''The Great Unknown'' is the third solo studio album by the

Matchbox Twenty Matchbox Twenty (also known as Matchbox 20 and MB20) is an American rock band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995. The group currently consists of Rob Thomas (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Brian Yale (bass guitar), Paul Doucette (drums, r ...

lead singer Rob Thomas, released on August 21, 2015, through

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. Its

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

, "Trust You", premiered on ''

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s website on May 29, 2015.

Critical reception

''The Great Unknown'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At

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, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 69 based on 4 reviews. In a positive review,

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described the record as, "an album that deliberately side-steps many of Thomas' signature moves while still sounding unmistakably like him." ''

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s Sarah Rodman wrote that on ''The Great Unknown'', the singer continues his career of composing, "catchy melodies, lyrics straightforward in their universality, and crisp production". According to her, "Thomas is either becoming a stronger, more nuanced singer or continuing to learn how to write in a way that more effectively displays the various facets of his voice." In a more mixed review, Chuck Arnold of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' wrote, "Rob Thomas remains a known quantity on his third solo album. While that means there aren't many surprises, the good news is he's still the same consummate pop-rock craftsman who has been making it all sound so smooth for years." Jim Farber of ''

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'' was more critical towards the album's composition and lyrics: "The songs offer few individualized lyrical details, and no consistent themes, to pin on a particular person. The arrangements, likewise, have a slick adaptability that makes these songs serviceable cover material for any pop star of the hour."

Track listing

Personnel

* Aidean Abounasseri – acoustic guitar, electric guitar * Alex Arias – beat box,

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mus ...

, synthesizer * Yonatan Ayal – drum programming * Glenn Berger –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

* Ruth Ann-Cunningham – background vocals * Ryan Dragon – trombone * Christian Dugas – background vocals * Sarah Dugas – background vocals *

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative charact ...

– background vocals *

Shep Goodman Shep Goodman is an American New York–based multi-platinum record producer, songwriter, and musician. He got his start in the music industry, by fronting the Elektra Records signed rock-act, Coward. After the disbandment of the band, he start ...

– drum programming, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, background vocals * La Tanya Hall – background vocals * James Hovorka – trumpet *

Victor Indrizzo Victor Indrizzo (born September 23, 1967) is an American session musician, primarily known for playing the drums, as well as a songwriter and producer. Indrizzo was born in Freeport, Long Island, New York. He has toured, recorded and worked wit ...

– drums, percussion * Bunny Knutson – choir * Jason Lader – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards,

modulator In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...

, piano, drum programming, synthesizer strings, synthesizer * Adam MacDougal – keyboards *

Ray Parker Jr. Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song to the 1984 film '' Ghostbusters''. Previously, Parker achieved a US top-10 h ...

– electric guitar * Brent Paschke – bass guitar, drum programming, synthesizer *

Tim Pierce Tim Pierce (born 1959 in Albuquerque) is an American session guitarist. He has worked for artists such as Joe Cocker, Crowded House, Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Jackson, Beth Hart, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper, Johnny Hallyday, Phil Collins, and the ...

– electric guitar *

Ricky Reed Eric Burton Frederic (born July 23, 1982), known professionally as Ricky Reed, is an American artist, music producer, singer, songwriter, and founder of Nice Life Recording Company. From 2005 to 2014, Reed was also known as Wallpaper. Early w ...

– drum programming * Elijah Samuels –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

Matt Serletic Matthew Michael Serletic II (born 1970 or 1971) is an American record producer, songwriter, and music executive. Career As a teenager, Serletic joined a band with members of Collective Soul, a group for which he would later produce. Serletic h ...

– bass guitar, bells, choir,

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

, horn arrangements, keyboards, organ, percussion, piano, drum programming, string arrangements, synthesizer strings, synthesizer, background vocals *

Ryan Tedder Ryan Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. As well as being the lead vocalist of the pop rock band OneRepublic, he has an independent career as a songwriter and producer for various artists since th ...

– drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, drum programming, background vocals * Rob Thomas – piano, drum programming, shaker, lead vocals, background vocals *

Lee Thornburg Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese s ...

– trumpet * Patrick Woodward – choir *

Lyle Workman Lyle Dean Workman is an American guitarist, composer, session and touring musician, and music producer. His music has been widely distributed since his debut on the eponymous '' Bourgeois Tagg'' album in 1986, and is known for his work as compos ...

– electric guitar *

Noel Zancanella Noel Patrick Zancanella is an American record producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. He has written and produced songs for rock and pop artists such as Taylor Swift, OneRepublic, Maroon 5, B.o.B., Gym Class Heroes, Gavin DeGra ...

– bass guitar, drums, keyboards, drum programming

Charts

References

External links

RobThomasMusic.com
– Rob Thomas's official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Unknown 2015 albums Rob Thomas (musician) albums Atlantic Records albums