Still a good album

Review Score: (6/10)
Although not measuring up to any of his post-"Girlfriend" albums, "Blue Sky On Mars" is still an excellent album. "Come To California," "Where You Get Love," and "Until You Break" are as good as anything else he's ever done, and "Over It," though brief, is a great blast from the past, a melodic piece of garage band rock which might have fit on Lenny Kaye's original "Nuggets." Unfortunately, though there isn't a bad song on the album, its origins tell against it. Sweet merely had a group of unfinished demos which he took into the studio with his band and producer Brendan O'Brien and proceeded to simply rerecord them, which sounds as if someone was trying to hurry him along. It shows on the album; the first half is excellent, the second half less so, and overall nothing really coheres. It's just a collection of good, occasionally great songs, and not an "album" like "Girlfriend," "Altered Beast," "In Reverse" or even "100% Fun." Still, that's better than what most artists can do today. I definitely feel that it's worth it, overall.

More Reviews:

• Shocked at the positive reviews this album has received
• A Masterpiece of power pop
• A Grower
• Am I the only one?
• Good Album
• Different, but excellent nonetheless
• Sickeningly Sweet
• Great.....
• a small stumble in the career of a pop god
• Matthew does it good again, but loses volume.
• not as bad as I first thought
• Disappointing . . . but the highs make it worth owning
• Bad production and no lead guitar Mars good Matt Sweet songs
• Excellent Music
• Not Sweet enough
• I want to go to Mars
• Nothing Lasts... Except for Matthew Sweet
• Not as strong as his best work