Yourself or Someone Like You – Matchbox Twenty’s Alternative Rock Debut

Track Listing
1. Real World
2. Long Day
3. 3 A.M.
4. Push
5. Girl Like That
6. Back 2 Good
7. Damn
8. Argue
9. Kody
10. Busted
11. Shame
12. Hang

Album Notes
Matchbox 20: Rob Thomas (vocals, acoustic guitar); Kyle Cook, Adam Gaynor (guitar, background vocals); Brian Yale (bass); Paul Doucette (drums).Recorded at Triclops Recording, Atlanta, Georgia.”Push” was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.Personnel: Rob Thomas (vocals, acoustic guitar); Kyle Cook (guitar); Amy K. Porter (flute); Ted Gurch (clarinet); Doug Smith (bass clarinet); Yvonne Powers (oboe); Elizabeth Burkhardt (bassoon); Matt Serletic (keyboards, percussion); Paul Doucette (drums).Audio Mixers: Greg Archilla; Matt Serletic.Recording information: Triclops Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA.Editor: Don C. Tyler.Photographers: Chris Cuffaro; Katrin Thomas.Unknown Contributor Roles: Elizabeth Burkhardt; Matt Serletic.Arranger: Matt Serletic.On YOURSELF OR SOMEONE LIKE YOU, Matchbox 20’s debut, vocalist/lyricist Rob Thomas leads his band down the same path as Counting Crows, to a post-Pearl Jam, Van Morrison/Band-influenced home at the top of the charts. Thomas’ raspy voice wraps a romanticized alienation around folky, roots-inflected rock tunes that share the thematic aspirations of Van circa TUPELO HONEY and The Band’s self-titled second album, if not their literary wisdom.Having lived through the grunge breakthrough, the Georgia quintet puts far more `oomph’ into their power-chords than those classic rockers ever could. Their best results–the melancholy description of an emotionally isolated lover on “3 AM,” the embittered daydream of “Real World,” even the upbeat don’t-give-a-damn rave-up “Girl Like That”–fit snugly on the same shelf as the aforementioned Crows and fellow crackers Collective Soul.