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Rob Thomas Album - Something to Be [Australia Import]
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Something to Be [Australia Import] |
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Release Date:2005-11-22
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:Pop, Rock, Soft Pop
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Label:Melisma
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Explicit Lyrics:Yes
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UPC:9325583034374
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Review :
Since {$Matchbox Twenty} is a faceless group, recognizable for its hits rather than its image, it's easy to assume that the band is nothing more than a solo project in disguise for its frontman, lead singer and chief songwriter {$Rob Thomas} (who should not be confused with {$Rob Thomas}, the creator of {@UPN}'s 2005 cult TV series {#Veronica Mars}). Not only is he prominent in the band's videos and press, but he scored the biggest hit of his career with {&"Smooth,"} a song he penned and sung for {$Santana}'s 1999 comeback, {^Supernatural}. Even though {$Matchbox Twenty}'s 1996 debut, {^Yourself or Someone Like You}, was a big hit and spawned four radio hits, {&"Smooth"} was bigger than any of them, making {$Thomas} famous, if not exactly a star. Instead of striking out for a solo career in 2000, he returned to his band, releasing {^Mad Season} that year and {^More Than You Think You Are} two years later. While both records had different moods -- the former was polished and radio-ready, the latter hit a little harder -- both found {$Thomas} working as part of a unit, not as a flashy frontman. This may have illustrated how {$Matchbox Twenty} worked as a band; in particular, {^More Than You Think You Are} sounded like the work of a driven, cohesive unit, even the songs weren't quite up to snuff -- but they also had to sound a little workmanlike, and certainly not the product of the savvy cross-cultural crossover creator of {&"Smooth."} Given the relatively lackluster reception of {^More Than You Think You Are}, the timing was right for {$Thomas} to launch his official solo career in the spring of 2005. It was time to give his music a new coat of paint, similar to how {&"Smooth"} spun his career in a different direction, and that's exactly what his solo debut, {^Something to Be}, is: a slick new variation on {$Thomas}' signature sound. With its anthemic choruses and achingly sincere sentiments, {^Something to Be} is clearly the work of the lead {\singer/songwriter} of {$Matchbox Twenty}, yet it lacks the lean {\rock}-oriented sound of the group's albums, even if it is helmed by {$Matt Serletic}, who has produced all three of the band's records. {$Serletic} and {$Thomas} have made a conscious attempt to have this solo album feel lighter, brighter, and a little hipper than {$Matchbox Twenty}'s music, adding slight drum loops and {\electronic} elements to the rhythms while taking {$Thomas} away from strictly guitar-based arrangements. Heavy on keyboards, elastic guitars, horns, insistent rhythms, and even the occasional {\gospel}-inspired backing chorus or {\worldbeat} inflection, this is a far splashier affair than the average {$Matchbox Twenty} album, and that alone would make {^Something to Be} a noteworthy solo record, since it is indeed a different beast than {$Thomas}' regular gig, but the fresher sound is married to a strong set of songs that play to his strengths as a craftsman of big, anthemic post-{\alternative} mainstream {\rock}. This isn't edgy work by any means -- and for as hooky and chorus-driven as it is, it's music that becomes memorable through repeated plays, never quite catching hold upon the first listen -- but it's more colorful and well-constructed than a lot of contemporary mainstream {\rock} in the mid-2000s, and it's arguably more appealing than {$Matchbox Twenty}'s earnest {\guitar rock}, which can occasionally seem rather drab. With {^Something to Be}, {$Thomas} delivers an album that is at once familiar and fresh. It may not be something to win over the doubters, but it's enough to give him a promising new beginning to the second decade of his recording career, not unlike how {&"Smooth"} helped propel him through the {\post-grunge} fallout of the new millennium. [{@Melisma}'s 2005 Australian edition includes an additional bonus CD of remixes and extra tracks.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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![Rob Thomas Album - Something to Be [Australia Import]](http://www.sortmusic.com/covers_yaR/rob-thomas/2005_170_148_Something%2520to%2520Be%2520%255BAustralia%2520Import%255D.jpg "Rob Thomas Album - Something to Be [Australia Import]")