Rob Thomas-…Something To Be (WWWW) (Atlantic/Warner)
For Matchbox 20 fans, there has
been quite a wait for proper new material. The band’s last LP, “More Than You
Think You Are”, was released in late 2002, and, while they released an EP a
year later and a concert DVD the year afterwards, it was hardly enough to stem
the tide. New material was needed, and now.
Enter Rob Thomas, the band’s
lead singer. Following the heels of a successful single alongside guitar
virtuoso Carlos Santana with “Smooth” in 1999 (which he wrote), and with the
band officially on “hiatus”, Thomas decided to pursue his own solo material.
The results were 2005’s “…Something To Be” (perhaps a reference to Britney
Spears’ first album because of the dots?), and they’re pretty impressive.
Playing mostly to his fanbase
(unlike other solo acts who try to distance themselves from their band),
“…Something To Be” comes out as a kind of a softer version of Matchbox 20, with
trumpets and the like replacing the distortion used on the band’s records.
However, none of the songs sacrifice Thomas’ trademark scowl nor do they
sacrifice the band’s energy, things that arguably have made Matchbox 20 the
success story that they are today, and while it may disappoint some that this
may be too close to Matchbox 20 for comfort, it’s the band’s influence that
makes this album a winner.
The album starts off with the
rather angry songs “This Is How A Heart Breaks” and the first single, “Lonely
No More”, both being extremely energetic songs where Thomas’ anger comes right
out. “This is it now/Everybody get down/This is all I can take/This is how a
heart breaks” Thomas snarls, all while long-time Matchbox 20 collaborator (and
producer here) Matt Serletic’s keyboards come in full gusto. In “Lonely No
More”, a rather defiant Thomas states that he’s going to find a girl at all
costs, saying that he won’t stand for another heartbreak. However, this isn’t
to say that Thomas is just a bitter man- the final song, the ballad “Now Comes
The Night”, is a reflective soul-searcher, where Thomas turns his anger into
pensiveness and gives his rather expressive voice the limelight. The only
instruments here are Thomas’ piano and Serletic’s keyboards, which combine to
make one of 2005’s best ballads.
The best song here though is the
title track, where Thomas sums up his musings on love in a mixture of
assertiveness and reflective-ness on a mid-tempo beat. Here, Thomas, in one of
his finest lyrical moments, muses in the second verse: “Hey man/Play another
one of those heartbreak songs/Tell another story of how things go wrong/And
they never get back/My pain is a platinum stack/Take that s*** back/You don’t
wanna be me when it all goes wrong.” Later Thomas- perhaps writing about his
life in general- starts to re-evaluate his life, stating “I can’t stand what
I’m starting to be/I can’t stand the people I’m starting to need.” It’s all
delivered with the most energy found on this album and comes across as one of
2005’s better songs.
Overall, “…Something To Be” is a
winner. There are a few problems with it, namely that it may take a while for
it to “sink in” and that it may be a little too “Matchbox 20”-ish for some, but
fans of the band and of Thomas should not be disappointed. Neither too, should
most of the AC or pop crowd, or maybe even most of the music world in general-
it’s just that good. For a music world perhaps starved for a definitive hit
(especially after the bomb that was Mariah Carey’s album), Thomas not only
delivers- he soars.
-DG