{"id":26199,"date":"2023-10-21T05:30:55","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T09:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=26199"},"modified":"2023-10-19T13:29:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T17:29:58","slug":"take-five-matthew-sweet-obscurities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/21\/take-five-matthew-sweet-obscurities\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: Matthew Sweet Obscurities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew Sweet embodies the best qualities of what is known as power pop. His inerrant sense of melody, knowing way with a hook, accessible lyrics and superb taste in musical associates have all helped to earn him a well-deserved reputation as an exemplar of the form. His most popular releases \u2013 1991\u2019s <em>Girlfriend<\/em>, his fourth album <em>Altered Beast<\/em> (released 30 years ago this July) and his series of collaborative albums with Susanna Hoffs \u2013 are full of musical gems. But so too are his earlier and lesser-known releases. Here are five Matthew Sweet obscurities you should know.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Specs \u2013 \u201cLook Out Girl (You Need a Direction)\u201d from <em>KFMQ Homegrown Album<\/em> (1980)<\/strong><br \/>\nMatthew Sweet was a junior high student in Lincoln, Nebraska when he joined this local cover band as its bassist. He brought an original song to the group, which would be recorded and released on a various-artists compilation of local acts. Sweet was still finding his way as a songwriter; this very early Sweet composition takes much of its inspiration from &#8220;This is the Modern World&#8221; by British mod trio The Jam.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CXp0uEhnlwQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Oh-OK \u2013 \u201cSuch N Such\u201d from <em>Furthermore What<\/em> EP (1983)<\/strong><br \/>\nInspired by R.E.M.\u2019s early work, Sweet moved to Athens, Georgia to attend college and kick-start his musical career. There he joined Oh-OK, a group featuring Lynda Stipe (sister of R.E.M.\u2019s lead singer) in time for the group\u2019s second release, <em>Furthermore What<\/em>. Produced and engineered by Mitch Easter at his Drive-In Studio, the record\u2019s six songs were all group-composed. Sweet played guitar; the vocals were handled by Stipe and her co-lyricist Linda Hopper.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kNn9Xbv6nvI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Buzz of Delight \u2013 \u201cBriar Rose\u201d (1984)<\/strong><br \/>\nAt the same time Matthew Sweet was working as a member of Oh-OK, he formed a pop duo with David Pierce, the group\u2019s former drummer. The two recorded and released a 1983 single, \u201cChristmas,\u201d and a six-song EP, <em>Sound Castles<\/em> the following year. Sweet and Pierce were prolific, writing and recording other tunes that wouldn&#8217;t see release for many years. One of those was this tune, eventually featured on the 2002 compilation <em>To Understand: The Early Recordings of Matthew Sweet<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WMruziE4DBE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cCortez the Killer\u201d from <em>Goodfriend<\/em> (1992)<\/strong><br \/>\nSweet released his breakthrough album, <em>Girlfriend<\/em>, in 1991. A promotional-only companion set called <em>Goodfriend<\/em> was pressed on CD and distributed by Sweet\u2019s label; it included alternate versions of <em>Girlfriend<\/em> songs plus rare bonus tracks. One was this, a live recording featuring guests the Indigo Girls, covering the Neil Young and Crazy Horse classic from 1975. <em>Goodfriend<\/em> eventually received commercial release as a bonus disc on the 2006 Legacy reissue of <em>Girlfriend<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oDiL1pXO84U\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cScooby Doo, Where Are You?\u201d from <em>Saturday Morning: Cartoons\u2019 Greatest Hits<\/em> (1995)<\/strong><br \/>\nSweet has long been a fan and intelligent consumer of pop culture. His work as a member of Mike Myers\u2019 Ming Tea (on the track \u201cBBC\u201d) was a highlight of the first Austin Powers film. But two years before that, Sweet lent his talents to an all-star collection of remakes of classic cartoon themes. Alongside performances by the Ramones, Liz Phair, Violent Femmes and Tripping Daisy, Sweet\u2019s reading of \u201cScooby Doo, Where Are You?\u201d is a highlight of the album.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8uLjQBXdJyQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew Sweet embodies the best qualities of what is known as power pop. His inerrant sense of melody, knowing way with a hook, accessible lyrics and superb taste in musical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1433],"class_list":["post-26199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-matthew-sweet","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26200,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26199\/revisions\/26200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}