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| From | Robert Berry <rberry@gandronics.com> |
| Subject | Matthew Sweet |
| Date | Sun, 04 Jan 2009 12:37:05 -0500 |
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One of my Christmas gifts was the 2006 reissue of Matthew Sweet's
"Girlfriend," and so I've been reacquainting myself with this album. I
always liked it, but I don't think I ever really appreciated before just
how remarkable it is. The liner notes do a good job of placing it in
context; I wasn't paying much attention to popular music in 1990, so I
don't think I ever before realized just how much he was bucking
convention by recording such a stripped-down, pure guitar-pop album.
But ... maybe it's just me, but I've never found much else by Matthew
Sweet that does a whole lot for me. I bought several of his
post-"Girlfriend" albums and never listened to any of them more than a
couple of times. (It's kind of telling that I can't even remember for
sure which ones I had.) I guess I prefer the minimalist production of
"Girlfriend," and a lot of the later stuff just sounds overproduced to
me. (A notable exception was his take on "Every Night" from the
McCartney tribute a while back, which was intentionally minimalist.)
Listening to Amazon sound clips, I haven't found anything that grabs me
-- except maybe the Susanna Hoffs collaboration "Under The Covers,"
which I might have to buy. But maybe I'm missing something; has Mr.
Sweet ever again approached the genuis of "Girlfriend," or was it
lightning in a bottle?
Robert R. Berry
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