Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs : Under The Covers Vol. 1

There are lots of reasons why I was looking forward to this disk...number one being Matthew Sweet. Number two being the tracks they recorded and number three, well, I'm not a huge Susanna Hoff's fan, but I was curious.

And well, although I've heard some pretty good reviews of this album, I was left feeling a bit disappointed. Mathew's last albums started to feel over-produced to me, too polished. And in that rock'n'roll sort of way, not that keyboard-electronic way. His best work for me will always be "Goodfriend," a limited release he did around the time "Girlfriend" was released. It was a mixture of live tracks and demo versions and it's rawness let his emotions shine.

That being said, this album isn't a stinker by any means. There are some great covers in here, and I enjoyed listening to it. I was surprised by Susanna as well. Songs like "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" really let her shine, and raised her up a bit in my book.

Here's the track listing with the original artists:

1. I See The Rain (The Marmalade)
2. And Your Bird Can Sing (The Beatles)
3. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob Dylan)
4. Who Knows Where The Time Goes? (Fairport Convention)
5. Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young And Crazy Horse)
6. Alone Again Or (Love)
7. Warmth Of The Sun (The Beach Boys)
8. Different Drum (The Stone Poneys, featuring Linda Ronstadt)
9. The Kids Are Alright (The Who)
10. Sunday Morning (The Velvet Underground)
11. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Neil Young And Crazy Horse)
12. Care Of Cell #44 (The Zombies)
13. Monday Monday (The Mamas And The Papas)
14. She May Call You Up Tonight (The Left Banke)
15. Run To Me (The Bee Gees)

Mathew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - She May Call (.mov audio file)

My Old Kentucky Blog has a couple of tracks posted, including "Care of Cell #44," one of the better tracks on the disk. The official site is over at Shout! Factory.