Entertainment, March 7, 1997
By Josh Werner, Entertainment Staff
Six years after the release of Matthew Sweet's breakthrough album Girlfriend, he reaffirms his position as the master of the pop song with Blue Sky on Mars. While Blue Sky's end product is another successful collection of pop hits, the methods used to achieve this goal are quite different from Sweet's previous albums.
One large change in the music of Blue Sky on Mars is the presence of keyboards. Sweet experimented with them on his first two albums with unfavorable results, but their use here is a definite improvement on past attempts. The influence of keyboards is most noticeable on the album's first single, "Where You Get Love," which is an upbeat tune that contains some addictive hooks.
Another subtle change is the clarity of the music. Distortion on Blue Sky is clean (if there is such a thing), helping make all vocals and instruments identifiable. This improves the quality of the entire album, especially on such songs as "Come to California," a cut that has obvious surf rock influences; "Over It," an energetic song under two minutes; and "Back to You," a song about (strangely enough) coming back to someone.
While both the keyboards and the clarity are welcome improvements, one change has a negative effect on Blue Sky: the absence of previous Sweet album mainstays Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine.
This change was explained by Sweet himself, who stated, "There's less lead guitar abandon on this record; it may be my simplest one yet. I tried to go for something a bit different from my last records." However, the lack of either Lloyd's or Quine's characteristic guitar solos makes some areas of the album seem bland, lacking some energy when compared to previous Sweet discs.
Despite the lack of strong guitar solos, Blue Sky on Mars is a very good album. It is, in the simplest sense, pure pop. The strength of the album lies greatly in the fact that there is no one bad song on it, and it contains two true pop gems with "Into Your Drug" and "Where You Get Love." Overall, this album is a must have for any fan of Sweet or of the true pop song.
April 6, 1997
By Brian McCollum
Hand this much to Matthew Sweet: The guy knows how to write sticky songs. Even when they're thumping with heavy-handed chunk -- a familiar Sweet stamp that here marks mid-tempo tunes like "Come to California" and "Back to You" -- the stuff adheres to the ears like bubblegum on an August sidewalk. This is Sweet's second album with hard-rock producer Brendan O'Brien, his first this decade without the electric, spidery guitar leads of Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine, and his last on the Zoo label, which was just acquired by Volcano Entertainment. Aside from two of the most languid moments Sweet has laid onto tape ("Hollow," "Until You Break"), it features the same sublime thrust that moved 1995's 100% Fun to the top of that year's rock pile. The sound is newly smoothed in spots by wide keyboards and chirping synths, but O'Brien and Sweet let the requisite stream of raspy guitars keep the edges unsanded. Sweet's recent ventures into jingle writing (Coca-Cola) and his prolific appearances on soundtrack and novelty albums might make him suspect in the minds of demanding rock purists. But on Blue Sky, longtime fans will get just what Sweet has deftly delivered for five albums now: thick, sinewy power pop loaded with sweet-and-sour laments, teeming with immediacy and monster hooks.
FFWD Weekly
By Mike Bell
Sweet's sixth album produced by himself with the help of Brendan O'Brien. Long-time guitarist and Sweet collaborator Richard Lloyd is noticeably absent and not at all missed. Asking Matthew Sweet to better his 1991 album Girlfriend would be like asking the blessed mother of our Lord and Saviour if she wouldn't mind squeezing out another one, except could this one fly? Saccharin sacrilege and utterly impossible. Until now.
Sweet's latest release Blue Sky On Mars is the best pop record of the '90s not released by XTC or Teenage Fanclub. Yes, it's better than Girlfriend. Maybe not immediately, but after each repeated listen - which is deliciously unavoidable - the cool, brilliance of Mars becomes clearer.
With two slow and 10 fast tracks, Sweet spends less time on his knees and more time up in space exploring everyone from The Raspberries and the Beach Boys to E.L.O. and Abba, with even a little Loverboy synth thrown in for good measure. Every song is a hit single. Every song is a perfectly-crafted pop music gem. There are no wasted moments or frivolous extras.
