Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, Under the Covers, Vol. 1

reviewed by j.d. lafrance

For years now, Matthew Sweet has been the best kept secret in rock ‘n’ roll, quietly yet confidently producing one solid popular rock album after another. He came close to mainstream acceptance with Girlfriend, which actually spawned a top 10 single. His follow-up album Altered Beast saw Sweet relegated to the margins once again while still maintaining a small, but dedicated following of fans. He has continued to make albums and his latest, Under the Covers, Vol. 1, has him teaming up with ex-Bangles singer/guitarist Susanna Hoffs. They had collaborated previously in a band called Ming Tea along with Mike Myers, contributing music for the all of the Austin Powers movies.

This 1960s influenced style of music would foreshadow this new project, which is a collection of covers from the decade (with the exception of the Bee Gees’ “Run To Me,” which came out in 1971), including originals by musicians such as Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Neil Young and the Mamas and the Papas. With their extensive background in pop music, Hoffs and Sweet have the ideal voices for these songs and harmonize beautifully on tracks like “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “The Kids Are Alright.”

They transform Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl” from a feedback drenched, hard rocker into a more polished, yet still guitar-heavy (how could it not be?) song with some excellent guitar work from Richard Lloyd. It’s hard to forget The Damned’s cover of “Love’s Alone Again Or,” but Hoffs’ breathy vocals ably supported by Sweet’s proves to be one of the album’s many highlights. While it isn’t nearly as haunting as The Damned’s version, it is still quite good in its own right.

One of my favorite Beach Boys songs is given a pretty faithful workout as Hoffs and Sweet manage to capture the lost summer days feel of “The Warmth of the Sun.” Close your eyes and you can almost feel yourself transported to the warm beaches of Hawaii. Hoffs’ vocals are front and center on the cover of “Sunday Morning,” which has that melancholic, hungover feeling. The two musicians tackle Neil Young again (and even more successfully) on an insanely catchy cover of “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” that manages to capture the country vibe of the original while punching up the pop melodies in the chorus.

Some skeptics may scoff at this blatant attempt to recapture a retro feeling. but in this day and age when so many forgettable bands fight for that hit single to be downloaded off if iTunes and catapult them to the 15 minutes of fame, there is something refreshing about this album that goes against the grain. While it is true that Hoffs and Sweet don’t reinvent any of these songs radically. that really isn’t the point of this collection. Rather, they aim to pay tribute to many of their favorite songs and in doing so have created an ideal album to listen to during those hazy, lazy days of summer or the perfect soundtrack for a road trip with the windows down and the volume cranked.

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