If Matthew Sweet wasn’t recognized as an artist with his first
two solo albums, then his works like
Girlfriend and
Altered Beast set the record straight for a lot of people.
Tracks like “Girlfriend,” “Time Capsule” and “Devil With The Green
Eyes” got significant alternative radio attention – though,
strangely, his first two albums have still been ignored. (I’ll
freely admit I have yet to buy them – hey,
you
try running this on a budget of zero!)
Whether
Son Of Altered Beast was meant to be a stop-gap until Sweet
could deliver the next full-length album or was supposed to be a
thank-you release for the fans is a moot point. What this
seven-song EP does is re-affirm Sweet’s power as a songwriter and
as a performer.
The one previously released track, “Devil With The Green Eyes,”
is still a great song, though I honestly can’t tell much of a
difference between the original version and this “remix”. It also
has been some time since I dug
Altered Beast out of the Pierce Memorial Archives, so I’ll
gladly plead a little ignorance on this part. The interchange of
Sweet’s vocals and rhythm guitar lines with the solo work of Robert
Quine is what captures this track for me. (Also not to be taken
lightly is Sweet’s bass work.)
The only other studio track on Son Of Altered Beast,
“Ultrasuede,” is a song that is a lot of fun to listen to, but is
also one that honestly wouldn’t have fit in with the mood that made
up
Altered Beast. Maybe it would have made the cut on
Girlfriend, but that’s just speculation. It’s not the
greatest track that Sweet has written and performed, but it’s
hardly one that deserved to stay in the can.
The remainder of
Son Of Altered Beast shows the power of Sweet’s live shows,
with tracks taken from San Juan Capistrano and Washington, DC.
“Superdeformed” is performed so well, I wouldn’t have thought it
was a live track until I heard the crowd noise at the end of the
track. Also deserving of your attention are “I Wanted To Tell You”
and “Knowing People”.
“Don’t Cry No Tears” is an okay track, but is not one I would
rank as a must-include on a live album. (I would have been more
interested to hear a live version of “Time Capsule”, to be honest.)
The other track, “Someone To Pull The Trigger,” is a surprise
inclusion, as it is a more plodding, dark track that seems to sap
the energy from the moment. Had it been put later on the album, it
might have been more memorable; but to have it follow two strong
tracks, it tends to do the tape an injustice.
Son Of Altered Beast is one of those albums that can be
called a “for diehard fans only” release; it enhances Sweet’s
discography rather than bulks it up. But if you even mildly enjoyed
Sweet’s work up to that point in his career, then adding
Son Of Altered Beast to your collection is a pretty good
move.
