Daily Staff Writer

“Live at Luther College”

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds

Fans of the Dave Matthews Band have heard little “official” material from Matthews’ annual tour of small venues.

“Live at Luther College” more than makes up for the lack of previous coverage, as it contains 23 songs which highlight the talents of both Matthews and guitarist Tim Reynolds.

Disc one contains songs that go from very mellow tunes to melodies that will have you rocking as much as anything that the full band does.

Concert favorite “Tripping Billies” works well in the acoustic format, as does “Dancing Nancies.” The first disc also features a decent amount of “Davespeak,” which keeps the crowd giggling as Matthews fluctuates from talking in an English accent to talking in an effeminate voice.

Slow favorites “Crash Into Me,” “Lover Lay Down” and “#41” are all performed beautifully, as the uniqueness of Matthews’ voice is showcased more so than in full band performances.

“The Deed is Done” is a previously unreleased song that is highlighted by Matthews’ passionate vocals.

Another interesting tune is “What Would You Say,” the band’s first single ever. As opposed to the fast-paced, hard-rocking version performed by the band, this is a slowed-down version that works well.

Disc two begins with “Typical Situation,” which definitely works best in this format.

The next song provides a highlight of the set. Titled “Stream,” it features the guitar stylings of Reynolds, who goes off on the guitar for about four-and-a-half minutes.

The rest of the regular set is very solid, highlighted by “Warehouse,” which features a two-minute intro, and “Ants Marching,” which closes out the set.

The four encores vary greatly in terms of style. Matthews opens with “Little Thing,” a song about his encounter with a girl on a street in New York.

“Granny,” an older tune most true fans can’t get enough of, is next before the duo closes the set with the explosive “Two Step.”

The talented twosome gives a truly outstanding performance, and this is definitely a CD worth owning.

5 stars out of five

— Josh Flickinger

“Days of the New Live”

Days of the New

Following in the footsteps of Pantera and the Smashing Pumpkins, Louisville rockers Days of the New recently released a 75-minute video of concert footage.

Days of the New, a band made up of four guys who are barely 20 years old, play songs of misconceived perceptions, hopelessness and letdowns.

The first song of the concert, “Fighting With Clay,” sets the pace. It’s one of the heavier songs in the band’s routine and is backed by lead singer Travis Meeks’ tough-guy voice screaming and yelling, “You keep on fighting/ You keep on fighting!”

Following “Freak,” one of the album’s undiscovered gems, the band moves into “Best of Life,” a tune filled with hyperactive energy and a lighter tone that is ironic when crossed with a pumped version of the hit song “Shelf in the Room.”

Meeks puts down his guitar for “The Character/The Threat” and takes the mic into hand as if it were a prized possession. As he bellows out the song, he looks like a boy trapped in the tattered and tattooed body of a grown man in dire need of a shave and a shower.

Meeks’ songs are truly about teen angst, a kind of angst brought on by drugs and drinking problems, as well as emotional and chemical imbalances that spurred Meeks to throw chairs in the 5th grade, drop out of school by the 9th grade and father a daughter at age 14.

Tying together each of the songs in the band’s set are clips from concerts around the world, including a varied mix of breasts, shots of backstage warmups, shots of studio work, shots of bassist Jesse Vest riding his bike and even a shot of Meeks mooning the camera.

The band’s first hit single, “Touch, Peel & Stand,” played live, is as powerful as ever but doesn’t match the heated jam session in “Bring Yourself,” which ended with Meeks breaking a string on his guitar.

Days of the New ends the show with the gang’s latest hit “The Down Town.” Continuing with all the red-hot energy of the rest of the show, the band played with even more vigor than before, and Meeks ended the ruckus by smashing his broken guitar into oblivion.

The guitar episode was almost a fitting metaphor to describe the virulence and pent-up unpredictable vibe that makes Days of the New so appealing.

“Days of the New Live,” which has over an hour of live music along with the added bonus of the videos for “Touch, Peel & Stand” and “Shelf in the Room,” won’t be found at local stores, but it can be found at www.cdnow.com.

