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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: matchbox twenty

  • First Listen: Rob Thomas “Her Diamonds”

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    I, like everyone else, got sick of Matchbox 20 real fast. Hearing “Push” and “3 AM” at all hours of the day and night wore me to pieces. It got even worse when Rob paired up with Carlos Santana for “Smooth”, which won a bajillion Grammy Awards and was #1 for, like, a year. Then something happened.

    Rob improved by leaps and bounds as a singer and a songwriter. Matchbox’s second and third albums were superior examples of pop songcraft, and Thomas started to sound…almost soulful. Then, inevitably, Thomas went solo. His debut album “…Something to Be”, had a few nice ballads, but his songwriting wasn’t always on the “A” game (it’s still worth getting if you can find it cheap). He returned to his band for a greatest hits album, and now he’s back for solo Round 2.

    The new album’s called “Cradlesong”, it comes out June 30th, and if you hear Rob tell it, will have some sort of experimental flair to it. He mentioned Paul Simon’s “Rhythm of the Saints” as an influence, which made me shudder a little bit, but I think as long as he doesn’t lose his gift for melody, he’ll at least be worth checking out. Anyway, the first single is called “Her Diamonds”, and while it’s not “If You’re Gone” or “Bright Lights” or “Ever the Same”, it’s still pretty decent. Check it out.


  • At The Wrecka’ Sto’: 10/2/2007 Edition

    Wow-I completely forgot what the date was. Get out of the summer and the days all run together. At any rate, there’s nothing that compares to last week’s onslaught of new releases. Actually, the entire month of October looks kind of quiet in regards to things that I would actually like, but there is a pretty good amount of stuff hitting shelves today.

    BRUUUUUUCE: Mr. Springsteen is back, although quite honestly, he never left. Didn’t The Seeger Sessions come out last year? Anyway, this time he’s brought the E Street Band with him and their album is called Magic. First single Radio Nowhere is pretty awesome, and it’s nice to hear Bruce and company rockin’ again after taking a little detour to be folky.

    Welcome Back: A couple of hit artists are returning after fairly lengthy absences. Annie Lennox is back after four years with the intriguingly titled Songs of Mass Destruction. It was produced by Glen Ballard, who has been behind the boards for artists ranging from Dave Matthews Band to Alanis Morissette to Michael Jackson. Annie’s long been a proponent of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, so her albums have retained a remarkable consistency. Meanwhile, matchbox twenty, who have been dormant for almost half a decade, are back with Exile on Mainstream, a double album that features one disc of their greatest hits (as if you don’t know Unwell by heart) and one disc of new material.

    Gimme The Hits!: From Exile On Mainstream to the guy that made Exile On Main Street, The Very Best of Mick Jagger arrives in stores today. Considering the man never really made much of an impact as a solo artist, I’m quite curious to see what was included on this compilation. There will be no such worries on Faith Hill’s The Hits, which will feature #1s like This Kiss and There You’ll Be along with her many duets with her smokin’ hot hubby Tim McGraw.

    R&B (Rhythm & Bonin’): R&B’s creative freefall comes partially (well, mostly) from the fact that many of the artists making soul music nowadays sound so similar. Ordinarily, I would have a bit of a problem telling Trey Songs apart from J. Holiday, but Holiday has one of the most addictive singles out right now with Bed, which basically follows this formula:

    Rihanna’s Umbrella + Prince’s Do Me, Baby X hip-hop influence.

    I’ll probably download the single from iTunes and bypass the album, but hell, what a single. Anyway, both artists have albums coming out today, but I will forgo them in favor of newcomer Kevin Michael, who has gotten a lot of press (allegedly, his sound is Prince meets Robin Thicke) and at the very least has a really cool Afro.

    A full list of today’s new releases can be found here:

    http://www.pauseandplay.com/02october2007.htm

    Happy shopping!!

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  • R-Tel Way Better Than K-Tel

    Rob Thomas, who still insists matchbox twenty (or however we’re spelling it this year) is an ongoing enterprise, is ready to be a music mogul. Having already proven that he can write a hook better than any other songwriter this decade, that’s probably a good call for Thomas’ Sony BMG Epic backer.

    The new label is called RTel Records, which is too retro for words. The label’s first signing is Garfield Mayor. Remember Garfield’s name. We’ll be profiling him on the main site when he cuts his tracks, but you can listen to some nice low-key alt sounds. The vocal dynamics are reminiscent of Thomas at times, but as Garfield’s page points out, there are a lot of sounds in there, including David Gray, Ben Harper and Paul Simon. All good there and I definitely hear some David Gray, but like Thomas, Garfield apparently can rip into a song, listing Zeppelin and Foo Fighters as well.

    Take a listen at his MySpace page for now and enjoy. I’m putting in an advance order with the man himself.

    Spinning In The CD
    Check out Shop Boyz and Party Like A Rock Star. If anything has summer hit written on it, this may be the one. Go explicit. We double dog dare you.