Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 22 - December '23

Planted and Enchanted
Written By Evan Hammonds
 
“At least not to the point that we would think so”
— Back 2 Good, Matchbox 20
 

You can enjoy the Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 22 playlist in its entirety on Spotify. Just click on the included Spotify plugin.

Playlist Highlight: Back 2 Good, Matchbox 20

My dad called it the “Drew Carey Album” based on the similarities between the subject of the album cover and the nineties sitcom star turned The Price is Right host. I remember it being one of the few CDs I kept in the basement of my childhood home that I’d listen to while hitting baseballs into a net after school.

I played baseball competitively growing up and played travel ball with and against kids who would eventually play in the Major Leagues. I was good, not great. Although I did hit .400 for a season and threw a no-hitter when I was thirteen. Yes, ladies, it’s true.

To help me in my athletic pursuit, my father (and coach) bought a soft toss machine second-hand - a strange mechanical contraption that, despite its unusual appearance, flicked out a perfect lob out over the plate every time. It looked basically like this.

I’d play this album over and over again on the type of portable CD player that everyone had at the time. It’s the same ones that can probably be found on your local Goodwill shelves at this point.

But enough about baseball. This is a music blog, after all.

The album - Matchbox Twenty’s “Yourself or Someone Like You” - is the record I think of most when it comes to the nineties. It isn’t Grunge (sorry, Pearl Jam & Nirvana) or Britpop (sorry, Oasis & Blur), or Alternative (sorry, Radiohead & Red Hot Chili Peppers), or Punk Rock (sorry, Green Day & blink-182).

While you may see it tied to these genres and subgenres, it’s really off to the side on a Nineties rock peninsula with Third Eye Blind, Barenaked Ladies, The Black Crowes, The Goo Goo Dolls, and Gin Blossoms.

It was their debut album, reaching store shelves and airwaves in 1996, less than a year after the band’s formation. A huge hit, it went 12x Platnum and spawned a staggering five singles, including this piece’s title track, “Back 2 Good”.

Matchbox Twenty creates such a distinctive listening experience, and it’s largely to do with frontman Rob Thomas.

He has a way of pronouncing words like “lonely” or “heads” that defy explanation. I hesitate to call it an accent because that would imply there are other people out there that sound similar, which I don’t actually believe is the case.

Lyrically, there are some peculiarities as well:

I was thinking if you were lonely
Maybe we could leave here and no one would know
At least not to the point that we would think so

I have been scratching my head on that last line for the last two weeks, about the time I saw Barbie on my flight back to Atlanta from New York. The movie featured another song from the same album (“Push”), which took me on a musical journey that led me back (2 Good?) here.

I mean, what does that line mean? And it’s not just deciphering its meaning; it’s also grappling with why it’s there to begin with. It’s just not the type of thing that ever gets included as lyrics to a song.

My best guess is that the subject of the song and their partner are at a party, and their relationship is souring. They want to slip away but are concerned that the other partygoers will notice their absence. This would cause discomfort for both of them.

Here’s where it gets tricky.

Perhaps the subject of the song is suggesting they leave for a short time (thus going unnoticed) and then return. Or they leave and don’t return and just try to convince themselves that no one would ever realize it.

See? There’s not really a satisfactory explanation either way! I don’t find it frustrating, just interesting to chew on.

Regarding the song, more broadly, it is about a relationship on the brink. It’s one of the most fascinating subjects to me as an avid music listener. So much so that I’ve written about it before.

Rob Thomas described it as being in a relationship where you end up:

“screwing up so often that you become used to it.”

Musically, it has some signatures that remind me of R.E.M. (compare here and here). Then there’s this embellishment. Oh by the way, great drums and guitars throughout.

Put another way, it’s a home run.

Happy listening.

What is Planted and Enchanted?

If you’re anything like me, you surely have a “junk drawer” somewhere in your home. It probably consists of an old flashlight with dead batteries in it, a handful of rubber bands alongside some pens running low on ink, enough loose keys for you to qualify as a middle school janitor, some birthday cards given to you years ago (how quickly can I throw these away without it being rude? Better wait another decade just to be safe.), the box to your old iPhone simply because it’s a pretty darn cool box, and a small library of service manuals for among other things: your refrigerator, hot water heater, and that Instant Pot you used just the one time.

I don’t consider my junk drawer “worthless” mind you, but rather see it a collection of delightful discoveries (Hey! I didn’t know I had a yo-yo!), and delightful rediscoveries (So that’s where my playing cards were!).

That’s my aim for this playlist series: Planted and Enchanted. A monthly track list consisting of songs that likely won’t fit perfectly together in a classic album sense, but are useful in planting the seeds of discovery of new genres, artists, and songs as well as the unearthing of music you loved but had long since forgotten about. Who knows, there may even be a hidden theme or two that the savvy listener can piece together. The best part about this playlist? If you don’t like it, that’s okay. We’re talking about junk after all.

If you have a specific song that you’ve recently discovered or come to love, we’d love to hear from you. Just email us at freshcutfinds@gmail.com. We’re planning to roll out more content and a new playlist series in the coming months. Stay tuned!

Each month, we put together a playlist of our favorite discoveries new & old. Each playlist will be about the length of a mix CD (80 mins) and will be sent around the 15th of each month. Subscribe with your email address to receive the monthly Planted and Enchanted playlist, plus other occasional speciaty playlists.

Evan Hammonds
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Unearthed Vol. 18
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Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 21 - September '23