Matthew Sweet Trilogy Poll

Girlfriend, though "Sick of Myself" may be my favorite song of his and that one's on 100%.

I use to love all these albums but haven't listened to them in years. Guess I'll go with Girlfriend because it's got the best songwriting. You always hear a lot of Beatle comparisons with any number of groups but I think songs like Divine Intervention and Evangeline really nail down that Revolver sound, particularly the guitars.

I just realized I forgot Blue Sky on Mars. Oh well.

altered beast

re: blue sky on mars

that one's a departure from his first four, as quine and lloyd don't play on it. it's pretty spotty, but there are some keepers on there, "come to california" and "missing time" particularly.

girlfriend vs. 100% fun

i'll take girlfriend (not least for truth in labeling -- it actually is about girlfriends, where 100% fun is only about 80% fun)

Actually, it's difficult to parse his songs; they seem to exist to give Lloyd-Quine room to squeal and howl.

"Girlfriend" is untouchable, even if it does lag a little at about the 2/3 mark.

it's an unusually long album, but even so the quality of material is pretty uniformly high.

G/F FTW

Girlfriend will win but never heard it, so voting i'm for 100% Fun.

*i'm voting

"Girlfriend" forever and ever. By far his best moment.

no love for altered beast, huh? c'mon, there's great stuff on there. as a perpetually single teenager, i connected with that album much more than girlfriend.

love for altered beast here - listening to it now, and OH MY GOD 'the devil with the green eyes' is amazing. but girlfriend is so so perfect.

i think my favorite song on altered beast is "live without you." it's easy to overlook it, wedged between these two loud, flailing things, but it's such a lovely, melancholy little song.

and it's so poppy! my one beef is that he says "withow choo." i don't know why that bugs me so much. it's a flawless little song otherwise.

I stand by "Girlfriend", but "In Reverse" is actually a quite nice album.

Still only heard the Buzz of Delight ep. Need to check out more of this dude.

One of the Altered Beast CD singles has a fucking great live version of "Someone to Pull the Trigger"

Girlfriend easily

The second half of Girlfriend really drags it down. I can spin "Nothing Lasts" now and then when I'm in the mood, but o/w it's a dull second side. The first half is pretty ace though. Altered Beast has always sounded like side 2 of Girlfriend rather than side 1, and so totally forgettable (except for "Time Capsule" which is totally boss, with the swell of the last chorus in particular). In Reverse I gave a single listen and while I love baroque pop in principle, in practice it just bores me (see Imperial Bedroom). Blue Sky On Mars was a much better attempt to get with the E6 sound but it's not a choice here. So I guess I go with 100% Fun, where I even dig the sappy closer "Smog Moon".

Disagree regarding the second half of Girlfriend- Holy Wars and Can She Talk? are the only weak tracks. I've always loved Your "Sweet" Voice, beautiful, airy harmonies floating above a lovely melody, surely a heavy Tusk-era Mac vibe. I also dig the sunshine pop of I Wanted to Tell You and the mopey but pretty You Don't Love Me. Pretty consistent record if you ask me.

Blue Sky on Mars is definitely the weakest, boring production and arrangements, by-the-numbers songwriting...

Agree regarding Life Without You on Altered Beast- another hidden gem is Do It Again, even though it's not a Beach Boys cover, which would also be ace!

Damn, I should dig out some of this...

Girlfriend is great mainly because of its consistency imo. It sounds like he didn't have to try very hard to write it, in a good way.

I also dig the sunshine pop of I Wanted to Tell You

i've always loved the acoustic guitar tone on that song. so crisp.

Agree with all who say Girlfriend sags. 100% Fun is the one, if only for Sick of Myself. The Dutch football team of powerpop, though: never quite as good as so many people said he was.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I really love "Sick of Myself" but never bothered to check out his albums. Is the rest of 100% Fun (or any of his other albums) as good?

