Spin Magazine, October 16, 2000
By Beth Wawerna
Not for real, silly. The official god of power-pop wizardry, Matthew Sweet, is about to release his first-ever greatest hits disc, titled Time Capsule: The Best of Matthew Sweet 1990 - 2000. The 18-track disc spans Sweet's pretty long career with the Zoo/Volcano label, including songs from 1993's Altered Beast, 1995's 100% Fun, and what was likely one of the most infectious albums of the past decade, 1991's Girlfriend. Girlfriend featured the guitar work of Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine, and spawned songs like "Divine Intervention," "Girlfriend," and "I've Been Waiting." And what's more, the album includes two brand new tracks, "Ready" and "So Far," previously unreleased. Time Capsule marks Sweet's first album to come out since 1999's In Reverse, his seventh studio album. The man can write a damn fine pop song.
01. Divine Intervention
02. I've Been Waiting
03. Girlfriend
04. You Don't Love Me
05. Time Capsule
06. The Ugly Truth (Acoustic Version)
07. Devil With The Green Eyes
08. Someone To Pull The Trigger
09. Sick Of Myself
10. We're The Same
11. Where You Get Love
12. Until You Break
13. Behind The Smile
14. If Time Permits
15. What Matters
16. Hide
17. Ready
18. So Far
MTV.com, October 17, 2000
By Sorelle Saidman
Canada's Delerium is currently finishing up a new album which features guest vocals from Matthew Sweet, Sixpence None The Richer frontwoman Leigh Nash, and the Mediaeval Baebes, among others.
Delerium, an ambient pop project conceived and anchored by Bill Leeb with occasional help from his former Front Line Assembly bandmate Rhys Fulber and longtime studio cohort Greg Reely, has recorded close to a dozen albums since its inception in 1986, mostly for the Nettwerk label.
Nettwerk is the Canadian home of Sarah McLachlan, who teamed up with Delerium for the club hit "Silence," which was released on Delerium's 1997 album "Karma." Remixes of the song were recently packaged on a commercial single in the U.S. with a new Delerium track, "Aria," that features the U.K's Mediaeval Baebes.
Currently "Silence," which was prominently featured in the trailer and on the soundtrack for the 1999 film "Brokedown Palace," is enjoying overseas airplay, with the single sitting at number three on the U.K. singles chart.
The new Delerium album, titled Poem, is due out on November 21 through Nettwerk America and will include the group's first-ever collaboration with a male vocalist, Sweet.
Billboard Magazine, October 21, 2000
By Chuck Taylor
Longtime modern rock and college radio fave Matthew Sweet has released Time Capsule: The Best Of Matthew Sweet 1990-2000, a hits set chronicling his decade of recordings, featuring 16 classics and two previously unreleased tracks. "So Far," the fantastic leadoff single, might be the breakout tune to take Sweet mainstream after all these years. The guitarist/bassist/singer's knack for writing a catchy melody is coupled here pith a mainstream accessibility.
Unlike some of his past hits, such as the crossover "Sick Of Myself," which had a more alternative feel, this single is pop-ready. The luscious chorus features Sweet's falsetto backed by his own multitracked background vocals. "So Far " is a no-brainer for hot AC and modern AC, but it has just enough guitar to appeal to his fans at modern rock. It'd be great to see Sweet break through to the mainstream the way Ben Harper did earlier this year and this should be the tune to make it happen.
Wall of Sound, October 20, 2000
By Lynne Margolis
Imagine John Lennon were still here? It's pointless if you try. There's no way we could fathom what Lennon would think or do or feel if he were with us today, but a new exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum at least allows us to reflect on - and celebrate - the man he was.
"Lennon: His Life and Work," the first major overview of the former Beatle's life shown in America, opened Thursday night with a gala party attended by Yoko Ono, who donated most of the exhibit's contents, and Jann Wenner, the Rolling Stone publisher who knew Lennon well. Billy Preston, who appeared on the Beatles' Let It Be, performed, along with Cyndi Lauper, Matthew Sweet, and Dexter Freebish, recent winners of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
After delivering a long, piercing primal scream ("Sorry. I just had to clear my throat," she deadpanned), Ono greeted the 1,200 partygoers, telling them that her husband was a modest person who would be flattered that people wanted to remember him.
Timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of his Oct. 9 birthday and the 20th anniversary of his Dec. 8 death, the three-floor exhibit examines his family life with Ono and their son, Sean, as well as his professional life and his music. The artifacts range from photographs, art, and clothing to strikingly singular images: the paper bag containing the clothes he was wearing when he was murdered, accompanied by his blood-smeared glasses; the acoustic "Bed-in" guitar, embellished with the now-familiar sketched images of John and Yoko's heads together; and the original lyrics to "In My Life," recently named the "Greatest Song of All Time" by Mojo magazine. The words are scrawled on a manila envelope and hung near a speaker playing the song.
Orchestrated by Ono, the installation skimps on Lennon's Beatle era and practically ignores his years with first wife Cynthia and son Julian. But the inventively designed multimedia displays nonetheless prompt viewers to consider the significance of Lennon's life, particularly the final 15 years, when he nearly convinced the entire world that all we needed was love and it was possible to give peace a chance.
"John was a very public person, and he stood for peace and he stood for music," Ono said during an afternoon press conference. "He was not only a songwriter [and] singer, he was music, but also he was a revolution. He was a revolution that changed the world."
"There is no more important person or artist that we will have in this museum as long as this building stands," added museum president and CEO Terry Stewart. Robert Whitaker, who conceived and photographed the famed "butcher" album cover for Yesterday and Today, called the Cleveland exhibit "a remarkable tribute to Yoko via John." He said it had nothing to do with the Beatles, but pronounced it exceptionally well presented and a credit to the staff.
Ono did include two of her own works: "Telephone Peace," a "talking sculpture" phone on which she'll occasionally call to speak with museum visitors, and what is possibly the most moving exhibit item of all — a "wishing tree" on which visitors hang their handwritten sentiments. Among them were these:
"I wish he had taken a different route home that day."
"I hope you're just watching the wheels go 'round and 'round."
"I wish love ruled the world! Thank you for your vision."
"I wish I could have listened to more great songs from John."
Matthew Sweet and Sixpence None the Richer's Leigh Nash are among the guest vocalists on Poem, a new album by Canadian electronica act Deleium that hits stores today. Sweet tells us Delerium sent him a track a while back and asked if he would write a song over it. "It's totally not like me at all, but I just kinda liked it," he says, warning, "I'm sure my purist fans will be horrified, but it was just a fun thing and easy to do so I did it."
MTV.com, April 4, 2001
By Brian Hiatt
The Hanson brothers know that their teen-idol looks and impeccable hooks, along with their unsettling habit of, like, playing guitars, make them an anomaly in the pop-music world of 2001.
But as Hanson begin work on their third full-fledged major-label album, they don't feel trapped between pop and rock - they just feel free. And if you don't like it - well, they don't give an mmmbop.
"People have so many misconceptions about the band, and we don't care," lead singer Taylor Hanson said Monday from the brothers' family home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. "It's always cool to challenge yourselves. In some ways it liberates you to have people go, 'You suck.'" But while some older listeners may hold a grudge against Hanson for giving the world "MMMBop," and younger ones may have been perplexed by the roots-rock of last year's This Time Around, the band has more than its share of fans among fellow musicians.
They've already teamed up with power-popster Matthew Sweet to write one song for possible inclusion on their new album, and they may bring him back to co-write more, according to Taylor's brother, guitarist Isaac Hanson. The song they wrote, a midtempo ballad called "Underneath" - one of more than 30 songs Hanson have penned for the new album - came together easily.
"This writing experience with Matthew was so successful that we joked that I hate to try it again because it can only be a downer from there, because we wrote this song in four hours," Isaac said. "He had friends coming over that night at 8, and we showed up at 4 and were actually kind of late, so we started chatting with him, and he said, 'I have this chord progression for a verse,' and we're like, 'Wow, that's really cool,' and we just kind of went from there." The brothers said they also hope to do some co-writing with piano guy Ben Folds, as well as with former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, who was originally slated to produce This Time Around but left the project early on.
No matter which collaborators they ultimately choose, the brothers hope to build a bridge between the pure pop of 1997's Middle of Nowhere and their more rock-edged current sound.
"I'm never gonna be afraid of a really good pop song - I'm a fan of that great song that just gets in your head," Taylor said, citing the guitar-pop nugget "Runaway Run" from their last album as an example of the sound he's pursuing for the new one.
