Matthew Sweet: To Understand: The Early Recordings : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Before Matthew Sweet broke through with the dirty power-pop classic Girlfriend, in 1991, he had spent years bouncing around the indie-rock circuit from Lincoln, Nebraska (with his band the Buzz of Delight), to Athens, Georgia, to New York (where he made two solo records and played with Lloyd Cole and the Golden Palominos). This jam-packed disc, with comprehensive liner notes by Sweet's buddy Jeff Calder, has well-chosen servings of the Buzz of Delight, both of those solo albums and some rarities. Most of the tracks here are a bit synth-heavy and lack the self-assured crunch of Sweet's later work, but "When I Feel Again" is a lost gem. There's also one enchanting track from Community Trolls, Sweet's collaboration with R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe. "Tainted Obligation" has Sweet on guitar and Stipe on accordion -- and harmonies as pretty as you can imagine.

GAVIN EDWARDS
(RS 908 - October 31, 2002)