Published on Nov 28, 1998
I have to be one of the few people left in the United States who
has yet to buy a copy of Matchbox 20’s
Yourself Or Someone Like You. All I know about the band are
the two songs I’ve heard played to death on the radio.
So, that actually puts me in a great position to listen to a
band like Tabitha’s Secret, whose album
Don’t Play With Matches was released earlier this year. If
some of the song titles sound familiar, they should — “3 a.m.” and
“Forever December” come to mind. And if the band sounds familiar,
they should — these were the demos of the band who would become
Matchbox 20. (There are some legal issues between the two bands,
which I’m not even going to try and decipher, but it’s enough to
say that there are line-up differences between the two bands. For
more information, visit the
Tabitha’s Secret
Web site.)
If the songs on
Don’t Play With Matches are any indication of what Matchbox
20 is capable of, then I can now say that I’m interested. Of the
eleven songs on this disc (including two versions of “3 a.m.” and
“Forever December” and a hidden track at the end of the album),
there is a lot of solid music that shows how talented this band was
so early in their career.
Of the songs featured, the one that captures my attention the
most is “Dear Joan,” a song about an abusive drug addict whose
power and message scare the shit out of me. The vocal delivery by
Rob Thomas on this track is incredibly moving while staying
subdued, and while this doesn’t have the subject matter to be a hit
single, it’s just as good – if not better – than the two songs the
re-named band has become known for.
This isn’t to say that other songs on
Don’t Play With Matches are any less enjoyable. Tracks like
“Paint Me Blue,” “Unkind” and “Jesus Was An Alien” all hold up
well, and demonstrate the ability that this band had before their
big break. Likewise, the “hidden” track (whose name I have not been
able to find out) shows that Tabitha’s Secret was a band destined
for fame in short time.
You might question why there are two versions of two songs
included on this album, but after listening to them, it does make
sense to me. Over the course of each version of “3 a.m.” and
“Forever December,” you can hear some level of growth in the band,
whether it’s a change in a certain guitar line or it’s the addition
of harmony vocals to the mix, each version has it’s own highlights
and peculiarities. (I still like the “hit single” version of “3
a.m.” the best, but this could be because it’s the first version I
knew.
I don’t know if the members of Matchbox 20 are happy or angry
that this album has seen the light of day. I do hope they’ve
embraced its release; it is a fine example of the musical
capabilities of a young, up-and-coming band who knew their time was
just around the corner. This one will take some searching for, but
it’s worth the effort.