5 stars out of five

— Kevin Hosbond

“Varsity Blues”

Various Artists

Industry insiders say bands make a lot of their money by getting a song on a successful soundtrack. If that is the case, then the groups on the “Varsity Blues” soundtrack are raking it in.

The impressive record features yet another catchy tune from Green Day called “Nice Guys Finish Last,” as well as “My Hero,” one of the better songs from the latest Foo Fighters album.

Collective Soul’s “Run” and Fastball’s “Are You Ready for the Fallout?” create a feel-good atmosphere and help the record flow easily from one good song to the next.

The most surprising song on the album comes from Monster Magnet, with the fast-paced, hard-rocking MC5 cover of “Kick Out the Jams.” It blows the Magnet hit, “Spacelord,” out of the stadium.

Van Halen shows up in a blast from the past with “Hot For Teacher,” and Sprung Monkey does a cover of the AD/DC hit “Thunderstruck,” which fits in well with the rock edge this record provides.

Third Eye Blind’s “Horror Show” doesn’t quite live up to the band’s latest releases, and Days of the New doesn’t turn any heads with “Two Faces,” but overall, “Varsity Blues” is one of the better soundtracks of late and does a good job of providing a great background to a great movie.

4 stars out of five

— Kyle Moss

“Jawbreaker”

Various Artists

Apparently “Jawbreaker” is a recently released film, but good luck finding it anywhere.

But that’s not what we’re about here today. No, sir.

Lots of movies bite but have great soundtracks. “Purple Rain” isn’t exactly “Casablanca” (it isn’t even “Night of the Comet” when you think about it), but what a soundtrack it is.

“Jawbreaker” has 12 songs, two covers, one “oldie,” and none of them is complete crap. Most of the bands on this collection are in the category of angry young female alternatives.

Ednaswap does a respectable cover of The Police tune “Next to You,” adding a nice feminine funk to the vocals without changing much else. In fact, it’s virtually identical musically.

On the other side of the cover spectrum, we have Drill covering “She Bop,” the Cyndi Lauper song once favored by junior high school girls all over the U.S. in the lite ages known as the mid-’80s.

Drill certainly takes “She Bop” in a dark new direction using hypnotic electronics which buzz throughout, backed by a hectic drum machine which grates on the nerves like Chinese water torture, only much faster.

The Scorpions get a few dollars in royalties with “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” What is there to say about this one? Whether you liked it or hated the first time, it hasn’t changed.

If you weren’t old enough to hear it the first time, it is on about 100 different hair metal, “Best of the ’80s” guitar rock collections. Its presence here is something of a palate cleanser, like saltines.

The other tracks are far superior. Imperial Teen does “Yoo Hoo” and “Waterboy,” which are kind of sexy without standing too far out from the crowd.

Letters to Cleo makes an appearance with “I See,” which has single written all over it.

Shampoo does one of the toughest songs on this album, “Don’t Call Me Babe.” It sounds like something Courtney Love might have done before attaining celebrity status.

Not a bad addition to your soundtrack rack overall, but some of the more macho might not like anything but The Scorpions on this one.

3 stars out of five

— Greg Jerrett

“Full Rebel Jacket”

Little Rebel

Emerging from the ’80s glam and guitar rock scene, Little Rebel (previously Cheyenne) presents its decrepit bar band sound with its latest release, “Full Rebel Jacket.”

The opening track, “Monkey House,” delivers alarmingly harmonic guitar and drum synchronizing patterns that continue in “Bang3” and “Bangkok Rocks.”

Weeder King’s lead guitar drives most of Little Rebel’s songs into a wonderful series of progressions that promise a good delivery. Unfortunately, none of the band’s other pieces seem to fit.

Singer The Raeph’s limited vocal range, as well corny lyrics such as “We never stood a chance/ They were Generation X,” contribute to the album’s mediocrity. The song titles are even humiliating, with names like “Pain in My Heart” and “Dancin’ N Dixie.”

When Little Rebel’s in-your-face attitude calls out from the CD player, it loses the impact and reality of a live performance.

Listeners who enjoy the sound of a good rock ‘n’ roll band should save their pennies for the live show. Everyone else, stay far away.

1 star out of five

— Ryan Rogness