Living Things

Matthew Sweet | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 7, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Racm Records
• ASIN: B0002MPQPU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,991 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "Living Things" feels "lifeless", June 15, 2005

By 

Peter Lavezzoli (Ft. Lauderdale, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living Things (Audio CD)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars he's back, September 29, 2004

By 

Bob Schwoch (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Living Things (Audio CD)

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.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Sweet" success on experimental "Living Things", November 4, 2004

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Living Things (Audio CD)

It sounds like everyone else wanted to hear Matthew Sweet recreate the old stuff. An artist moves on, experiments and tries not to repeat the same thing over and over again. "Living Things" is full of experimental touches but the songwriting is as strong as ever. Sweet's latest album is a concept album about nature and all the wonder that surrounds us every day that we take for granted.

The use of the steel drum on the opening track "The Big Cats of Shambala" kind of surprised me. " It immediately reminded me of Harry Nilsson's "Sandman" which did many of the same things Sweet tries here. "You're Not Sorry" has the same feel as John Lennon's ballad "Jealous Guy" with a beautiful melody highlighted by lovely piano playing by Van Dyke Parks. "Danelion" has a snarky bass part and piano part that builds into something that might have sounded at home from the "Smile" sessions or "Magical Mystery Tour". That's not to say it's derivative--Sweet plays with melody much as Brian Wilson or Lennon & McCartney might. The only truly weak track I felt was "Cats Vs. Dogs".

"In My Time" uses the guitars to build interesting backing textures against a strong power pop melody. "Sunlight" with a touch of organ that wouldn't have been out of place on an album by The Band but with jangly guitar playing pulls the album towards its conclusion. Like "Good Day Sunshine" this song captures the feel of a glorious spring day. "Season is Over" slides along on a simple but melodic guitar part. The final track "Tomorrow" uses mandolins and accordians in much the same way that the steel drums are used on the opening track--to accent the music and add a slighly different otherworldly feel to a traditional melody. The song wouldn't have sounded out of place on The Thorns album that Sweet did a couple of years ago. With echoes of The Byrds, The Band and Big Star, it concludes this fine concept album on a strong musical and lyrical note.

With excellent playing, songcraft and killer harmony vocals, Sweet crafts one of his most winning albums since "Girlfriend" and "In Reverse". It's the same Matthew Sweet sound trying on some new clothes to give that sound a revitalized quality. It works.