As a 90’s kid Yourself or Someone Like You is one of those albums you knew was big when you were growing up but never fully completely grasped just how popular it was until you do a quick review on Wikipedia two decades later. To this day it stands as one of the Top 100 best-selling albums in the history of the United States, which is an even more incredible accomplishment when you remember it was released three years before lead singer Rob Thomas paired up with Santana in 1999 and quite literally took over the world for a few months with the hit single “Smooth” off Santana’s album Supernatural.
Thomas is the star on Yourself or Someone Like You. As soon as “Real World” kicks in you immediately know this is a Rob Thomas track, both because of his gravelly vocal style which is as immediately recognizable as the day is long, as well as the fact that the man has never met a single word where he didn’t try to fit at least three notes into it. He seriously can’t get enough of it. This is actually a singing technique called melisma, which draws its origins from the Jewish religion and reading from the Torah, and was made especially popular in the 80’s with the rise of stars like the legendary Whitney Houston and iconic Celine Dion. In colloquial terms it’s basically just a vocal run, and Thomas hammers those things at the end of his phrases like it’s going out of fashion.
Matchbox 20 has that distinct flavor late-90’s alternative was known for, that post-grunge world where alternative rock was basically a collection pop songs that were a little rough around the edges. Lyrics like “She swears that the moon don’t hang quite as high as it used to” have that distinctly 90’s vibe of being a unique observation that doesn’t really mean anything when you actually sit down and think about it. It’s first-rate fecklessness and I kinda low-key love it.
Yourself or Someone Like You is an album carried by its lead singles and Thomas’ unmistakable vocal approach, an iconic mainstream 90’s album if there ever was one.
Standout Songs: “Real World”, “3AM”, “Push”
