Monday, Jul. 08, 2013 | 08:29
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
i think i've finally nailed down the top twenty pivotal albums in my listening history. the problem is, a lot of albums have been important to me haven't led me to other artists. case in point, matthew sweet's 'girlfriend'.
for me, 'girlfriend' is a perfect album. it has slightly off-kilter pop song structures, multi-tracked vocals, and raging, intertwined guitar lines. the songs are catchy, emotional, and damn those guitars. many things attract me to a sound or album, but this was one that pulled me in and still excites me. i think twin lead guitars, especially the interplay on this album, is really cool.
the problem is, i didn't take it anywhere. i followed sweet for a couple more albums, but then my interests shifted, he put out a synthesizer-led album, and i moved on. perhaps no one else made music like this. perhaps i wasn't in a scene that followed music like this, and thus didn't know where to go next. no one showed me a way, and back in the mid-nineties i didn't know where to listen to new music that wasn't mtv or the radio. i couldn't preview other albums, and even if i could i didn't know who sounded like this.
so, two more matthew sweet albums and an ep aside, 'girlfriend' was a sound i loved that i didn't follow anywhere. maybe someday, when i return to this sound and exhaust the thrills from these four cds, i'll track down other things that sound like it. from reading the liner notes i would probably like crazy horse, a group, led by neil young, i want to pursue anyway. not as poppy, but they have the guitars.
EDIT:
after listening to more matthew sweet, and flipping through the liner notes, i realize these aren't dueling guitars, they're moving leads. sweet generally plays all rhythm electric and acoustic guitars while someone else--robertquine, richard lloyd, greg leisz, etc.--plays a lead line that keeps moving. it's not just doubling the rhythm then bursting out in solos, it's playing fills between lines. it also tends to be hard panned to one side or the other. it's possible i was thinking of lloyd's former group television and their dual guitars, or some other release that has liner notes listing left and right lead guitarists. i forget.
