Time Capsule

Despite being the proverbial big in Japan, the Nebraskan Matthew Sweet is still one of the music industry's best kept secrets, and even the most cursory listen to this round-up of eighteen of his most glorious back pages will offer incontrovertible proof of this.

Vocally, the ex-Golden Palamino could be the bastard cousin of Alex Chilton and his specialities include melodic power pop and grown-up rock, with Beatles, Beach Boys, Big Star, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, REM and Byrds overtones, and a truly original and captivating lyrical approach to his intensely personal story-lines.

Sweet is a man whose influences are all impeccable. Yet he uses them not as inviolable templates but as stepping stones towards his own unique brand of visionary singer-songwriter rock. Time Capsule proves that if you stand on the shoulders of giants sometimes you can really see further than they can. Eighteen times, actually.