Personnel include: Matthew Sweet (vocals, guitar); Greg Leisz (guitars); Peter Phillips (acoustic guitar); Van Dyke Parks (keyboards); Tony Marsico (double bass); Ric Menck (drums). Recording information: Matthew Sweet Home Studio, Los Angeles, CA (2002). Casual observers might think that alt-rocker/power-popper Matthew Sweet simply fell off the map after his early-1990s success. In mainstream commercial terms there's some credence to that notion, but artistically, nothing could be further from the truth. Though he began to slip underneath the radar sometime in the late '90s, Sweet never stopped releasing melodic pop gems, as 2004's LIVING THINGS bears out. Gone are Sweet's days of dirtying up his sweet tunes with chaotic lead guitar work from the likes of Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine. Around the turn of the decade, he started trafficking in a more lush, sparkling sound. The presence of Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks on keyboards and Velvet Crush's Ric Menck on drums should be a clue to the elegant, polished pop direction of LIVING THINGS. There's a bit of rock crunch to a few of the songs, but for the most part, this is a gracefully unfolding batch of fetching melodies, artfully framed and lovingly rendered for those to whom "pop" still means something more beautiful than what's on the Top 40.

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Personnel include: Matthew Sweet (vocals, guitar); Greg Leisz (guitars); Peter Phillips (acoustic guitar); Van Dyke Parks (keyboards); Tony Marsico (double bass); Ric Menck (drums). Recording information: Matthew Sweet Home Studio, Los Angeles, CA (2002). Casual observers might think that alt-rocker/power-popper Matthew Sweet simply fell off the map after his early-1990s success. In mainstream commercial terms there's some credence to that notion, but artistically, nothing could be further from the truth. Though he began to slip underneath the radar sometime in the late '90s, Sweet never stopped releasing melodic pop gems, as 2004's LIVING THINGS bears out. Gone are Sweet's days of dirtying up his sweet tunes with chaotic lead guitar work from the likes of Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine. Around the turn of the decade, he started trafficking in a more lush, sparkling sound. The presence of Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks on keyboards and Velvet Crush's Ric Menck on drums should be a clue to the elegant, polished pop direction of LIVING THINGS. There's a bit of rock crunch to a few of the songs, but for the most part, this is a gracefully unfolding batch of fetching melodies, artfully framed and lovingly rendered for those to whom "pop" still means something more beautiful than what's on the Top 40.