Clocking in at 36 minutes and 36 seconds (popologists have, coincidentally enough, calculated the perfect song length to be exactly three minutes and three seconds), the question is: how much more full could this album get? With gorgeous guitars. With classic melodies. With catchy hooks. With memorable choruses. The answer is: none. None more full.
Thank the Lord. The flying one.
Wall of Sound
By Gary Graff
What's this? Roger Dean lettering on a Matthew Sweet album cover? Is the veteran power-popper turning into Yes? Thankfully, no; Dean's artwork is merely a joking nod to prog-rock on Sweet's new album. In fact, Blue Sky on Mars runs just thirty-six minutes, not much longer in total than a single song on Yes efforts like Tales From Topographic Oceans. Musically, Sweet stands a world apart from those turgid shores, as Mars offers tight, crunchy pop songs built on snappy guitar hooks, layered vocal harmonies, stick-to-your-ears choruses, and the well-crafted production sheen of Brendan O'Brien. Sweet even manages a sly reference to his big hit, "Girlfriend," in the chorus of "Behind the Smile": "I haven't been a good friend/ For a long, long time.'' Clever boy. When it all clicks, these songs are something to behold; "Hollow," "Where You Get Love," "Missing Time," and the Beach Boys-go-grunge boogie "Come to California" belong on Sweet's A-list. But Mars also comes off as a transitional album, as he has dropped ace guitar pals Robert Quine and Richard Lloyd from the mix, and he still seems to be formulating a new direction now that he's taken on those chores himself. And with its short running time, even if half the songs do work Sweet still delivers a meager fifteen to twenty minutes of top-flight tunes. That hardly ruins Mars, but it's notable enough to hamper the proceedings.
CMJ New Music Report, April 10, 1997
By James Lien
Ever since winning hearts over with Girlfriend, Matthew Sweet has been in a real dilemma: He's too popular to really cut it as a cult artist, but not quite populist enough to be considered alongside American heritage rockers like Neil Young or Tom Petty. The arrival of Blue Sky On Mars could represent the moment when Sweet finally hits that right-place-right-time confluence that will take him to an even larger audience; rather than slotting him into one or the other of the categories we've described, he's rather savvily inventing his own niche. For one thing, Blue Sky On Mars both takes a back-to-basics approach and marks a new direction: whereas in the past, Sweet kicked out the jams in the Beatles-ish, '60s kind of way, now he's going full-bore into rock'n'roll. This is the sound of a band rocking out, played on plain gear with fellow Southerner Brendan O'Brien at the production helm. Few of the songs feature anything other than guitars in the arrangements (although occasionally a Rentals-ish analog keyboard will stick its robotic head into the mix), and even the flanging and frills - along with Sweet's trademark harmony vocals - are kept to a relative minimum. This makes for a great straight-up record that Carl Sagan would no doubt have rocked out to. Put that in your high-gain antenna and beam these tunes back to earth: "Behind The Smile," "Where You Get Love," "Heaven And Earth" (another probable Sagan fave) and "Missing Time."
The Detroit News, April 21, 1997
By Tom Long
Listening to a Matthew Sweet album is like taking a short course in pop music history. Each song contains bits and pieces of other artists scattered throughout. Luckily they all contain enough Matthew Sweet to stand on their own.
There are the straight ahead rhythms of John Lennon in "Come to California," the lilting Beach Boy pipe organ breaks in "Back to You," and Cars-like synthesizers whistling through "Where You Get Love." And catch that early Neil Young guitar tone on "Hollow."
Raspberries, Rundgren, ELO, it's like the world's biggest influences party; everybody's invited. Even Bobby Goldsboro is probably buried in there somewhere. (OK, admittedly, there are very few Hair Metal touches on exhibit here. But that's probably a good thing).
Luckily, Sweet has almost perfect control over all these influences. Unlike so many Britpop bands that seem to be directly copping their forebears' moves, Sweet is integrating what's gone before into his own vision. He's not leaning on other folks' music, he's learning from it.
Sweet may not have a breakout single like "Girlfriend" on Blue Sky On Mars, but he should have more than enough solid music to give fans their money's worth and make novices listen up.
Perfect little pop nuggets like "Over It" offer immediate accessibility, but there's enough going on here to hold interest.
