Cradlesong (album)

Untitled

Cradlesong is the forthcoming sophomore solo album from Rob Thomas: lead singer of Matchbox Twenty. The first single "Her Diamonds" is already a big hit in Australia, peaking at #3.

Background

On September 15, 2008, Thomas told Billboard.com that he's "probably about 80 percent done" with his second solo record, tentatively titled "Cradle Songs" at the time. Thomas characterized the album as "the usual mish-mosh of styles, but hopefully just holding true to a bunch of good songs." with the article also mentioning that the record will nonetheless feature several tracks that "take a more global, rhythmic direction after working with South American and African percussionists." Thomas explained one such experiment:

We started off with the idea of doing a newer version of (Paul Simon's) The Rhythm of the Saints, and that kinda carried us a long way through. It gave us a whole new bed to work with, like 'How do I get my pop sensibility around this and work it into that?' It was a lot of fun. But you go through different phases when you're writing; it took a different turn, and I just followed it, too.

On February 25, 2009, it was announced via Fox News that the album's supposed title is now "Cradle Song". It was mentioned, in addition, that there "are at least four hot singles awaiting radio play including 'Her Diamonds' and 'Someday.'"

On the same day, Thomas announced on his official web-site that he has been "back and forth to Los Angeles quite a bit, mixing the new record." However, he denied the album will be released in May, mentioning it "looks like it won't be coming until the last week of June or the first week of July."

On March 2, 2009, Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly interviewed Thomas, where he confirmed he has since shelved his initial efforts to evoke "The Rhythm of the Saints", and claimed the album is scheduled for a June 30 release. Having played half the forthcoming album to Entertainment Weekly, it was reported that many of the lyrics on "Cradle Song" center around troubled relationships, and three more song titles were revealed: "Meltdown" (described as "INXS-esque power pop" that stood out as "a possible first single"), "Fire on the Mountain" (an "epic, tribal drum-driven" track inspired by Dave Eggers' book "What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng") and the melancholic country-leaning "Getting Late" (suggested as the "set's likely closer" and what Thomas described as "a little ditty about death." in the vein of Tom Petty and Willie Nelson.) The proper magazine article added that "Someday" is a power ballad with a tinkling piano introduction reminiscent of 80's band Damn Yankees.

On March 4, 2009, Thomas clarified on the message board of his official web-site that the album's title will be one word: "cradlesong". He announced that the lead single for this album has been chosen and a director is presently being sought after for the video. Thomas also announced that, at the time, he had mixed eleven songs so far and had recorded a total of twenty-seven. He confirmed a total of twelve songs will make the final cut, but added "the first pressing will have an extra 3 on it as well" and "later in the year i'm going to try to find a way to release the others, but i'll keep popping them out here and there at shows."

On March 6, 2009, minute-long snippets of the tracks "Meltdown" and "Her Diamonds" were temporarily featured on the front page of his official site. Despite being removed from the web-site, they are presently being featured in a RateTheMusic survey.

On April 27, 2009 the first single "Her Diamonds" was released on iTunes, followed by "Give me the Meltdown" on June 9. The other two tracks are "Someday" (June 16) and "Fire on the Mountain" (June 23). All four singles are to be released before the albums release date (June 30) over iTunes.

On June 16, VH1.com received all of the songs on cradlesong and the songs are able to listen to. It also includes "Years From Now" and "Remembered Well".

Tracklisting

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Her Diamonds" (Rob Thomas)	4:39
2.	"Gasoline"	3:56
3.	"Give me the Meltdown" (Rob Thomas, Matt Serletic)	3:13
4.	"Someday" (Rob Thomas, Matt Serletic, Shy Carter)	4:08
5.	"Mockingbird"	4:00
6.	"Real World '09" (Rob Thomas, Matt Serletic, Nellee Hooper)	2:46
7.	"Fire On the Mountain"	5:09
8.	"Hard On You"	2:43
9.	"Still Ain't Over You"	3:09
10.	"Natural" (Rob Thomas, Matt Serletic)	4:48
11.	"Snowblind" (Rob Thomas)	3:54
12.	"Wonderful" (Rob Thomas)	3:28
13.	"Cradlesong"	4:13
14.	"Getting Late"	3:28

Bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
15.	"Little Wonders" (Radio Version) (Rob Thomas)	3:33
16.	"Sleep Till the War Is Over" (Australian version of Cradlesong) (Rob Thomas, Garfield Mayor)	3:58
17.	"Believe" (Australian iTunes pre-order)	3:29
18.	"Years From Now" (German bonus track) (Rob Thomas)	3:37
19.	"Remembered Well" (German bonus track) (Rob Thomas, Frank Romano)	3:46
20.	"Overrun" (Her Diamonds Single bonus track) (Rob Thomas)	4:12

External links

• Official Rob Thomas website