Search - Matthew Sweet :: Living Things

"Living Things" feels "lifeless"

Peter Lavezzoli | Ft. Lauderdale, FL USA | 06/15/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Living Things is very disappointing. The previous CD, Kimi Ga Suki Raifu, was such a powerful collection of songs, written and recorded with such clarity and immediacy, a rock classic that is truly one of his best efforts alongside Girlfriend. Living Things is touted as Sweet's return to a fully produced, thought-out album. It even has Van Dyke Parks...so it must be a slice of Wilson-esque classic pop, like In Reverse...right? There's only one problem: the songs. Living Things rings very hollow musically, and lyrically it is hopelessly bleak, the actual opposite feeling of the album's title. This is not a sunny pop album, it is a dark series of resignations on the hopelessness of life, with almost none of Sweet's humor to balance out the darkness. It just feels like a bad head trip. I have listened intently to this disc, in various settings and states of mind, and have come up short every time. The material is lacking a heart, a center of gravity. Yes, it has all the external elements of Sweet's pop sheen: the overlaid vocals, the guitar textures, the power pop grooves. On the surface, it all sounds attractive, but underneath all the layers is empty, bleak music. It feels like "Matthew Sweet by the numbers."



Moreover, Living Things is supposed to be a more "produced" album than Kimi Ga Suki, and yet it feels sloppy and unrehearsed. Only a couple of the songs have a proper "ending" or even a fade-out. Most of the tracks sound like demos, with haphazard sloppy endings where the music abruptly cuts off as if the band were only rehearsing the song and decided to quit before the end. This is not a well produced album, to be honest it sounds unprofessional. And the fact that there is no booklet, no lyrics, also shows that Matthew wanted to put this CD out "on the cheap," which shows some disregard for his fans, in my opinion. Girlfriend, Altered Beast, 100% Fun, In Reverse, all of these discs have always had some form of lyric booklet. Even with Kimi Ga Suki Raifu, there was a booklet with liner notes by Matthew, a sense of personal involvement. But on Living Things, nothing. Just the tracklist and personnel. I detect a disinterest on Sweet's part, a lack of concern for our reaction to the sloppy song endings, the redundant material, or the lack of any liner notes or lyrics. Matthew seems essentially absent from the whole operation, from the packaging to the songs.



One reviewer compared this album to Altered Beast, which also had a more densely layered production style, a more "experimental" album than, say, Girlfriend. But at least Altered Beast still had a very high calibre of songs: Dinosaur Act, Ugly Truth, Time Capsule, Life Without You, Reaching Out, Falling. There is nothing on Living Things that stands out as a memorable song in the end. It all sounds like a series of hooks and textures that don't go anywhere. Another example of a more "produced" Sweet album is 1999's In Reverse, which has the Spector/Wilson "Wall of Sound" production on some tracks, but again, it works well because Sweet wrote a solid collection of SONGS for that album. Hide, Split Personality, I Should Never Have Let You Know, Write Your Own Song. These are all true gems in Sweet's catalog. And once again, Living Things fails to produce even ONE song that rises above the surface exterior in order to make a lasting impression. Really, I cannot think of even one song that stands on its own merits. "You're Not Sorry" and "I Saw Red" are probably the "best" tracks, but even those songs only sound like hollow imitations of much stronger material by Sweet on previous albums. He's covered all of this ground before, with much better results. For an album called "Living Things," it all sounds lifeless, a collection of dead shells. Attractive containers with nothing inside."

He's back

Bob Schwoch | Milwaukee, WI USA | 09/29/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm surprised at some of the poor reviews here. Yeah, the steel drums are a bit much, and through the first few tracks I was only intrigued. But as soon as I heard "Push the Feelings" this disc felt like a reunion with an old friend, and it continued in that vein pretty much all the way to the terrific closing track. If you think "100% Fun" is the quintessential Matthew Sweet album, like I do, there's a good chance you'll love this CD too. I hope people give it a fair chance."

Living Things Live

D. Fowler | Canada | 05/17/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On hearing Matthew would be playing in Toronto, I ran out and bought a copy of "Living Things". I was disappointed to the point where I thought I would skip his live show. Luckily my wife insisted we go. Matthew looked a mess. The band was 3 guitars, a bass, and drum. The volume and the feedback were way up and they burnt through blistering renditions of almost all of "Living Things" plus his other big hits. From that moment on I have loved "Living Things". So if you find "Living Things" disappointing you need to just catch Matthew playing it live. It will rock for you after that."