Sweet is just short of being a one-man band - drummer Stuart Johnson and - producer/guitarist/keyboardist Brendan O'Brien fill out most of these tracks - and besides being a surprisingly good guitarist now that he's taken up lead chores, he actually knows how to use synthesizers, a too-rare skill these days.
Matthew Sweet won't make you see God, but he'll sure show you a good time on Blue Sky. And good times are always worth seeking out.
By John Everson
A couple weeks ago I was in a local record store and Steve, a friend of mine (and the store manager) said that Blue Sky on Mars was the best pop album of the year. At the time, I couldn't agree or disagree -- I hadn't heard it yet (though I had admired the Viking II Lander photo that graces its cover). But for the past 10 days I've been allowing its bright rock and poignant ballads to threaten the continued health of my car stereo speakers.
It's premature to call this the best pop album of the year. But it is pretty darn good. Sweet has pulled out all the stops in the recording of this, his sixth disc. Blue Sky on Mars is full of glossy piano and string backgrounds, shimmering vocal harmonies, and of course, that organic, crunchy throwback guitar sound that landed "I've Been Waiting" and "Divine Intervention" from Girlfriend all over the radio a half dozen years ago. Sweet also lives up to his name in the melody and hooks department on Blue Sky on Mars (not that any of his records have been very shy about that). Opening with the infectious, bubbling riff of "Come to California," (one of his catchiest tracks ever) he then moves into the Beach Boys-clean "why fight it" love song of "Back to You":
"I'll tell you anything
but what is true
no sense in giving in
I'm coming back to you."
"Hollow" moves in a darker, moodier landscape than much of the CD, with a slinky bassline and a musically spare verse before kicking in with its cautionary chorus: "an evil bigger than you could know/has taken root."
"Behind The Smile" takes a place beside the best of Girlfriend's
confessional lyrics. Atop a bouncing, Badfinger "Baby Blue"-inspired
guitar riff Sweet apologizes for something every friend has been guilty
of at one time or anther:
"I haven't been a good friend
for a long long time
I haven't been a good friend
while you've been mine."
"Until You Break," a song about "wearing down" the pride of a possible lover, is also reminiscient of Girlfriend, with its quiet acoustic guitar strums, decorative piano and harmony-rich meandering vocals.
"Over It" kicks Blue Sky out of the melancholy of "Until You Break" with a grin and and wild minute and a half of tasty electric guitar.
There's a bit of Lindsay Buckingham-inspired guitar on "Into Your Drug" (along with a cowbell and some other spacey sound effects) and some more Badfinger nodding in the descending riff of "Make Believe." It all closes out with three minutes of gorgeous pop in "Missing Time," a warm love affair of blue guitar, softly chorded piano and Sweet's smoothest vocals.
Nostalgic while staying current, bursting with pop but avoiding the indigestion of schmaltz, this disc will certainly top many people's "best of the year" lists in 1997. Matthew Sweet has yet to make a bad album, but Blue Sky on Mars is without a doubt one of his best.
By Claudia Sossi
First of all, let me say that Matthew Sweet's latest release should win some kind of award for using pictures from Viking's trip to Mars as it's cover art. It is great to see these pictures again as they are truly breathtaking. Secondly, the CD that they decorate just happens to be what will probably be one of the year's finest releases, and possibly one of the greatest pop releases of the last 15 years.
To say that Matthew Sweet is on a roll is an understatement. After all, fans and critics alike were going wild for his Girlfriend CD over six years ago. Since then, pop lovers have been able to enjoy Altered Beast, 100% Fun, and a multitude of compilation tracks that would have to indicate that Matthew Sweet has got to be one of the busiest men in rock and roll. (Of course, you've heard his wonderful version of Scooby-Doo). Now, Sweet has released what may very well be the finest album of his impressive career.
There are actually a few things at work that makes this something of a surprise. Always known for working with stellar guitar players such as Robert Quine and Richard Lloyd, Blue Sky On Mars finds Sweet very impressively handling all of the guitar chores himself. Actually, outside imput is kept at a bare minimum, with Sweet, producer Brendan O'Brian, and drummer Rick Menck handling almost all of the noise-making themselves. As one might expect, this has led to Blue Sky On Mars being one of Sweet's most tightly focussed releases.
