Life is like a mean machine - it made a mess out of me...

Ah, the dreaded "Lead Singer Wants Out" syndrome. Since the beginning of Rock N Roll, even possibly to the big band era, there have been groups with success which invariably leads to the primary member deciding they should/can/will/whatever go on their own. You've got your Survivors, your Styx, your Kool & The Gangs. And most of the time it just results in the solo guy fading into pretty much obscurity, and the band evolving into a "nostalgic act" of what it once was (I'm looking at you, Journey). Well Rob Thomas had the luck to #1) have a band that no one really closely identified with anyway and #2) have a preliminary smash ("Smooth") that eclipsed anything the band has ever done. In fact if you look at the Matchbox Twenty website, it basically wasn't updated for a year, just now with a blurb about one of the other members stuff on ITunes.

Something To Be... became a smash, an anomaly of all the "band/singer" rules, being so far the only former band member to come out of the box at Number One. At this point, any one of his three singles is usually on rotation on some adult top 40 or vh1-type station now. The CD packs these three - "This Is How A Heart Breaks", "Lonely No More", and "Ever The Same" right at the start. Things are looking good. "This Is A How..." is a good driving angry song, and "Lonely No More" is a funky extension of "Smooth". "Ever The Same" is an ok ballad that seems more pensive than it actually is. It's good to hear good pop-rock music that doesn't have to act like either a punk or a satanist. Nothing's really here for you to really think about, but it's fun to bop right along to. From there it's unfortunately diminishing returns. "When The Heartache Ends" and the closer "Now Comes The Night" (sounding maybe a lot like Billy Joel's "And So It Goes") and two ballads that hold up pretty well, and everything else isn't horrible, but maybe a little too generic for some tastes. Trust me, a lot of people will like this album. My mom probably would. It doesn't seek to offend or stretch anything, and taken as a workman's album, it's not bad. It'll work coming from the speakers at Friday's.

Also, this came on DualDisc, which gives you the audio CD on one side, and DVD material on the other. The DVD content isn't much, a little camera work in the studio, info on his charity, and the album in DVD 5.1 surround sound, though it goes crazy when you try to play either side on the computer. Feh. almost got knocked off a grade for just that.

Grade: B-
Best Cuts: This Is How A Heart Breaks, Lonely No More