Dave Matthews Band is such a niche product that it’s difficult to review any of their work; either you “get it” and love sitting through hours of pointless jamming or you don’t “get it” and are a shallow Lady GaGa fan who can’t appreciate true musicianship…but we’ll give it a shot anyway: Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King is easily their best and most complete album to date, with radio-friendly hits like “Why I Am” and “Spaceman” playing nice with slow jams like “Lying in the Hands of God” and avoiding the uneven, jariness most albums of this depth might emit…for most casual fans, Big Whisky is a much easier listen than DMB’s past efforts.

Rating: 7.8 / 10

RCA
June 2, 2009