But enough about the musicianship, what really make Blue Sky On Mars such a treat is the top-notch songwriting that we've come to expect. From the laid-back feel of "Come To California" to the playfullness of "Over It," Sweet continues to explore the many facets of pop and rock and roll, convincing us that he was born to play each style. Of particular note is the almost new-wave sound of "Where You Get Love," which contains the "I-can't-believe-no-one-thought-of-this-sooner" line of "Am I the whore, You're working for...". Of course, love found, lost, perverted, and celebrated are the reccurring themes on this set. Predictable perhaps, but if it ain't broke...
As with all of Sweet's releases since Girlfriend, there is always hope that he may spur a return of sorts for pure power-pop. With that in mind, Sweet fans should make a point of seeking out releases by bands such as Sloan, Loveless, and the always impressive and still-at-it Shoes if they haven't already.
In the meantime, pop fans can be rest-assured that Sweet's latest does not dissappoint. Let's hope that the album's fun 2001-inspired photographs are an indication that Sweet will continue putting out releases at least half as good as this one until that year.
By Barbara Restaino
If there's one thing I've always liked about Matthew Sweet, it's his style - honest, energetic, real. And from the Japanamated "Girlfriend" video to the simple turbulence of Altered Beast to the picture of him as a little kid on the cover of 100% Fun, there's always been a hook. And now he's got this space discovery thing going on with Blue Sky On Mars. The cover art includes photos of Sweet in a bubble helmet and of Mars from Viking Landers 1 and 2 (one of a desolate, blue-gray Martian sunset).
The space theme continues beyond the packaging as Sweet explores different worlds - imagine Speed Racer, but in outer space, zipping around planets and asteroid fields, listening to guitar-fronted pop melodies on his headphones. But then Speed listens a little closer and realizes he's surrounded by the weird astro-sounds of the cosmos. These unearthly sounds, provided by keyboards and synthesizers, remain secondary to clean, pure Sweet-style guitars. You'd think the effect might add more noise or confusion to the songs, but it seems to round them out by making you aware of the silence, of the timely pause. You can hear the distance between the vocals and guitars, between the keyboards and drums (which, by the way, are great for air-drumming). While the album is beautifully complex, its essence is simplicity.
The first three songs on Blue Sky On Mars ("Come to California," "Back to You," and "Where You Get Love") are perfect examples of the Matthew Sweet fun, radiant song, the ones packed with those catchy, great for listening to when you're driving for the sake of driving, melodies. Other songs, such as "Behind the Smile," have a bittersweet, yearning quality (your head bops from side to side rather than up and down).
Like his previous albums, Blue Sky On Mars ,although exhibiting a polished sound, has a home demo quality, especially on slower, more acoustic songs like "Missing Times" and "Until You Break," which is augmented by an electric harpsichord, played by co-producer Brendan O'Brien. He also plays keyboard and synth, and some of the more extraterrestrial characteristics on songs like "Heaven and Earth" and "Into Your Drug" seem to have been O'Brien's influence. The expanded universe of Matthew Sweet takes another step towards infinity.
XTRA
On Nebraskan Matthew Sweet's new album, the spirit of Brian Jones has found a home. And this isn't just because the record opens with a song called "Come to California." Like a lot of the album 's great tunes, this song is very much in a style close to that of the Beach Boys; simple harmonies, sing-a-long chorus, generally a nice pop song. And perhaps because Sweet recorded this sixth album in sunny Los Angeles, Blue Sky on Mars has a much happier feel than his other releases.
The other change in style evident on this release is a more simpler sound. Not only does the album clock in at a little over 36 minutes (no time for sprawling 10 minute epics here), Sweet has also cut back on hired help. Gone are regular contributors Richard Lloyd (Television) and Robert Quine (Lou Reed). Sweet does all the guitar work himself with impressive economy.
It's often said - probably too often - that this muso or that deserves more fame and respect for their work than they currently get. Matthew Sweet certainly does. He's without doubt one of the finest songwriters on the contemporary music landscape.