This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Talk about an altered beast.
On his first North American disc since 1999’s In Reverse, power-pop icon Matthew Sweet plays it cool. And quieter than he ever has before. Unplugging his guitar, striking a laid-back pose and recruiting a posse of pals — including the magnificent Van Dyke Parks on piano, organ and accordion — Sweet serves up an acoustic-based slate of jangly melody and shimmering harmony more akin to his work with The Thorns than the Big Star crunch of his youth. Think of it as power-pop. Minus the power, of course.
