A CROCIDILE JUST BIT MY FINGER!!! (Yourself Or Someone Like You - Matchbox Twenty)

Member Name: shanecahill

Product:	Yourself Or Someone Like You - Matchbox Twenty
Date:	07/09/01 (106 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Outstanding vocals, Great songs

Disadvantages: Busted is not good

Oh no, sorry it's just my keyboard. Oh yes opinion.

Matchbox 20 are:
Lead vocals : Rob Thomas
Lead guitar : Kyle Cook
Rhythm guitar : Adam Gaynor
Bass : Brian Yale
and Drums : Paul Doucette.

Now that you feel like friends with Matchbox 20 we can get on with the review.

Real World kicks off with a catchy riff and a flurry of drums, followed closely by Rob Thomas' very American voice, sometimes growly, always amazing. Anyone who knows Santana's Smooth will have heard it, as he does lead vocals. This song is lively, catchy and the chorus ends with a line we can all relate to "I wish the real world would just stop hassling me". So true.

Long Day starts off with soft guitar backed up again by Rob, and after a few seconds bursts into life with strong guitar and huge vocals once more. Has a slight religious theme, but you wouldn't even notice it without reading the lyrics as the chorus is nothing more than a jumble of words. Another great lyric in the bridge of this song is "Reach down your hand in your pocket, pull out some hope for me". Short but sweet.

3 am, I believe was another single. I've always felt sorry for this song, just as I do for Airbag on Radiohead's OK Computer as people flick track to move onto better tracks, in Radiohead's case the masterpiece that is Paranoid Android, and in this case Push. Having said that, this is a perfectly enjoyable track with little guitar riffs every now and then and an incredible chorus. Yet it just doesn't have the power of...

Push, possibly the best song on the album. Incredibly emotional vocals, backed only by strumming guitar lead into the chorus which has such a charge it's hard not to love it. Just before the last chorus there is a drum roll that is good I just can't help playing air drums. I can listen to this track a hundred times a day and not get bored. Just outstanding, one of my favo
urite songs of all time.

Girl Like That has a quick guitar lead-in before giving way to Rob shouting his way through the track backed only by occasional strong guitar strums. Another one of the outstanding chorus which make Matchbox 20 really worth listening to. Not far off the best tracks on the album.

Back 2 Good is the longest track on the album at 5:40 and easily one of the best. Very slow, with another remarkable showing on vocals once more. Slightly sad with a little chorus of na-on-ha which looks stupid but sounds exceptionally good. Near the end of the song the vocals turn growly, and makes the song extremely noteworthy. Excellent.

Damn has a slow kick of drums with laid-back vocals and a slight edge to the chorus, that nudges it ahead of a lot of the tracks on the album though far simpler than most of the songs on the album. It has a slight attempt at a guitar solo, but guitar is never meant to be the strong point of Matchbox 20. Not too shabby a song all together.

Argue is short and extremely similar to some of the other songs on the album, except for a chorus which really makes an otherwise plain song. I usually miss this song when I'm listening to the album. I get quite a strong whiff of filler off this track, never a good sign.

Kody makes up for it. Smooth, casual and beautiful, this is definitely one of the high points of the album. it also has my favourite lyric from the album which goes like this : ""And there it is, and there it was, now it was clear to all of us, we kept this hat of broken dreams and we pulled them out, when we needed them around" Sheer brilliance, a prime example of the sort of music that stands Matchbox 20 apart from other bands.

Busted is my least favourite song off the album. Completly out of place and out of charcacter, this is Matchbox's attempt at a rock song. It fails miserably. I'm just thankful that they realised on the second album that they
are not a rock band, and do not attempt another song of this calibre. Let's move quickly on to...

Shame is another slow song, a great reminder what Matchbox 20 of do best after the horrible Busted. the band let the voice of Rob Thomas take over again to add that little bit of magic into a song which might be quite dull under another singer's vocals. Also it sounds like he's saying Shane. Always wins point with me, have you ever heard the Pixie's Debaser? He says it there in the chorus (-; But enough nonsense on to the last track.

Hang represents for me everything I love in a song, a strong vocalists, great lyrics and acoustic guitar, keeping it simple and emerging the other end with another masterpiece to your credit. Superb.

This album has one or two songs which might have been better left out altogether yet they also have one or two songs which deserve far greater recognition. This is definitely worth a look. Any other Matchbox 20 fans out there? Please comment and tell me which album you prefer, for me this one just nudges ahead.

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