Audio CD review:
Matt Nathanson - Some Mad Hope

Matt Nathanson - Some Mad Hope

Band: Matt Nathanson Title: Some Mad Hope Rating: Release Date: 14 August, 2007 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Car Crash 2: Come on Get Higher 3: .Heartbreak World 4: Gone 5: Wedding Dress 6: Bulletproof Weeks 7: To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts 8: Still 9: Detroit Waves 10: Falling Apart 11: Sooner Surrender 12: All We Are

Editoral Review Though his roots are in the folk coffeehouse, he plainly has his ears aimed toward the rock arena, as the propulsive "To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts" and "Detroit Waves" attest. With rapturous romanticism and over-the-top, heart-on-sleeve emotion, Matt Nathanson can't decide whether he wants to be U2's Bono (particularly on the opening "Car Crash") or John Mayer (with whom he's toured as an opening act). "Wedding Dress" sounds like it's aspiring to become a first-dance standard, while the sensuality of "Come On Get Higher" suggests more stripped-down delights. A couple of lines here compete for the album's cheesiest: "C'mon let's make this dream that's barely half-awake come true" (from "Heartbreak World") and "All we are we are/and every day's a star/something beautiful" (from the breathy closing track). Honorable mention: "What happened to feeling cheap radio songs?" (from "Bulletproof Weeks"). --Don McLeese .. You can see a complete list of all Matt Nathanson discography, or go back to the Matt Nathanson tabs