Matchbox Twenty
Mad Season By Matchbox Twenty (Melisma/Lava/Atlantic)
Among the problems with 10-million-selling debut albums is that they give the guys who make them the license to act like rock stars. Witness the bloated, so-grandiose-it-creeks follow-up to Matchbox Twenty’s relatively modest 1996 album, “Yourself or Someone Like You.” That earlier disc was founded on simple, ultra-catchy folk-rock melodies and Rob Thomas’ regular-guy vocals. Then Thomas upped the ante by co-writing Santana’s 1999 comeback hit, “Smooth.” But on “Mad Season,” the singer caves under the weight of expectation. He tries so hard to be everything to everyone–sensitive guy obsessing over every bad relationship he ever had, tough guy with a chip on his shoulder, rock-star guy with a supermodel on his arm–that he’s never persuasive in any role. For all its additional baggage, including strings and horns, the music lacks punch, and it rarely rocks. Ballads dominate, and a huge sophomore slump beckons.
