Matthew Sweet: Girlfriend (Disc-1: Girlfriend) CD Track Listing

A list by checkmate

Matthew Sweet Girlfriend (Disc-1: Girlfriend) (1991)
Girlfriend (Legacy Edition) - Disc 1 of 2\n2006 Volcano/Legacy\n\nOriginally Released October 22, 1991\nLegacy 2CD Edition Released June 13, 2006 \n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Matthew Sweet's third album is a remarkable artistic breakthrough. Grounded in the guitar pop of the Beatles, Big Star, Byrds, R.E.M., and Neil Young, Girlfriend melds all of Sweet's influences into one majestic, wrenching sound that encompasses both the gentle country-rock of "Winona" and the winding guitars of the title track and "Divine Intervention." Sweet's music might have recognizable roots, but Girlfriend never sounds derivative; thanks to his exceptional songwriting, the album is a fresh, original interpretation of a classic sound. -- Stephen Thomas Erlewine\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nAfter being dropped from A&M Records thanks to Girlfriend's rough edges, Matthew Sweet might hardly have expected great commercial success when another label brought the album out toward the end of 1991. But an alternative-welcome climate at rock radio stations, along with undeniably great songs and aggressive lead-guitar work by ex-Voidoid Robert Quine and former Television member Richard Lloyd, made the disc an eventual gold-selling hit. Years later, Girlfriend's probe of romance found, lost, and found again continues to sound fresh and daring. --Rickey Wright \n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nSweet's Power Pop Masterpiece, May 24, 2001\nReviewer: Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE)\nIt's hard to believe that it's been ten years since Matthew Sweet unleashed this pop/rock masterpiece. \nWhile Sweet has released some excellent albums in the past decade (and last year's 18-track Time Capsule anthology is a great place to start for the uninitiated), Girlfriend is Sweet's perfect album. It's full of great melodies and pop hooks, and in Richard Lloyd (co-founder of the band Television) and Robert Quine (Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Lou Reed) the album boasts two terrific lead guitarists. Standout tracks like "Girlfriend" and especially "Divine Intervention" are reminiscent of Revolver-era Beatles, only with grittier guitar. But there's more to Sweet than loud guitars. For example, listen to the lovely ballad "Winona" or the achingly beautiful "You Don't Love Me" which both employ the plaintive pedal steel guitar work of Greg Leisz (who has worked extensively with Dave Alvin). And on "Thought I Knew You," Sweet plays lead guitar and sounds a lot like R.E.M.\n\nWith a running time of just over sixty minutes and fifteen songs, you'd think there might be some weak tracks, but they are all perfectly crafted power pop delights--all written by Sweet. Thanks to hometown boy Matthew Sweet, Nebraska has contributed something to popular music besides Zager and Evans, who recorded "In the Year 2525" back in 1969. This is a terrific album--and check out the 1950s-era cover shot of Tuesday Weld. [There's another black-and-white shot included in the booklet along with song lyrics.] This album should have propelled Sweet into superstar status--and the title track did go Top 10 on the Modern Rock charts--but in a pop world where boy bands and precocious nymphettes reign supreme, Sweet seems doomed to cult status. There's a void in you music collection if it doesn't include this album. ESSENTIAL\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA power pop classic, October 6, 2005\nReviewer: J. Chasin (NYC, NY)\nThis record was a revelation when it came out, and remains as vibrant and bracing today. It is one of the absolute best power pop records of the 90s, a decade in which that genre experienced something of a renaissance (Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Velvet Crush, Jellyfish etc.) \n\nSweet had made a couple of unremarkable records before this one. I think two things made it leap out of the CD player and into our collective conscious. One was the sublime twin guitar work of Richard Lloyd (Television) and Robert Quine (NYC downtown guitar hero and notably on some of Lou Reed's most powerful work.) These two guys blaze and smolder throughout these melodic, harmonic songs, providing more bite and panache than most records you will hear in any genre. The performances of Quine and Lloyd in service to Sweet's catchy numbers creates the illusion of two tigers tamed; you can feel the excitement of their ferociousness on every track, even the soft, cotton-candy-sweet "Your Sweet Voice." \n\nThe second thing that makes this record stand apart is the fact that it is a break-up record, and a great one. From the optimistic second tune, the infectious "I've Been Waiting," through to the desolate "Nothing Lasts," you can hear Sweet laying bare the gamut of emotions involved in a relationship and its dissolution. Like Paul Simon's Hearts and Bones or Richard and Linda Thompson's Shoot Out the Lights-or perhaps most aptly, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours-a good break-up record transcends time and trends and endures. \n\nEvery subsequent Mathew Sweet record has a few gems, and some folks will even argue that the follow-up, Dinosaur Act, is the better album. It is a good one, but this is where the Mathew Sweet legend begins and reaches its fullest heights. \n\nHalf.com Details \nContributing artists: Fred Maher, Lloyd Cole, Ric Menck, Richard Lloyd, Robert Quine \nProducer: Fred Maher, Matthew Sweet \n\nAlbum Notes\nPersonnel includes: Matthew Sweet (vocals, guitar, bass); Greg Leisz.\n\nMatthew Sweet had been around for a number of years before captivating fans of great pop with this masterpiece. Whereas his early works had hinted at his ace songwriting chops, subsequent releases were never this cohesive, and often were marred by over-the-top production and a lack of a sure sense of identity.\nOn GIRLFRIEND, everything came together. The mix has just the right amount of crunch and texture, and masterful accompaniment from the likes of Robert Quine and Richard Lloyd (guitarists from seminal punk-era groups the Voidoids and Television respectively), provides an incisive, much-needed edge that perfectly plays off Sweet's easy vocal style. More than anything, though, the songs carry the day. The title track, "Divine Intervention," "Evangeline," and several others have the earmarks of perfect post-Beatles pop: soaring hooks, great arrangements, and impassioned playing. There are some down-and-dirty garage sounds on tracks like "Does She Talk," and elsewhere the mood is leavened by gentle, eloquent ballads like "Winona" (about a certain "little movie star"), "Your Sweet Voice," and bittersweet acoustic snapshots like "Thought I Knew You."\n\nIndustry Reviews\nIncluded in Q's list of the 50 Best Albums Of 1992.\nQ (01/01/1993)\n\nIncluded in Rolling Stone's Essential Recordings of the 90's.\nRolling Stone (05/13/1999)\n\n...In Japan he's huge and 1992's GIRLFRIEND explains why....silky sweet, the kind of bedroom angst that's quite simply infectious.\nMojo (04/01/2000)\n\n4 Stars - Excellent - ...GIRLFRIEND'S 15 spiky, poignant songs about Sweet's marriage break-up and subsequent new romance build up deliciously into a little masterpiece...\nQ (07/01/1992)\n\n...a spare and emotional stunner ...strikingly consistent songwriter...a masterpiece of spare, postmodern pop... - Rating: A\nEntertainment Weekly (12/20/1991)\n\n4 Stars - Excellent - ...irresistable... musically, Sweet is equally adept at balancing the tough and the tender... as a writer, he's a one-man factory of hooks...\nRolling Stone (01/23/1992)\n\nIncluded in AP's 10 Essential Breakup Albums - ...Documents both the end of a relationship and the euphoric haze of a new one...\nAlternative Press (05/01/2001) YEAR: 1991
This rock cd contains 18 tracks and runs 73min 30sec.
Freedb: 21113812
Buy: from Amazon.com

Categories

Latest lists

Matthew Sweet: Girlfriend (Disc-1: Girlfriend) CD Track Listing

Category

Tags

cyList

Legal