1. Angry
2. Black & White People
3. Crutch
4. Last Beautiful Girl
5. If You're Gone
6. Mad Season
7. Rest Stop
8. Burn, The
9. Bent
10. Bed Of Lies
11. Leave
12. Stop
13. You Won't Be Mine
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Sell 10 million copies of your debut album and you might find yourself putting
on a few airs. Evidence that it's happened to matchbox twenty can be found in
the new, spelled-out format of their all-lowercased name and the pretentious insertion
of that name into the title of this, their sophomore set. The level of popularity
achieved by their 1996 debut, Yourself
or Someone Like You, posed a more profound problem, though--should they
follow in the footsteps of that smash effort, or strike out in a different direction?
To their credit, the Orlando quintet puts their massive popularity on the line
by opting mostly for the latter course: there are no obvious retreads here of
earlier hits such as "Push," "3 a.m.," and "Real World"--or of "Smooth," the multiple-Grammy-winning
Santana hit penned and sung by matchbox frontman Rob Thomas. Instead, the album
sports a nice mix of material that is catchy, but may take a little longer to
settle into your memory banks, such as the moody yet intense "Bent," the horn-driven
rocker "Black & White People," and several songs examining various aspects
of relationships, "If You're Gone," "Rest Stop," and "Bed of Lies." Whatever the
members of matchbox twenty want to call themselves, these guys may yet be able
to have it all--artistic growth as well as massive sales. They're not headed for
Hootieville just yet. --Daniel Durchholz
