''Altered Beast'' is the fourth album by

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

musician

Matthew Sweet Sidney Matthew Sweet (born October 6, 1964) is an American alternative rock/power pop singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the 1980s before gaining commercial success in the 1990 ...

. It was released on Zoo Entertainment in 1993.

Recording

Some of the album's guest musicians include: drummers

Mick Fleetwood Michael John Kells Fleetwood (born 24 June 1947) is a British musician, songwriter and actor. He is the drummer, co-founder, and leader of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood, whose surname was merged with that of the group's bassist John Mc ...

Jody Stephens Jody Stephens (born October 4, 1952) is an American musician and producer who has played drums in Big Star (with Alex Chilton of the Box Tops) and Golden Smog (with members of the Jayhawks and Wilco). After the deaths of Chris Bell in 1978, a ...

, and Pete Thomas; guitarists Richard Lloyd,

Robert Quine Robert Wolfe Quine (December 30, 1942 – May 31, 2004) was an American guitarist. A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown. Critic Mark Deming wrote that "Quine's eclect ...

, and

Ivan Julian Ivan Julian (born June 26, 1955) is a guitarist, singer-songwriter, and founding member of Richard Hell and the Voidoids and Lovelies. He has also performed with The Isley Brothers, The Clash, Matthew Sweet, The Bongos, Richard Barone, and Shr ...

; keyboardist

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. He performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, including on songs recorde ...

,; and violinist

Byron Berline Byron Douglas Berline (July 6, 1944 – July 10, 2021) was an American fiddle player who played many American music styles, including old time, ragtime, bluegrass, Cajun, country, and rock. Life and career Berline was born in Caldwell, Kansas ...

. The track "Intro" is a clip from the

Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is an English actor. He first became known for portraying Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's ''if....'' (1968), a role he later reprised in ''O Lucky Man!'' (1973) and ''Britannia Hospital ...

film ''

Caligula Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), also called Gaius and Caligula (), was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Ag ...

''. The title of the album is borrowed from the arcade game ''

Altered Beast ''Altered Beast'' is a 1988 beat 'em up video game developed and published by Sega for arcades. The game is set in Ancient Greece and follows a player character chosen by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena from the demonic ruler of the under ...

''. Sweet told ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' magazine that the title meant "whatever is inside you that someday might explode, and maybe you don't know it's there", which he found similar to the game, in which "you have to find these little

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a Game mechanics, game mechanic. This is in contrast to an Item (game), item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that ca ...

things, and when you eat them you become the Altered Beast, this other creature that's really powerful and violent". The cover of the album, produced in five different colored versions (yellow, blue, green, orange and purple), features a dinosaur logo. Originally, Sweet wanted to use the logo of the Japanese delivery company

Yamato Transport is one of Japan's largest door-to-door delivery service companies, with a market share of 41%, competing closely with Japan Post Service, Sagawa Express, and Nippon Express. Their head office is in Ginza, Tokyo. The company's trademarked ter ...

on the cover, but was denied permission; Sweet has described the dinosaur design as a "consolation prize".

Release

Initial responses to the record were mixed, with ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' writing that it had "inspiring moments; the problem is finding them."O'Connor, Rob
Review: Matthew Sweet - Altered Beast
''

'', July 17, 1997.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

agreed that the album is "all over the place", yet noted that "it takes a bit of time for all of it to make sense, but after a few listens, it falls together."

Reissue

In 2018, independent vinyl reissue label Intervention Records announced that it would be releasing Artist-Approved 2 LP Expanded Editions of '' 100% Fun'', ''Altered Beast'', and ''

Girlfriend A girlfriend is a woman who is a friend, acquaintance or partner to the speaker, usually a female companion with whom one is platonically, romantically, or sexually involved. In a romantic context, this normally signifies a committed r ...

''. The three albums will also be released on CD/SACD. Intervention also announced a first time on vinyl reissue of '' Son of Altered Beast''.

Track listing

All songs written by Matthew Sweet; with the exception of Track 8, "Intro" excerpts from the movie "

". # "Dinosaur Act" - 4:05 # "Devil with the Green Eyes" - 4:43 # "The Ugly Truth" - 3:18 # "Time Capsule" - 3:56 # "Someone to Pull the Trigger" - 3:55 # "Knowing People" - 4:25 # "Life Without You" - 2:18 # "Intro" - 0:46 # "Ugly Truth Rock" - 2:58 # "Do It Again" - 3:33 # "In Too Deep" - 3:54 # "Reaching Out" - 4:00 # "Falling" - 4:50 # "What Do You Know?" - 4:27 # "Evergreen" - 4:23 (5:50 track length includes a hidden outro track)

Personnel

– vocals, electric guitars (1-7, 9-14), 12-string bass (1, 6), dinosaur noises (1), acoustic guitars (2-5, 7, 10, 11, 13-15), bass guitar (2-5, 7, 9-14),

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Sche ...

(12) *

– acoustic piano (10-12, 15) *

– lead guitar (1-4, 10, 12, 14), rhythm guitars (7), electric guitars (15) *

– lead guitar (5, 7) * Richard Lloyd – lead guitar (6, 9, 11, 13) *

Greg Leisz Gregory Brian Leisz ( ; born September 18, 1949) is an American musician. He is a songwriter, recording artist, and producer. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, banjo, lap steel and pedal steel guitar. Biography Leisz grew up in the garage ba ...

–

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of pla ...

(2), acoustic guitar (14), National duolian (14),

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

(15) * Ric Menck – drums (1, 3, 10, 11) * Pete Thomas – drums (2, 4, 5, 14) * Ron Pangborn – drums (6, 9) *

– drums (7) *

– drums (12) *

Fred Maher Frederick J. Maher is an American drummer, music programmer and record producer. He was a member of the bands Massacre (1980–81), the Dance, Material, Scritti Politti, and has recorded and toured with Lou Reed. In 1984 he released ''Basic'', ...

– drums (13) *

–

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

(3)

Production

* Scott Byron – A&R * Richard Dashut – producer * Matthew Sweet – producer, arrangements, mixing * Lloyd Puckitt – recording, mixing * Barry Goldberg – additional engineer * Tom Nellan – additional engineer * Chris Littell – additional engineer *

Stephen Marcussen Stephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and distri ...

– mastering at Precision Mastering (Hollywood, California) * Lee Hammond – art direction * E.J. Camp – photography * Art Shoji – typography * Russell Carter Artist Management Ltd. – management

Music videos

# *The Ugly Truth", directed by Matthew Sweet # *Time Capsule", directed by Douglas Gayeton (Satellite Films)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altered Beast (Album) Matthew Sweet albums 1993 albums Albums produced by Richard Dashut Zoo Entertainment (record label) albums Albums produced by Matthew Sweet