DISClosure: Bryan White • Matthew Sweet

DISClosure
CD Reviews Of A National Scale

Bryan White
Greatest Hits

By Lisa Hummel
Country artist Bryan White’s collection of greatest hits was smartly assembled, a sharp mix that offers his chart toppers and fan favorites, while wisely leaving the not-so-successful releases behind. Unlike some greatest hits packages, there isn’t a song on this album that was included for the sake of inclusion; while listening, there is no overwhelming desire to skip over any of the 12 tracks.

Greatest Hits follows White’s accomplishments from his entry into the world of country music in 1995, a career in which he’s released six number one singles and a slew of Top 20 and Top 10 entries. Appropriately enough, then, the disc features White’s best known works, including "Someone Else’s Star" and "I’m Not Supposed to Love You Anymore" as well as his ‘signature song,’ "Rebecca Lynn," the hit track off of his self-titled debut effort.

Greatest Hits passes over White’s lukewarm fourth release, How Lucky I Am, and it is the better for it, not that the songs were all that band, just that the exclusion allows more room for the hits from the first three albums as well as two new recordings, "How Long" and "The Way You Look At Me," both of which re-teamed White with the producers of his first three albums.

Also included on Greatest Hits is "From This Moment On," White’s duet version with Shania Twain, and fun tracks such as "Sittin’ On Go" and "Love Is The Right Place."

Long-dogged by the critics for being too pop-influenced or too sentimental, which may or may not be true, this collection successfully accomplishes what it no doubt set out to do: showcase the undeniable strength of White’s voice. Where the future will take White remains a question, but this glimpse into his past is more than deserving at this stage in his young career. (Warner Bros.)

Matthew Sweet
Time Capsule: The Best of Matthew Sweet 1990-2000

by Isaac Morrison

For me, the best thing about Matthew Sweet has always been his direct honesty. The 10-year span of music contained in Time Capsule: The Best of Matthew Sweet 1990-2000 speaks this plainly. Each song contains one single emotion, presented in a crystal clear moment of total openness. His feelings, from manic giddiness to deep melancholy, are all expressed in terms so simple and universal that they hit you like pure revelation. Songs like "What Matters," "Sick of Myself," and the unforgettable "Girlfriend," are snapshots of someone trying to survive in an overly complicated world.

Musically, influences from The Byrds, Brian Wilson, The Beatles, and just about any album produced by Phil Spector all run rampant throughout Matthew Sweet’s catalogue. Clearly, he learned his craft by paying close attention to the giants that shaped modern pop music. Rather than coming across as mere mimicry, each song holds a degree of freshness and individuality rarely seen in today’s pop marketplace.

In traditional retrospective album fashion, the 18 songs are arranged from oldest to newest, allowing the listener to appreciate the development of Sweet’s abilities as both a songwriter and a musician. The decade of superlative pop music presented on this disc provides an opportunity for everyone that missed Matthew Sweet the first time to find out what all of us screwy college kids were raving about way back in the ’90s. (Volcano)