Blue Sky on Mars
Matthew Sweet's melodic hooks fit so perfectly inside his rhythm grooves that  together they acquire an irresistible logic. Sweet's Beatlesque confections avoid  sentimentality thanks to the streetwise toughness he gleaned from his connections to such  New York punk bands as Television and the Voidoids. If Sweet's melodies evoke an  optimistic yearning for love, the words suggest that such connections are hard to come  by. Sweet's debt to the Beach Boys is superficially obvious on the hot-rod tempo of  "Come to California" and the amusement-park flavor of "Make Believe." Sweet really  captures the essence of Brian Wilson's art, though, on songs such as "Behind the Smile,"  where he admits, "I haven't been a good friend for a long, long time; you know I wasn't  happy behind the smile." Countering this confession are swelling, soaring harmonies that  suggest that friendship and happiness are still the goals.--Geoffrey Himes