chance.

:"Thank you so much for your time,

:"Craig Knapp" As a result, one fan sent a fake email from Lillywhite giving Knapp the OK to spread the tracks into the community. Knapp then sent the tracks to a fellow member of dmbml.com who released over the internet as 96 kbit/s MP3s. Within days, the tracks were also released as 128 kbit/s MP3s, and later as lossless SHN files. The tracks made their way all over the internet via private servers and peer-to-peer programs like Napster. After the release of "Everyday", which many fans complained was too "pop-ish", the leak of the Sessions gave the fans what they wanted—an album recorded much like older Dave Matthews Band material.

Demo #2 leak

A second demo, referred to as "disc two," had been admitted into existence to the communities after the initial release, and slowly, low-quality leaks of some of the disc started to circulate on Dave Matthews Band fan sites. There is one full song that has been released off this second disc, "Build You a House," a very rough song recorded early in the sessions and dropped later making no appearance on the widely spread "Lillywhite Sessions" disc. The clips that were released are recordings of recordings and have notoriously bad audio quality, but provide a glimpse into what the band was doing during the early part of "The Lillywhite Sessions". Songs like "JTR" and "Bartender" in their earliest rawest forms can be found on this disc, as well as an intro to "Grace Is Gone."

Below is a copy of the text file that accompanied the internet-circulated demo:cite web|url=http://antsmarching.org/columns/column.php?columnid=39| title= The Whole Lillywhite Story|accessdate=2007-02-13|date=2007-01-02|last=Vigliotti|first=Jake|publisher=Antsmarching.org]

Reception

Once the album leaked, attention by fans and media escalated. Many fans were eager for an official release of the sessions. Online feedback by fans, including a website-based campaign called Release Lillywhite Recordings Campaign, received media attention from such powerful publications like "Entertainment Weekly" and "Rolling Stone", which gave the unmastered album better reviews than the highly successful "Everyday". During the 2001 summer tour, the band did not only debut live versions of the songs from "Everyday", but also began to play "Big Eyed Fish," which was on the sessions but up to that point was not performed live. The Dave Matthews Band was unexpectedly touring behind two albums, the one which they actually released, and the one which they didn't want in the marketplace. In response to the album's leak, Steve Lillywhite said, "I cannot condone the release of these unfinished recordings, although I feel these are some of the most moving pieces of music that I've ever recorded with Dave Matthews Band."

"Busted Stuff" and live performances

In 2002 the Dave Matthews Band released "Busted Stuff", a new album which contained re-recordings of many of the songs that were left collecting dust with "Sessions". The new album contained 11 tracks – nine tracks re-recorded from "The Lillywhite Sessions", and two new tracks ("Where Are You Going" and "You Never Know"). "JTR," "Sweet Up and Down," and "Monkey Man," were the three tracks not re-recorded on the album.

"JTR" returned as part of the band's concert rotation, having appeared on the "Live at Folsom Field" album and played during the 2006 summer tour. "Sweet Up and Down" was only performed a few times by the band early on the 2000 summer tour and reemerged on the 2003 Dave Matthews & Friends tour. In addition to those tours, this particular song debuted again for the 2007 summer tour in Camden, New Jersey. It was repeated both nights of the two-night stand and soundchecked four times before the first show, and has been played sporadically since. "Monkey Man" was never released on an album or played live, making it the only song that is exclusively available on "The Lillywhite Sessions".

Mastered release

In April 2006, a recording engineer named "Karmageddon" mastered the tracks from "The Lillywhite Sessions" and released them on the internet. Using the original SHN files released online, Karmageddon burned the songs to a CD-R and ran them through various pieces of high-end audio mastering equipment, such as a parametric equalizer, audio converters, and a tube compressor. The songs were then balanced to evenly distribute the music through stereo channels, and eventually burned back onto a CD-R. [cite web |url=http://www.weeklydavespeak.com/news/Lillywhite_Sessions_Karmageddon_Mastering_041706.php |title=New Lillywhite Sessions Release: The Karmageddon Master |accessdate=2007-01-23 |date=2006-04-17|publisher=Weekly Davespeak ] Following the release of the mastered album, Karmageddon, himself, claimed in an interview that the mastering process he used is "basically the TRUE industry standard as to how a CD gets finalized before mass-production." [cite web |url=http://www.weeklydavespeak.com/news/Lillywhite_Sessions_Karmageddon_Mastering_Followup_042406.php |title=Follow-up Interview with recording engineer "Karmageddon" |accessdate=2007-01-23|date=2006-04-24|publisher=Weekly Davespeak ] Once the mastered album was released on the internet, it became the first ever mastered copy of "The Lillywhite Sessions", as the original leaked files were simply raw tracks from the mixing board and were never mastered.

References