Matthew Sweet has always had a bit of fun naming his albums: He called his last one Blue Sky on Mars after the climax in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall and the previous one 100% Fun because critics claimed he wasn't having any. Now, Sweet seems to be baiting critics once again with the title for his forthcoming record, In Reverse, which practically begs disparagement.

Overall, Sweet has never been at the top of critics' hit lists. His 1991 album Girlfriend is considered a landmark alterna-pop album, and subsequent hits like "Sick of Myself," "We're the Same" and "Where You Get Love" have helped the singer-guitarist sustain a relatively successful career. By Sweet's account, In Reverse reflects a marked change in sound, with the employment of a Phil Spector-style recording atmosphere on songs like "If Time Permits" and "I Should Never Have Let You Know," and a ten-minute-plus medley ("Thunderstorm"), which features up to fifteen musicians playing simultaneously. Last month, Sweet told Rolling Stone.com, "[the album's] not really slick in a modern record kind of way. It's really old-fashioned because it's big and fat and kind of direct, but it's been a really fun record to make and I have a good feeling about it."

In Reverse is scheduled for release Sept. 28 on the BMG-distributed Volcano/Jive label. Sweet will launch a promotional tour in support of the album.

BLAIR R. FISCHER
(July 20, 1999)