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Crash is a tale of two albums. At its best, it is Dave Matthews Band and its most heartfelt (and commercially successful) with the smash hit “Crash into Me,” which, according to Spotify monthly listeners anyway, remains far and away the band’s biggest record to date. The duology of “#41” and “Say Goodbye,” complete with their seamless transition with the band at its most vulnerable and sensual, is even better. In fact, the entire first half of the album is remarkably consistent and among the band’s best work, particularly when the band really cuts loose and plays to its strengths.

Unfortunately, things fall apart when the band best elements are stripped away to give way to the album’s much duller second half heralded with the utterly forgettable “Drive in Drive Out” followed by the album’s lowest point on “Let You Down,” which finds the band stripped away to life support creating a bafflingly aimless piece of music. “Lie in Our Graves” is elevated perhaps beyond its standing by comparison and then the album just kind of putters out through the final triplicate of “Cry Freedom,” “Tripping Billies,” and the downright weird “Proudest Monkey.”

This arc is not unfamiliar in Dave Matthews Band’s repertoire and would be repeated just two years later with the absolutely electric first half of These Crowded Streets followed by a similarly dull second act. But while that album has the high points “Halloween,” “Don’t Drink the Water,” “The Last Stop” to withstand this and result in a memorable album overall, Crash was destined to be remembered for its lead hit and little else.