"One More Time, Again" starts out the CD. Kicking it off with deep drums, a quick guitar chimes in. Then a bass is played over Matt's voice, with the quick guitar jumping in and out of the picture. The song is soft, but don't think for one minute it's mellow. A song about love, Matt Parker reaches deep down into his soul, and gives us a touching number that he feels, and he'll make us feel as well. The song is full of hooks to point that you can't help but sing along with the album. You'll even be humming with the guitar, it's just too infectious not too. "You Gave It Back" isn't as catchy and pop driven as the opening song. The chorus, however, has enough hook in it to grab you. And with a strong chorus, you'll listen to this one a few more times, and each time it will grow on you more and more. Pretty soon you'll really enjoy the whole song. "Private Jet" is one of his finest songs, drawing you in within the first ten seconds, and keeping you throughout. Soft to begin with, the backing vocals add a nice touch to the music. The song is one hook after another, keeping you listening and wanting more. His lyrics are good too. Nothing is wasted on this song, everything he's got is thrown at you. "Too Little, Too Late" starts out pretty boring, even with it's hot fusion of 80's soft rock and 70's hard rock, but once the first chorus hits everything comes together and makes sense. A very powerful number, it relies on a hot guitar throughout to keep you moving. This song is probably the most energetic track on this album. Not that the rest lack energy, this one just comes right out and screams energy. "Everything Belongs To You And Me" is one of the few tracks I felt lacked energy and had no heart to it. It wasn't moving at all, the recording quality was below that of the rest of the tracks, and the overall pace of the song was slow and sluggish. If it weren't for a few more tracks on this disc, it would appear he burnt out on all the previous tracks and just felt as if he had to throw something together. "Do You Know What You Want?" is a slow, mellow song that will pull at your emotions, rather than your sense of fun. This is a number you can tell he wrote for himself, rather than writing a number he felt people would connect to and have fun with. Although, I don't like the occasional guitar solos in this song, when they're not present the song is slow and emotional, giving the CD some nice closure.

Matt Parker has a promising career ahead of him. His music is honest, and written from his own perspective. Yet, he always writes in a style that will tap at the listeners feet or their heart. He does lose his concentration and song writing abilities on a few tracks, but he always comes back with another knock out punch to make up for the previously sluggish parts. I'll give this disc a B+.

Matt Keating: Tiltawhirl

Matt Pond PA: The Green Fury

[Issue Seven // April 1998]