Skip to main content

12 by Matthew Sweet (2002 - 2021)

Sometimes a huge part of an artist's career has not been summarized. Case in point...


Matthew Sweet has a couple of compliations out there, but neither of them cover the past couple of decades, a span that has seen him release 8 albums of original material and 3 albums of covers. 

I followed Sweet's career religiously early on, with my ardor gradually diminishing after the magnificant one-two punch of In Reverse (1999) and The Thorns (2003) That's not to say he hasn't produced some great work since then, it's just that it requires bit of effort to pick out the gems. Here's my college try:

(Two of these albums are not available on streaming servies, so here's a slightly modified version of the playlist on YouTube.)


1. "I Can't Remember" (The Thorns, 2003)
The Thorns was a rootsy, close-harmony early-aughts version of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, featuring Shawn Mullins (of "Lullaby" fame) and Pete Droge (of "If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself)" fame) and Sweet. Their one and only album was pretty darn good, and this particular song is a lovely heartbreaker.

2. "Wait" (Kimi Ga Suki *Raifu, 2003)
It's amazing how much melody and movement is packed into these 2 and a half minutes.

3. "In My Time" (Living Things, 2004)
Time is a recurring theme throughout Sweet's work. In fact, you'll find at least one song on each album that tackles the topic in some form or another.

4. "Tomorrow" (Living Things, 2004)
5.  "Around You Now" (Sunshine Lies, 2008)
Not ashamed to admit that I picked both of these songs because they could have slotted easily onto In Reverse, with their stacked harmonies and sparkling production.

6. "She Walks the Night" (Modern Art, 2011)
As a whole, Modern Art was a bit too off-kilter for my tastes, but this song hits the *ahem* sweet spot of being unconventional while maintaining its melodic appeal.

7. "You Knew Me" (Tomorrow Forever, 2017)
Tomorrow Forever arrived six years after Sweet's previous original album - he'd previously never gone more than fou years - but it was a pleasant reminder that the old guy still had a few tricks. This particular track is a welcome return to the countryish bent of Altered Beast.

8. "Hello" (Tomorrow Forever, 2017)
A piano-driven tune featuring more evidence of his obsession with time: "Hello, I'm from the future, from exactly when I'm not sure."

9. "Years" (Tomorrow's Daughter, 2018)
10. "I Belong to You" (Tomorrow's Daughter, 2018)
Both Tomorrow Forever and its companion Tomorrow's Daughter display lots of evidence of the deep study of 1960s and 1970s pop music Sweet did for his Under the Covers albums. These two especially sound like amalgams of your dad's collection of 45s.

11. "Split Mind" (Wicked System of Things, 2018)
Wicked System of Things was a Record Store Day-only release and has become somewhat obscure. But it's worth seeking out; this chiming tune is one of the highlights.

12. "Drifting" (Catspaw, 2021) 
Listetning to this midtempo beaut gives you the same sensation as its title.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

REO Speedwagon: R.E.O. Speedwagon (1971)

REO Speedwagon got its start in the late 1960s on the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. The band grew out of a friendship between a students Neal Doughty (piano/keyboard) and Alan Gratzer (drums). Joining up with a couple of other musicians, they took the name R.E.O. Speedwagon. It wasn't long before they started getting gigs at parties and bars, doing covers of the hits of the day. The band cycled through several players in its first three years, with Gratzer and Doughty as the only constants. One-by-one they added the members that would form the first "official" lineup: singer Terry Luttrell in early 1968, bassist Gregg Philbin later that summer, and guitarist Gary Richrath at the end of 1970. Richrath was a native of Peoria, 90 miles northwest of Champaign, and had essentially stalked the band until they let him join. It was a good move, as he not only an accomplished guitarist, but also a songwriter. With Richrath the band ascended to the n

Twenty Twenty-Three

2023 marks not only the 20th anniversary of this blog (an occasion I'm overdue to celebrate), but also 20 years of compiling a playlist of favorite songs to summarize my year in music consumption.  Though I still make an ultra-limited run of physical copies, for the most part this now lives in the streaming world. As such, if you have Amazon Music Unlimited you can listen at this link . The Tracks: 1. Mammoth WVH: "Like a Pastime" 2. blink-182: "Fell in Love" 3. Jonas Brothers: "Vacation Eyes" 4. Kylie Minogue: "Things We Do For Love" 5. Carly Rae Jepsen: "So Right" 6. Semisonic: "All the Time" 7. Caitlyn Smith: "High" 8. Wilco: "Meant to Be" 9. Jenny Lewis: "Chain of Tears" 10. The National (feat. Taylor Swift): "The Alcott" 11. Lufthaus & Robbie Williams: "Unlovable" 12. The Killers: "Your Side of Town" 13. Foo Fighters: "Show Me How" 14. The New P