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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Rob Thomas

  • 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.


  • 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.