Review from CDNow
Matchbox Twenty went multi-platinum with its debut, Yourself or Someone Like You, but critics weren't as enraptured as fans with the band's Counting Crows-inspired brand of white-bread pop/rock. However, in between that disc and the long-awaited follow-up, Mad Season, Matchbox frontman Rob Thomas became a Grammy-winning songwriter for his work with the legendary Carlos Santana on the smash "Smooth."
As a result of that collaboration, Thomas is suddenly being taken seriously as a songwriter/artist and pushed more to the forefront of the band. You can never underestimate the power of attaching yourself to a legend. But was the success of that song a result of Thomas and songwriting partner Itaal Shur's genius or Santana's interpretation?

If Mad Season is any indication, the answer is emphatically the latter. There's no question that Thomas and his bandmates are capable of coming up with catchy hooks, such as on the uptempo rocker "Crutch," "Bent," the album's first single, and the strumming pop/folk of "Angry." But there's nothing lasting or substantive about the 12 tracks (plus one hidden one) that make up Mad Season.

And when the group does slow down the tempo and become more reflective, as on the overdone "If You're Gone," the group comes perilously close to such '70s power ballads as Nazareth's "Love Hurts" and 10CC's "I'm Not in Love." And the sing-song "Bed of Lies," which begins with a strong vocal over an organ sound, will remind many of the worst of Bon Jovi.

Matchbox Twenty does show room to grow, such as on the occasionally lovely "Rest Stop." Unfortunately the band's success will likely limit its growth. Many will take the attitude, "Look how many records they've sold; they don't need to grow." But as even the band is probably aware, record sales don't necessarily translate to longevity.
 
Review from Rolling Stone
That's more than 2.8 million records sold among the three of 'em -- not bad for bands treated by the press as the runts of the '97 breakthrough litter. Matchbox 20 won't like the comparison, but the gray strains of their barroom pop suggest an acrid, alt-rock Hootie and the Blowfish: tightly scripted songs with meaty-guitar choruses and a lead singer/songwriter, Rob Thomas, with country-soul aspirations. But there's too much complaint in Thomas' plaintiveness, and over an entire album his angst makes for, as the song goes, a long day.
Sugar Ray are rock 'n' rap polymaths, assured pros who get it on with radio-friendly effectiveness in every modern-rock genre: Beasties-style grind ("High Anxiety"), metal for your mutha ("RPM"), California-brand dance-hall reggae ("Fly," with toaster Super Cat). "Floored" even comes with the kind of wacky '80s-New Wave cover ("Stand and Deliver," by Adam and the Ants) that makes Morning Zoo DJs turn pink with delight. The cumulative effect of this overreach, though, is that "Floored" feels like an A&R strategy come to life, with all formats and bases covered.

"Fush Yu Mang" (rude-boy Esperanto for "Fuck You Man?") is no more serious than "Floored" but more fun -- if you think there's a place in the world for a band that has both Black Flag and Madness on the brain. Smash Mouth don't beat around the bush -- "Fuck it, let's rock" -- and rarely stray far from ska-thrash basics. But they could be onto something with the bubblegum funk of "Walkin' on the Sun." If you're gonna play dumb (like the miscast ska cover of War's "Why Can't We Be Friends"), why not do it with real flair?