When Matchbox Twenty's first album became a hit, some critics lumped the band in with flash-in-the-pan rock acts of the day. What these early naysayers missed, of course, is that in vocalist Rob Thomas, Matchbox Twenty had one of the finest mainstream pop/rock songwriters in the business. Not only did Thomas rack up a string of hits with the Florida group, but he also co-penned "Smooth" from Santana's Grammy-winning 1999 comeback album, SUPERNATURAL.

With SOMETHING TO BE, his solo debut, Thomas pulls out all the stylistic stops, revealing that Matchbox Twenty's alternative-rock format provided a somewhat limited forum for his considerable talents. "Lonely No More" mixes an insistent dance beat with an insanely catchy chorus that sounds straight out of the boy-band textbook. The title track is a sly lyrical dig at poseurs of all stripes, backed by an 1980s electro-funk groove, while the burbling synths and Eastern percussion of "All That I Am" recall the world fusion experiments of Peter Gabriel and David Byrne. An ambitious effort by a guy who knows his way around a hit single, SOMETHING TO BE is the sound of an artist breaking out.

What the critics say...

Rolling Stone (p.72) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]he fare here is significantly spicier, with Latin and even funk undertones."