Away from the World

Away from the World is the band's first album to be produced by Lillywhite since 1998, although he also worked with the band on their ill-fated "Lillywhite Sessions" in 2000, most of the songs from which were re-recorded with Stephen Harris for the band's 2002 release Busted Stuff. Frequent collaborator John Alagía also contributed, co-producing the tracks "Broken Things", "Mercy", and "Rooftop". Recording began at Studio Litho (established by Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam) in January 2012 and concluded in May of that year. On the band's recording process, Tinsley stated: Tower of Power's Roger Smith played Hammond organ on "If Only", while a youth chorus provided vocals on "Gaucho". ==Release and reception==

On April 24, Matthews debuted soon-to-be lead single "Mercy" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. In May, "Gaucho" was made available for download from the band's website for members of the Warehouse Fan Association, although the song did not receive an official single release. Numerous tracks that would be included on the album—"Mercy", "Gaucho", "Sweet", "If Only", "The Riff", "Rooftop", "Snow Outside", and "Belly Belly Nice"—were all played on the band's 2012 summer tour. During the week leading up to the album's release, it was available to stream for free on iTunes. The album's title was taken from a lyric in "The Riff": "Sitting in a box/away from the world out there", which, according to Matthews, relates to the idea that "we are born and die alone" and that "our body is our box". Commercial performance The album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard 200 with album sales of 266,000 in its first week, becoming the band's sixth consecutive album to top the chart. By the end of December 2012, the album had sold 458,000 copies. The album also peaked at the top of Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart, and reached No. 3 in Canada. The second single, "If Only", was also successful on the AAA chart, reaching number 11. Ritt considered primarily acoustic tracks such as "Sweet" and "Belly Full" to be among the album's highlights, saying that their stripped-back arrangements "unearth a simple truth: these are genuine craftsmen." Classic Rock praised "Mercy"'s "tender John Martyn soul", while saying "The Riff" "merits its title" and referring to "If Only" as "just lovely". AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine also gave the album a rating of four stars out of five. The Chicago Tribune also included the album in their list of the best releases of the year. ==Track listing==

Dave Matthews Band • Carter Beauford – drums, percussion, background vocals • Stefan Lessard – bass guitar, Rhodes • Dave Matthews – guitar, piano, lead vocals • Boyd Tinsley – violin • Tim Reynolds – electric and acoustic guitars • Rashawn Ross – trumpet, bass trumpet, flugelhorn, keyboards, background vocals • Jeff Coffin – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flute, alto flute Guest musicians • Roger Smith – Hammond organ • Youth Co-Op Choir – background vocals Production • Steve Lillywhite – producer, mixing • John Alagía – co-producer , additional recording • Daniel Piscina - mixing (track 9 and iTunes bonus live mixes) • Floyd Reitsma – engineer, mixing • Lars Fox – Pro Tools engineer • Steven Aguilar – assistant engineer • Michael H. Brauer – mixing • Ryan Gilligan – mix assistant and Pro Tools engineer • Justin Armstrong – additional engineering • Ted Jensen – mastering ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==References==