Taylor and Isaac, along with Hanson's third member, drummer Zac Hanson, have just begun recording sessions for the disc, laying down tracks with producer Bob Marlette, whose credits range from Tracy Chapman to Black Sabbath. But they ultimately hope to use several producers for the new album, which is slated for release before the end of the year.
While This Time Around was a commercial disappointment, the brothers said that they're more concerned with improving their chops and gaining respect than with climbing back up the charts.
"I think we're in a really weird place as a band because we are a band, and we always have been, but a lot of people don't realize that," Taylor said. "I want people to hear the name Hanson and think credible, musical, creative music. That's what people should think 'cause that's what it is - it's just about the music."
MTV.com, August 21, 2001
By Joe D'Angelo
The first-ever tribute to Paul McCartney's post-Beatles career is taking off.
Listen to What the Man Said: Popular Artists Pay Tribute to the Music of Paul McCartney, scheduled for an October 9 release, focuses on McCartney's work since leaving the Beatles, both in Wings and as a solo artist. The compilation includes interpretations by artists such as Robyn Hitchcock, Matthew Sweet, Sloan and They Might Be Giants of the former Fab Four bassist's popular hits, as well as little-known gems, according to the album's publicist.
Singer/songwriter Owsley covers the classic "Band on the Run," the title track from Wings' 1973 third album, while pop-punkers SR-71 offer their take on "My Brave Face," a tune McCartney wrote with Elvis Costello for Paul's 1989 solo album, Flowers in the Dirt. Semisonic take "Jet" for a spin, and rockers Virgos, fronted by temporary Creed bassist Brett Hestla, deliver their rendition of the heart-wrenching "Maybe I'm Amazed," from Sir Paul's 1970 solo debut, McCartney.
A companion disc of McCartney covers by lesser-known artists arrives October 23. The 15-track Coming Up: Independent Artists Pay Tribute to the Music of Paul McCartney features a few Mac nuggets, like the Andersons' version of "Temporary Secretary" (from 1980's McCartney II) and Band on the Run's "Helen Wheels" interpreted by the Shazam, alongside a trio of tunes - "Every Night" (Mark Bacino), "My Brave Face" (Star Collector) and "Maybe I'm Amazed" (Gadget White Band) - that are also covered on Listen to What the Man Said.
The LP also marks the return, after a 28-year absence, of Emitt Rhodes, who duets with Ray Paul on "Oh Woman, Oh Why." Rhodes was the frontman of late-'60s Brit-pop sound-alikes the Merry-Go-Round, whose "Pardon Me" closely resembles McCartney's Beatles composition "Fool on the Hill." He hasn't released an album since his 1973 solo LP Farewell to Paradise.
A portion of the proceeds from both albums will benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Paul's late wife Linda lost her battle with the disease in 1998.
Track list for Listen to What the Man Said: Popular Artists Pay Tribute to the Music of Paul McCartney, according to the album's publicist:
Owsley - "Band on the Run"
SR-71 - "My Brave Face"
Barenaked Ladies' Steven Page and Kevin Hearn with the Lilac Time's Stephen Duffy - "Junk"
Semisonic - "Jet"
The Merrymakers - "No More Lonely Nights"
Robyn Hitchcock - "Let Me Roll It"
Finn Brothers - "Too Many People"
The Minus 5 - "Dear Friend"
Matthew Sweet - "Every Night"
Sloan - "Waterfalls"
World Party - "Man We Was Lonely"
The John Faye Power Trip - "Coming Up"
Virgos - "Maybe I'm Amazed"
Judybats - "Love in Song"
Linus of Hollywood - "Warm and Beautiful"
They Might Be Giants - "Ram On"
Track list for Coming Up: Independent Artists Pay Tribute to the Music of Paul McCartney:
Starbelly - "Let 'Em In"
The Jellybricks - "Take It Away"
Mark Bacino - "Every Night"
Cliff Hillis - "This One"
Star Collector - "My Brave Face"
The Andersons - "Temporary Secretary"
Kyf Brewer - "Mull of Kintyre"
The Masticators - "With a Little Luck"
Phil Keaggy - "Somedays"
Michael Carpenter - "Getting Closer"
Gadget White Band - "Maybe I'm Amazed"
The Shazam - "Helen Wheels"
Ray Paul with Emitt Rhodes - "Oh Woman, Oh Why"
Cherry Twister - "Another Day"
Cockeyed Ghost - "Back on My Feet"