If it weren’t for the fact that just by chance a CD belonging to BJEEE got stuck to my nasty grubby little fingers, I probably would not know about Matchbox Twenty. Matchbox Twenty are a US band that plays a mellow type of weird stuff that I can only describe as brilliant music. It really does put you into the mood for whatever you are doing, be it working, trying to get to sleep, or preparing for a night out on the tiles.

Their latest offering titled ‘Mad Season’ is their second album following on from their first exceptional album, ‘ Yourself or someone like you’, which has a hilarious picture of what I perceive a typical American trailer trash idiot to look like.

The band consists of five members, (all male) Rob Thomas, doing vocals, piano, and acoustic guitar, Kyle Cook, with lead guitar and vocals, Adam Gaynor (no relation to Gloria, I think), with rhythm guitars and vocals again, Brian Yale as the bassist and the only member of the band who doesn’t sing, so he must play a great bass guitar, and he does, Paul Doucette on drums, percussion and vocals.

‘Mad Season’ has a collection of thirteen songs, and runs for approximately 50minutes, like many other new albums nowadays it also contains a secret song tacked onto the end of the CD, and is well worth waiting to listen to.

‘Angry’, This is an excellent chill-out song that soon becomes a bit of an up tempo tune, and really does get you head and feet going. Supposedly the song is all about getting over somebody, and the fact that you can’t conceal your feeling for somebody, but I might be reading more into it that is really there, so please don’t quote me.

‘Black & White People’ Another great foot tapping song, with a great melody and again I feel about emotions and reading them.

‘Crutch’ This song opens with a great electric guitar rift, and them flows brilliantly in
to a mixture of heavy and mellow verses. It’s all about being at the bottom, and not wanting to go any further down the chain. It truly is a brilliant song, and is one of my favourites on the album.

‘Last Beautiful Girl’ Yet another great song, and perhaps pulls at the heart strings of all of us blokes out there. It tells the story of a beautiful girl who breaks the mans heart, and he sees sense and wouldn’t take her back for all the tea in China.

‘If You’re Gone’ Probably one of the most relaxing songs on the album, and starts with a mixture of a soft drum beat, electronic keyboards (?), and acoustic guitar, that flows into a slow tempo tune. It’s about splitting up, but wishing that you hadn’t, a good song but one of the best for cheering you up on the album.

‘Mad Season’ Being the title for the album you would have to expect an exceptional song and you are not disappointed. Yet another slow tempo song, but in a slightly heavier style, it combines the voices of all of the vocalists brilliantly in the choruses. Its one of those ‘pick you up’, songs that makes you glow inside, and is as you might have guessed one of my favourite songs on the album.

‘Rest Stop’ This song is all about getting dumped by a girl, a bummer at the best of times, but in the song its because you haven’t really done anything wrong, but she’s getting a bit bored so you’ve got to go. Its yet another slow tempo song, that has a catchy beat to it, and makes you feel bad for the poor sod whose just got dumped.

‘The Burn’ This catchy little song is great for just sitting and listening to, and following the example set down to you in the song of, not being bothered.

‘Bent’ On the front cover of the box, it says that ‘Bent’ is their smash hit single, however until I swiped the CD of their first album I had
never heard of them, And definitely cant remember them being on top of the pops! Never the less it is a great song, and starts of as one of their heaviest intros, with brief splashes of electric guitars and heavy beets. It’s another feel good song and is great for getting you up in the morning and ready to face the day. With great beats, and great vocals it’s another of my favourite songs on the album.

‘Bed of Lies’ Ok now I’m running out of different things to say about the songs but this one again has a soft melody and is again about trials of the heart. Whilst writing this it I’ve just noticed that a part of it sounds a lot like ‘Savage Garden’, which has just pushed them down in my estimation. But great news it gets better later on in the song and they don’t sound like them anymore.

‘Leave’ Its one of their longest songs on the album, but sadly not one of their best, again soft melodies, and a sad story to the song, which brings me to the assumption that they are all manic depressives, who have had a bad time with relationships. However in the thanks at the back they all mention happy partners, so perhaps the depression is only a part time thing.

‘Stop’ A great little heavier song with a brilliant beat, and for some strange reason the intro reminds me of Mexico, a bit strange, and its only the first three bars, but I’m a bit weird like that so I apologise. Its one of the few up tempo songs on the album, and gets you in the mood to go out as get slaughtered in your local hostelry.

‘You Wont Be Mine’ the last song on the album, but definitely not the worst, its slow tempo gets you thinking about the words and what they mean. The piano in the background at the beginning makes the song for me, and when it erupts into the strings bit, you could imagine the band playing in a smoke filled theatre somewhere with a huge orchestra behind the
m, and Paul Doucette dwarfed by a huge pair of timpani drums, brilliant ending to a brilliant album.

You can get ‘Mad Season’ from just about all decent music stores, and HMV (not saying that they are decent), were selling it in the 2-4-£22 deal that was running a few days ago, however I do believe that its normal retail price is £13.99,so get down there and buy a copy. For the cyber geeks out there you can also purchase both albums from ‘Amazon’, where you have the added bonus of being able to hear before you buy some snippets from the album.

You can also check out their web site, for information on the band and their fan club by going to, matchboxtwenty.com or by slow mail, (i.e. writing, Europe only) to Club Matchboxtwenty, Dept. info, P.O. Box 11306, London, WC1E 7AJ, England.

For those who noticed and are wondering about the secret song tacked onto the end of the album, I will leave that one a mystery but believe me it is worth checking out.

So now you all have no excuses to plead ignorant when Matchbox Twenty gets mentioned down the pub, because I’ve just told you what they are all about.