Episode 10: Matchbox Twenty - 'Exile on Mainstream'

This review is guaranteed to be a hot one (Via Youtube)

This week promises to be a pretty short recap and review, so I'm gonna dive right in.

Matchbox Twenty - Exile on Mainstream

Genres: Alternative rock, pop rock, post-grunge

Producer(s): Steve Lillywhite, Matt Serletic

RYM Rating: 3.34/5 (189 ratings, ranked 1/5* in band's catalog)

Sputnik Rating: 3.5/5 (124 ratings, ranked 2/5* in band's catalog)

Weeks at #1: One (Week of October 20, 2007)

Other Accomplishments: Certified Gold in U.S. in Canada, Platinum in New Zealand, 3 times Platinum in Australia; "How Far We've Come" reached #11 on Billboard Hot 100

You'll see asterisks above in the album's ranking because it's not really a studio album. It's a compilation album that includes both old and new material, so it's a bit unfair to rank it head-to-head with the band's studio LPs.

Exile on Mainstream is a two disc album. The first disc is Matchbox Twenty's first new material since 2002, coming back from a brief hiatus. The second disc is a greatest hits album collecting the biggest singles from the band's first three albums.

That's right, Matchbox Twenty released a greatest hits album based off of only three albums' worth of material. And it's all Matchbox Twenty. No solo Rob Thomas was included. It's all just the band's material. 

I was a little shocked when I saw that they released a greatest hits record with so few full-length releases, but I forgot just how huge Matchbox Twenty was from 1996-2002. Yourself or Someone Like You alone went Platinum twelve times. Then Mad Season went Quadruple Platinum and More Than You Think You Are went Double Platinum.

Those millions and millions of album sales came almost all from the strength of the band's singles. There are 11 tracks on the greatest hits portion of the record, and they're all legitimate hits. There aren't any cop-outs. The only song here you can really argue not being a surefire hit is their first single "Long Day," which was a minor hit in Australia and Canada, but didn't have the impact of what came after.

The other ten songs, though? All of them were top 10 hits on the US Adult Top 40 chart. They also did exceptionally well on the Hot 100, Adult Alternative Songs and Top 40 charts, as well as doing well overseas.

It's probably nice that all these huge singles were collected into one convenient place, because Matchbox Twenty's albums live and die with the singles. There are some okay tunes on the back half of Yourself or Someone Like You, but nobody would blame you for turning the album off after "Back 2 Good." The four songs on Mad Season after "Bent" might as well not exist either. Likewise for the four tracks on More Than You Think You Are after "Downfall."

Rob Thomas and co. were really good at making huge anthemic singles. I'll turn a stereo all the way up and shout along any time "3 A.M." comes on. "Back 2 Good," "Long Day" and "Bright Lights" all rule years later. Even songs I feel are a bit weaker like "Push," "Bent" and "Unwell" still have places in my heart on sheer nostalgic value. They sucked at making full albums. So a greatest hits album works well for a band like this, even if it was maybe a bit premature.

But Exile is more than just those greatest hits. The first disc is entirely new material that hadn't been heard before. So how does the band's first material since its hiatus stack up to those hits? Fine, I guess.

"How Far We've Come" is the big hit of the album. It peaked at No. 11 on the Hot 100 Chart and No. 3 on the Adult Top 40. But it doesn't grab me like the band's earlier tracks do. It's an undoubtedly catchy track about evaluating yourself and your actions at the "end of the world" (or most likely, end of a relationship), but it's not Thomas' best composition.

I'm much bigger on the next two tracks. The chipper-sounding "I'll Believe You When" has some nice chimes and "whoa-oh" harmonies as Thomas promises a girl that if she takes him back, this time will be different, he swears. The opening "ba da da da da" chorus that starts "All Your Reasons" is obnoxious and reminds me of a bad pop punk song, but the song won me back with some undeniable melodies, and the background singing won me over by the end.

"Can't Let You Go" is a nice love song with some cool retro soul influence. It's not exactly original and others were doing this kind of stuff much better at the time, but it's a nice closer. "These Hard Times" and "If I Fall" don't stand out much, but they're fine enough for Matchbox Twenty deep cuts.

The disc is only six songs that barely break 20 minutes, which is a bit of a blessing for the band. Their full-length releases tend to overstay their welcome once you're past with the singles, so it's a good call to cut it short.

Maybe the band realized that they're a singles band and deliberately kept this one short, and then tacked on the greatest hits as a bit of a bonus disc because people would rather hear "3 A.M." for the millionth time than deal with 30 minutes of the Matchbox Twenty songs that don't get played on the radio. 

More likely, the band included this as a package deal because overall the singles aren't as strong as their first three albums and thus this one wouldn't sell as well if there weren't more of a hook for buyers. As pleasant as some of the tunes are, and despite the new stuff being sequenced before the retrospective portion, the new material feels like more of the afterthought. It's an okay listen, but it's immediately overshadowed because it doesn't hold up to the older, bigger hits.

Chris' Final Rating: 5/10

Chris' Definitive Matchbox Twenty Rankings

1. Yourself or Someone Like You (1996)

2. More Than You Think You Are (2002)

3. Mad Season (2000)

4. Exile on Mainstream (2007) - judging new material only

5. North (2012)

Later This Week: We'll be tryin' different things, and we'll be reviewin' funny things, like Kid Rock's hit album Rock n Roll Jesus.