Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3/5 Released: October 2, 2007 Reviewer: Nathan Atnikov |
At the height of their popularity, there was nobody less exiled on mainstream radio than Matchbox Twenty. Ubiquitous hits like “3 am†and “Bent†were rivaled in popularity only by oxygen, and it seemed like you couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing Rob Thomas’ eyes deeply locked in soul-searching mode. Well, it’s been a couple of years, and Thomas has tried unsuccessfully to parlay the band’s success into a solo career, so it seems like an appropriate time for a career retrospective, no?
Two thirds of the album is an 11 song selection from their back catalogue, which displays wonderfully the immense improvement that the band went through over the course of their first three albums. The song writing gets increasingly more complex, and Thomas’ whining actually finds a little bit of direction by the time they get to “Unwell†and “Bright Lights.â€
Exile on Mainstream also includes six new tracks – none of which sound quite as powerfully radio-ready as their older material. The best of the bunch is “How Far We’ve Come,†on which Thomas sings about the end of the world, and how it affects him and only him.
Interesting to see how a band can take five years off, and seem like they never left.
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