"Girlfriend" has better songs, plus he got to "grungey" from "Altered Beast" through "Blue Sky On Mars" and it wasn't until "In Reverse" that he found back to his old self. His 00s albums are better than his 90s albums save for "Girlfriend" and "In Reverse".

altered beast is my fave cuz it's so FIERCE! and just awesome. even if i haven't played it in a decade. and then girlfriend. and then who cares. though i did enjoy that josie and the pussycats soundtrack. actually, the thing i played the most after altered beast is the good friend boot which i LOVE. and the highlight might just be the live version of cortez the killer with the indigo girls (!!!). no, really! boot track-listing (mostly live and acoustic stuff):

Divine Intervention
Girlfriend
Day For Night
Thought I Knew You
Looking At The Sun
Does She Talk
You Don't Love Me
Someone To Pull The Trigger
I've Been Waiting
Winona
Girlfriend
Cortez the Killer
Isolation

(also, the live version of day for night KILLS on there.)

(you know what's really weird? listen to the pre-girlfriend singles with early versions of girlfriend songs on them with anemic don dixon-ish production and realize how lucky he was to get a second chance to get those great songs right.)

i did buy the autographed vinyl copy of blue sky and played it all off twice.

(you know what's really weird? listen to the pre-girlfriend singles with early versions of girlfriend songs on them with anemic don dixon-ish production and realize how lucky he was to get a second chance to get those great songs right.)

I'm convinced that the big leap forward on Girlfriend was Sweet realizing the value of live drums. (Also, there's little-to-no reverb on the album, which kicks up the immediacy.)

The whole Goodfriend album was included as the bonus disc of the Girlfriend: Legacy Edition release of a few years ago. It's fab.

wow, i didn't know that. it makes sense. it's such a good comp that you feel like matthew sweet compiled it himself. and maybe he did!

According to the liners, Goodfriend was a promo sent as a "thank you" to all the radio and retail people who got the album heard. The acoustic tracks were probably recorded specifically for it. And the cover (if your boot has it) is a deliberate homage to the Neil Young Zuma cover.

wow, I'd love to hear the "Cortez the Killer". I saw Sweet open for the Indigo Girls right after Girlfriend came out, and he was great: the version of "Day For Night" was killer in particular: almost heavy on the chorus (it was the year punk broke, I think). Maybe I'll track down this Goodfriend thing and see if it's got something like that fab "Day For Night".

Just found this on AMG:

Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - "Under the Covers Vol. 2"
Release date 7/21/09

Sugar Magnolia Hunter, Weir
Go All the Way Bryson, Carmen
Second Hand News Buckingham
Bell Bottom Blues Clapton
All the Young Dudes Bowie
You're So Vain Simon
Here Comes My Girl Campbell, Petty
I've Seen All Good People Anderson, Squire
Hello It's Me Rundgren
Willin' George
Back of a Car Chilton, Hummel
Couldn't I Just Tell You Rundgren
Gimme Some Truth Lennon
Maggie May Quittenton, Stewart
Everything I Own Gates
Beware of Darkness Harrison

I enjoyed the first covers album, so I'm looking forward to this. I wonder who picked "I've Seen All Good People"?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

FWIW, Intervention Records produced what are THE definitive reissues for Sweet's power-pop trilogy, as well as the companion EP Son of Altered Beast. and I highly recommend all of them. Available on vinyl and SACD, they were done with Sweet's cooperation and approval, and he provided top-notch bonus material for all of them. In terms of sound, I vastly prefer them over the original releases - better tonality (even Girlfriend which sounds smoother without the upper midrange and treble spike on the original CD) and they aren't plagued by excess compression. IIRC Ryan K. Smith said he applied no limiting or compression when he mastered these.

I bring this up now because 100% Fun is finally getting re-pressed, and they're offering a discount for pre-orders. (Previously, that title went for a lot on the secondary market.) Also, the label's owner is a pretty solid guy - Intervention is both a passion project and a mom & pop operation. It's all just music he loves that the other boutique labels have overlooked, and he more or less runs it out of his own home. (IIRC he and his kids personally ship everything out.) He's also been a big help to Sweet - the "autographed" editions selling for an extra $7.50 were done during the lockdown to help raise money for Sweet when he couldn't tour (only Son of Altered Beast has signed copies left) and following Sweet's stroke, additional proceeds for these sales will be going to Sweet to help fund his medical care. (The label owner personally made a sizable donation when the GoFundMe campaign was launched.)

So long story short, it's a win all around - great bonus material, great sound, the definitive edition regardless of format, and all proceeds go to helping Sweet with his recovery.