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(More customer reviews)Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty fame proves himself a winner in his own right with his first album on Melisma/Atlantic records in a DualDisc format. Rob's voice is strong, masculine, propulsive and dynamic-yet beautiful and even vulnerable sounding at times. Some have already written that this CD is an uneven set of tracks without a solid base or theme-but they are wrong. This album rocks! Rob successfully experiments with several types of musical arrangements and themes about love and general inner peace and happiness on this album. The experiment succeeds and leaves you with a collection of catchy songs that you'll want to listen to over and over again! When I first heard it I was extremely impressed with how well the album held my attention and how strong Rob's voice was. Although Rob has been quoted as saying this is a CD full of songs in the styles of "latin/funk/soul/blues," the combination and the way the songs are arranged is extremely pleasing to the ear and not at all out of control as one writer implied.
The CD starts off strong with "This Is How A Heart Breaks." The song has a catchy beat with an excellent musical arrangement. Rob displays REAL emotion while this song rocks! The title track, "Something To Be," starts with an eclectic musical intro-good guitar! Here Rob sings about a man who is looking for "something to be"-a song of pain and the natural need for machismo-not to mention the general human need to feel important. "Streetcorner Symphony" has an excellent guitar intro as well. This song has a certain feeling not unlike some songs The Grateful Dead performed-very soulful and at the same time very positive. This is a song that's full of hope for overall inner peace, harmony with others and an exciting love.
Then of course there's the hit song "Lonely No More." "Lonely No More" is only the second song ever on the Adult Top 40 chart to boast over 1,000 plays in a single week. As of this writing "Lonely No More" had already reached #1 in Canada as well as hitting the No 2 spot in the U.S. this week at Adult Top 40/Hot AC. The song also hit #13 at CHR/Pop-and all this before the CD was even released! WOW!
The CD ends with "Now Comest The Night." It has a beautiful piano intro, and this is a beautiful love song which ends the CD side of the album in a very touching way.
Note that this is a relatively new type of product which is called a "DualDisc" CD. Once you listen to the songs on one side of the disc, you turn it over to see some DVD footage! There's some great footage and one highlight is definitely the behind the scenes documentary by filmmaker Gillian Grisman entitled "In Session." This shows the recording and songwriting sessions for the CD. You even get a photo gallery and lyrics! A nice plus.
In my opinion, Rob's work is enhanced even further by his teaming up with other artists on this CD. Look for Wendy Melvoin from Prince & the Revolution; she's on board as a steel guitarist here. Some of Dr. Dre's band show up (I'll let you find out who!) and John Mayer helps out on guitar. Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) performs here, too. There are several people performing background vocals on this CD including Dan Tyminski, Harley Allen, Matt Serletic, Matt Beck, Great Anointing and Pat Enright. The arrangements are smart and very well thought out; there's even a shofar-a Jewish musical instrument, played by Frank London! Very eclectic, imaginative, and bold.
All in all, you can't go wrong with this solo debut from Rob Thomas. The CD is an impressive first solo effort and if this is a sign of things to come, I can only wonder how much longer we have to wait for the NEXT Thomas CD!
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As the lead singer to the multi-platinum group matchbox 20, Rob Thomas penned a remarkable string of chart-topping hits. Rob has also collaborated with a select list of artists-most notably Santana, for whom he wrote and sang the smash pop single, "Smooth," which earned Thomas three Grammy Awards.
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