Matthew Sweet - Altered Beast
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Free Music Notes for Altered Beast
Free Music Review: The Beautiful Truth
Hit: 5 Stars
If I'd written "The Ugly Truth," I could die happy. Enough said.Free Music Review: what can I say that hasn't already been said
Hit: 4 Stars
I "discovered" Matthew Sweet about a year ago through his greatest hits CD and have purchased most of his work since then.Based on reviews that I have read on Amazon, this is the last of the CD's in Sweet's collection that I bought. It isn't as good as others, but it is still better than 99% of the other junk that passes for music that is out there. I have been a lifelong Todd Rundgren fan, and it was nice to discover that there is someone like Todd who is not afraid to push the envelope, but still write some good tunes.Free Music Review: Doesn't have Girlfriend's pop hits, but its more solid
Hit: 4 Stars
I was hoping for "Girlfriend II" with this album and was let down to not have an immediate handful of crisp hits. But over time I realized that this album as a whole is more solid, and nourishing. It has beautiful melodies, lyrics, and of course guitar work. And the piano is gorgeous at times. One of my favorites. Thanks for listening.Free Music Review: Worth every penny!
Hit: 5 Stars
First off, I have to say that this CD figures prominently in the soundtrack of my life. Each song contained here has helped me through so many tough times it is most deserving of a review.I got this CD when it came out way back in the day after reading a mixed review of 'Altered Beast'. The way the reviewer described it as a dark, multifaceted and moody piece; I just couldn't stay away.
This CD is a rollercoaster of emotion that will leave you exhausted at the end of it. Many different textures and moods are displayed throughout the course of this album.
I was particularly stunned by the musicianship shown here. The songs are written very well, with excellent skill shown on each instrument. Robert Quine and Richard Lloyd both play lead guitar here, and do one heck of a job. Their solos are very non-traditional to the point of being a breath of fresh air. Throughtout the songs they let their skills wander over the track, yet show restraint by not playing where the song does not permit. With Matthew Sweet on the vocals and playing bass and rhythm guitar on most songs, he provides a solid centre for the songs that he's written. There are so many complex and interesting layers to each song that interact with each other in different ways.
Dinosaur Act is one of 'angrier' songs here. It is a mid-tempo tune that opens up with Sweet extracting wierd dinosaur-like sounds out of a guitar.
Devil With The Green Eyes is an excellent song with an arpeggiated rhythm guitar combined with some lap steel guitar forming the basis of the song. Matt's harmonized vocals in the choruses are hauntingly lovely.
The Ugly Truth is a country-twanged song due mainly to the prominent fiddle. This one features more harmonized vocals... very cool. This song was a single? Not worthy of that in my mind.
Time Capsule... another single. This one is more deserving of that status. There are some excellent plays with vocals overlapping each other in this song.
Someone To Pull The Trigger is a wonderfully depressing little ditty. Matt's fragile vocals get the point across.
Knowing People's chorus should be my personal anthem. This song features some extremely cool lead guitar. At one point Richard Lloyd even makes a noise come from the guitar that sounds like a piece of glass breaking and then a bunch of tin cans falling on the floor! (Does this guy know Jimi Hendrix?) The rest of the song is another midtempo rocking tune.
Life Without You is a yearning tune that, with the lyrics that you hear, would expect to be a slower song. The song clocks in at 2:18, but this one could have easily been dragged out to about 4-5 minutes.
The intro to Ugly Truth Rock features a snippet of the movie Caligula with Malcolm McDowell of A Clockwork Orange fame.
Ugly Truth Rock is a faster and more rockin' version of The Ugly Truth minus the annoying fiddle playing (it is replaced with lead guitar).
Do It Again is a song about emotional warfare within relationships. It features some clean guitar and an awesome solo.
In Too Deep is a dark and evil sounding song. Some heavy, distorted (compared to the rest of the CD) guitar features prominently as well as some interesting leads. Another of the angrier songs on this CD... one of my favorites.
Reaching Out is a melancholy tune that features Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac) playing the drums. Very laid back, yet desparate. Another favorite.
Falling is one of my favorites as well. If you could summarize this song into two words, they would be 'Lost Hope'. The solo here smokes and Matt's vocals provide the rain that are trying to put out the fire of the lead guitar.
What Do You Know struck a real chord with me. Having been betrayed in the past, the lyrics really say what you are thinking when a partner has went behind your back with someone else. The music fits the lyrics somehow, but in a strange way.
Evergreen ends off this emotionally complex and draining CD on a surprisingly somewhat positive note. The music and vocals are very sombre but the lyrics themselves provide a hint of optimism. A beautiful song.
This is some great rainy day music to accompany any melancholy mood. This is one of the very few CD's I can listen to over and over again back to back. Matthew Sweet is one of the most accomplished yet underrated songwriters I have ever listened to. Altered Beast is proof.
Free Music Review: A-plus work from Power Pop's top student
Hit: 5 Stars
This is not just Matthew Sweet's best record; it may be most people's best record, an irresistibly catchy, infectious, addicting combination of sinister lyrics, inescapable hooks, jangly guitar riffs, and Sweet's own sweet-and-sour vocals. He doesn't so much lift from his influences as he liquifies them down to their essential magic, and then strains them through his unique gifts, to come up with something new and invaluable. "Time Capsule" is a great lover's lament, featuring a Fleetwood Mac-like shimmering vocal and barbed-wire guitar; "Devil with the Green Eyes" takes on jealousy with a kind of sugar-coated menace; "Ugly Truth" features a Dylanesque snarl, presented twice on the album, once as a folk song and then as a punky rocker; "What Do You Know?" is a cheerful kiss-off. Sweet deserves to sell a gajillion albums, and a gajillion more concert tickets; he puts on a ... good show- I saw him once, at Liberty Lunch in Austin, and he flat-out rocked that place to the ground. He's putting a commercially unpopular (at least at the moment) sound, and doing it better than just about anybody else; the next time you hear the phrase "pop music", forget those ... boy bands and listen to Matthew Sweet, so you know what the term should really mean: something as cool as this.