Various Artists, Altered Sweet, 2018

Album Review

By Henry Lipput

Nearly thirty years ago, in 1991, Matthew Sweet released his third album Girlfriend. [CoolDad Note: I absolutely wore this disc out during my senior year at NYU.] It was an immediate hit with power pop fans, and his guitar-driven tunes continue to influence musicians.

With that in mind, Futureman Records has assembled a stellar cast of like-minded folks many of whom, it seems, have grown up listening to Girlfriend as well as Sweet’s immediate follow-up albums Altered Beast (1993), 100% Fun (1995), Blue Sky On Mars (1997), and In Reverse (1999).

Altered Sweet, a 2-CD / digital release, contains 27 sweet covers mainly from those five albums as well as a few deep cuts. Some of my favorites from the tribute include, obviously, folks that I already like to listen to.

For example, the three singers / songwriters in The Legal Matters, who released what I considered to be the best album of 2016, have each contributed songs. Andy Reed does "Where You Get Love." The wonderful lead vocal and terrific guitar solo on "Someone To Pull The Trigger" comes from Chris Richards (& The Subtractions); and Keith Klingensmith features electric organ and an orchestral finish on his "You Don’t Love Me."

Lindsay Murray, the driving force behind the band Gretchen's Wheel, covers "Walk Out" and adds her own very fine and distinctive guitar playing to the song (there's a video on YouTube of her playing the guitars, bass, keyboards, and double-racking the vocals for the song). In addition, it's a surprise and a delight to see that the Cleveland-based Paranoid Lovesick are also included on Altered Sweet with "What Matters." I saw them perform in Pittsburgh back in the mid-90s and was knocked out by the show (I still have the Molly CD they signed for me). They're one of the few in this collection who could be considered Sweet's contemporaries

The Hangabouts (their 2017 release was one of my top ten albums) dig deep into Sweet's back catalogue with "When I Feel Again" from 1989's Earth. Other obscurities include "Byrdgirl" covered (with terrific guitar work) by Arvidson & Butterflies from 2008's Sunshine Lies and "Dead Smile" by Fireking, released on Sweet's 2003 Japanese-only album Kimi Ga Suki.

I'm also enjoying Lisa Mychols's "Looking At The Sun," which looks past Sweet and has some guitar and bass action that gives the song a Beatles' Revolver-era sound. Robyn Gibson does this one better by starting "I Should Never Have Let You Know" by copying the audience and orchestra sounds that open Sgt. Pepper but then plays the song as if it were a missing track from A Hard Day's Night.

CokeRoque adds Brian Wilson-style arrangements to "Get Older." "Sick Of Myself" by simple friends becomes a finger-picked folk song with a concluding string section. And Michael Carpenter, who is given the honor of covering "Girlfriend," the song that started all of this, rocks out and sings the tune as if he's just written it.

Altered Sweet is out now on Futureman Records.