Matthew Sweet - What albums to explore?*

Matthew Sweet
What's his best albums? All I have is Girlfriend and In Reverse. What else to get?

 

I think you also need the Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs Under The Covers albums.

Matthew Sweet is one of those artists where I have acquired almost all his albums but haven't given them the listens they deserve to provide a decent answer.

 

in reverse- has lots of professional musicians involved, he must have had a big production budget.

 

Personally I find the covers albums very bland. You should look for 100% Fun and Altered Beast. And check out the thread about Interventions records' reissues of these two (and, forthcoming, Girlfriend).
Matthew Sweet's Zoo Entertainment Era Albums Reissued By Intervention

 

Blue Sky on Mars.

 

Yeah, that's a good one too. Just a step down for me from the 90s holy trinity

 

Holy trinity : Aimee Mann, Jason Falkner ?

 

ha! sorry. Trinity of albums. I perhaps should have said trilogy. Trinity implies people.
Girlfriend, Altered Beast, 100% Fun. All superb.

 

Thought that, power pop poetic licence.

 

Wow, I was just listening to Mathew S w e e t a few minutes ago on my drive to work! I love his music and need to explore more. I've got 100% Fun and In Reverse. In Reverse is a really, really good album. The CD case is made backwards too (to open on the left edge instead of the right), just so you know. I thought someone had put it together wrong when I first got it, then it hit me. Looking on-line, that may be a hard one to find at a good price. Who knew.

The covers albums with Susanna Hoffs are alright. I enjoy them for what they are, but the sonics on them are terrible - they sound like low-rate mp3s.

Some of his songs that I love: Thunderstorm, I should never have let you know, I almost forgot, I've been waiting.

 

You cannot go wrong with anything he did in the 90s. As mentioned above, get the classic albums in between those you have (Altered Beast, 100% Fun, Blue Sky).
Also grab Son of Altered Beast, an extended EP with some great gems, and Kimi Ga Suki * Raifu a quickly recorded album originally only released in Japan for his fans there, which is very much in the vain of his early work.

I would agree the Under the Covers series, while not horrible, is lacking the punch of his albums. Also, the last several albums proper have been adequate, but don't hold a candle to the classic stuff. Tread carefully.

 

What's wrong with post 2000 albums ?

 

So was the title designed to be impossible to search for?

 

I've found something to enjoy in all of his albums, but agree that Altered Beast and 100% Fun would probably be best to explore next (but hey, if you find any of his albums at a decent price go ahead and pick them up no matter which order). If you're buying vinyl get his newest (and possibly Record Store Day only release), Wicked System Of Things quickly, before prices get to insane. His first solo album, Inside, is a lot more 80's pop than his later stuff, but still worth a listen...And don't forget The Thorns, the band and album he recorded with Pete Droge and Shawn Mullins.

 

IMHO, as with so many artists, the quality of the songwriting tends to deteriorate. I am of the opinion that, no matter how good they are, everyone has a limited amount of astounding melodies, chord sequences, riffs, whatever, that they can come up with, and then it's a decline, sometimes gradual, sometimes rapid.

 

Yes, The Thorns album is amazing.

 

Or repeating yourself. Thinking Aimee Mann, though , I love her sound

 

I think Girlfriend is brilliant and I also love the Goodfriend album with variations on a few of the Girlfriend songs and some other cool things.

 

I think he is great but as a songwriter I think he peaked by the early 2000's. Love just about all of his 90's output. Hard to go wrong.

 

I love Matthew Sweet's music. I bought the new 100% Fun SACD from Intervention Records and have enjoyed it. One good thing about Matthew is that I find a lot of his titles in the thrifts, especially the "holy trinity" of releases and his best of disc. So keep an eye out at the thrifts for titles not being released by IR.

 

Nothing wrong per se, but I'd be lying if I said I liked them more than the 90s stuff. Listen for yourself to see. His classic run for me is some of the greatest music ever written. Girlfriend is my all-time favourite album and its been that way for many years. I adore Matthew and keep buying his albums, which I'm happy he is still making, but they are never going to be as great as the early ones.

 

Perhaps an easy way to distinguish this thread from all of those other “Keith S w e a t” threads...

 

I don’t see it as an absolute limit in terms of numbers. Creative prowess is just another one of those traits that sadly seems to wither on the vine as we age. For some faster than others as you imply.

 

I prefer Blue Sky On Mars to Altered Beast, on par with 100% Fun, and just below Girlfriend.

The covers albums have good song selection, but not a single song bests the original.

 

The "artist " loses the hunger, creative urge .. sort of thing ?