One of the most decent blokes in rock music, South African-born Matthews has sold 25 million albums in America with the band that took his name, yet in Britain sales have been counted in hundreds rather than thousands. His first solo album is unlikely to change that, which is a shame, for it suggests there’s far more to him than the anonymous middle-of-the-road college rock for which the Americans have such an insatiable appetite. On the evidence of Some Devil, much of which is largely acoustic, he belongs more in the Springsteen camp than in the Hootie/Matchbox Twenty stockade. He’s nowhere near as potent a songwriter, of course. But full credit for trying something different.
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