Girlfriend (album)

Infobox Album | Name = Girlfriend
Type = Studio album
Artist = Matthew Sweet


Released = October 22, 1991
Recorded = 1990
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 60:19
Label = Zoo Entertainment
Producer = Fred Maher and Matthew Sweet
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:23ri28vc053a link]
* Robert Christgau (A-) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=907&name=Matthew+Sweet link]
* "The Music Box" Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.musicbox-online.com/reviews-2006/matthew-sweet-girlfriend.html 6/28/06]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/matthewsweet/albums/album/102129/review/5944166/girlfriend link] | Last album = "Earth" (1989)
This album = "Girlfriend" (1991)
Next album = "Altered Beast" (1993)

"Girlfriend" is the third album by Matthew Sweet, his most commercially and critically successful album to date, named one of the Top 100 albums of the 1990's by "Rolling Stone".Fact|date=December 2007 Sweet was joined in the studio by Lloyd Cole, Robert Quine, and Richard Lloyd, all musicians he had worked with before.

Sweet recorded the album after his divorce and later said to "Rolling Stone", "It's funny how the album ended up showing everything I needed to feel. Everything I needed as an antidote is there." ["Rolling Stone", November 28, 1991] He told "Entertainment Weekly", "People say, 'This is your big breakup record - will you still be able to write good songs?' I'm sure I'll be just as depressed at some other point in my life." ["Entertainment Weekly", April 17, 1992.]

The album peaked at 100 on the Billboard 200 album chart. [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?pid=5797&aid=16613 Billboard.com album page] The title track, fueled by its anime-themed video, hit number 4 on the Modern Rock chart and 10 on the Mainstream Rock chart. "Divine Intervention" hit 23 on the Modern Rock chart. [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=5797&model.vnuAlbumId=160615 Matthew Sweet singles chart history at Billboard.com]

The cover features a photograph of actress Tuesday Weld from the late 1950s. [http://www-tech.mit.edu/V112/N39/girlfriend.39a.html Matthew Sweet talks about his excellent "Girlfriend"] , a September 1992 article from "The Tech"] Originally called "Nothing Lasts", the album was retitled following objections to the title from Weld.

The anime clips in the video for "Girlfriend" are taken from the movie "Space Adventure Cobra" and the clips in the video for "I've Been Waiting" are of the Urusei Yatsura character Lum.
"Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the use of animation on his television special Al TV by adding clips of Ren and Stimpy, Bugs Bunny, Betty Boop, and Rocky and Bullwinkle.

A cover of the song "Girlfriend" is a playable track on the videogame Guitar Hero II.

2006 Legacy Edition

In 2006, the album was remastered and released under the "Legacy Edition" label [ [http://www.legacyrecordings.com/Matthew-Sweet/Girlfriend-(Legacy-Edition).aspx "Girlfriend" [Deluxe Edition] ] from the Legacy Recordings website] , with three bonus tracks (originally released on the "Girlfriend" single, subtitled "the superdeformed CD", and also available on the Japanese version of the album), plus a second disk of home demos, live versions and session recordings called "Goodfriend". Subtitled "Another Take On 'Girlfriend'", "Goodfriend" was originally an album created and given out as a gift to those who helped in promotion, and was not commercially released until the Legacy Edition.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Matthew Sweet; except where indicated

# "Divine Intervention" – 5:37
# "I've Been Waiting" – 3:36
# "Girlfriend" – 3:40
# "Looking at the Sun" – 4:16
# "Winona" – 4:59 (a song named after but not about Winona Ryder)
# "Evangeline" – 4:45 (sung from the point of view of Johnny Six from the comic book "Evangeline")
# "Day for Night" – 2:55
# "Thought I Knew You" – 2:57
# "You Don't Love Me" – 5:21
# "I Wanted to Tell You" – 4:30
# "Don't Go" – 3:24
# "Your Sweet Voice" – 3:54
# "Does She Talk?" – 3:27
# "Holy War" – 3:25
# "Nothing Lasts" – 3:33

Track Listing for "Goodfriend" - included with "Legacy Edition"

# "Divine Intervention" (acoustic) - 3:05
# "Girlfriend" - 2:52
# "Day for Night" (live) - 3:21
# "Thought I Knew You" (live) - 3:57
# "Looking at the Sun" (acoustic) - 4:15
# "Does She Talk" (live) - 4:23
# "You Don't Love Me" (live) - 6:47
# "Someone to Pull the Trigger" - 3:53
# "I've Been Waiting" (live) - 3:45
# "Winona" (acoustic) - 4:30
# "Girlfriend" (live) - 4:05
# "Cortez the Killer" (Neil Young) (live) - 6:28
# "Isolation" (John Lennon) (acoustic) - 3:01

Personnel

*Matthew Sweet - vocals, guitar, bass, piano
*Lloyd Cole - guitar
*Robert Quine - guitar
*Richard Lloyd - guitar
*Ivan Julian - guitar
*Greg Leisz - pedal steel guitar
*Fred Maher - drums, guitar
*Ric Menck - drums
*Ron Pangborn - drums
*Amy Ray - guitar, vocals
*Emily Saliers - acoustic guitar
*Jane Scarpantoni - cello
*Paul Chastain - bass, vocals
*Andy McCulla - guitar

References