''In Reverse'' is the seventh 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

Volcano Entertainment Volcano Entertainment (sometimes referred to as Volcano Records) is an American all-round music record label founded in 1996 which released albums by Tool, 311, Survivor and "Weird Al" Yankovic. (The latter two were former Scotti Bros. Records ...

in 1999.

Cover

The upside-down cover of the album features an oil painting by artist

Margaret Keane Margaret D. H. Keane (born Peggy Doris Hawkins), September 15, 1927 – June 26, 2022) was an American artist known for her paintings of subjects with big eyes. She mainly painted women, children, or animals in oil or mixed media. The work ach ...

, and the liner notes are in reverse.

Release

The album was met with little commercial success, but with very favorable reviews. ''

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 ...

'' wrote that the "songs are such perfect little valentines that the production just brings them larger to life". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave the album an A−, noting the "intriguing side trips into forests of thick guitar chords". ''

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

'' wrote that the songs "transcend museum-quality affectation and exude a multitude of bittersweet charms.". Critic Stephen Thompson of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' wrote that ''In Reverse'' "finds weetonce again at his best", adding that "its 14 tracks are uniformly strong, with muscular rockers ("Split Personality," "Write Your Own Song") competing for attention with smooth, lush, sugary fare ("If Time Permits," the knockout ballads "Trade Places" and "Worse To Live"). Stephen Thomas Erlewine, of

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 ...

, praised the record's "cavernous reverb", and wrote that "this rich music is a personal interpretation of lush chamber pop and psychedelia, giving a musical counterpart for lovely melancholy songs of heartbreak and disillusion". Jerry McCulley of

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

wrote, "Epic in scope and harmonically intoxicating," adding, "this is an album by an artist measuring the distance between his reach and his grasp, his good sense and self-indulgence, his confidence growing with every back-to-the future track."

Details

The song "Faith in You" was featured in the film '' Drive Me Crazy''. For the nine minute thirty-seven seconds closing song "Thunderstorm", Sweet combined three bass guitar lines and other selections, such as "If Time Permits", hint of sound/song reversal as implied in the album's title.

Track listing

Bonus tracks

Personnel

– vocals, electric guitar (1-4, 6-8, 10, 11, 14, 15), bass (1, 3, 6, 7, 9-11, 13-15), synthesizers (3), acoustic guitar (3, 14, 15) percussion (4), acoustic piano (5, 12), electric 12-string guitar (6, 10), electric baritone guitar (7), 12-string acoustic guitar (10, 14, 15),

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

(14, 15) *

Greg Kurstin Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and contributed to five songs that pe ...

– organ (1, 8, 12, 14),

tack piano A tack piano (also known as a harpsipiano, jangle piano, and junk piano) is an altered version of an ordinary piano, in which objects such as thumbtacks or nails are placed on the felt-padded hammers of the instrument at the point where the ha ...

(2, 5, 14),

electric harpsichord An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

(14) * John Ginty – acoustic piano (2, 8, 11, 14), electric piano (10), tack piano (12), organ (14), electric harpsichord solo (14) * Brian Kehew – organ (2), tack piano (8), electric harpsichord (8, 12, 14), electric piano (14) *

Pamelia Kurstin Pamelia Stickney (formerly known as Pamelia Kurstin) is an American theremin player. She has performed and recorded with many artists including David Byrne, Marisa Monte, Yoko Ono, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, David Garland, Seb Rochford, O ...

–

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...

(2, 3, 5, 8, 12, 14) *

Jamie Muhoberac Benjamin Edward "Jamie" Muhoberac (born September 11, 1965) is an American session keyboardist with numerous credits. He is best known for his work with Seal and Was (Not Was). He is a touring member of New Jersey rock band My Chemical Romance. ...

–

Roland Jupiter-8 The Jupiter-8, or JP-8, is an eight-voice polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizer introduced by Roland Corporation in early 1981. The Jupiter-8 was Roland's flagship synthesizer for the first half of the 1980s. Approximately 3,300 units have ...

(6), organ (6), acoustic piano (9), electric piano (9) *

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 ...

– electric guitar (1, 9, 12), 12-string acoustic guitar (2), electric lead guitar (2, 8), acoustic guitar (5, 6, 8, 13, 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 ...

(5, 13), electric 12-string rhythm guitar (6), electric 12-string guitar (9), electric lead 12-string guitars (10),

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 ...

(14) * Paul Chastain – acoustic guitar (2, 8, 12, 14) * Rick Cunha – acoustic guitar (2, 8, 12, 14) * Peter Phillips – electric guitar (2, 8, 12, 14), electric lead guitar (3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 14), electric rhythm guitar (3) *

Carol Kaye Carol Kaye (née Smith; born March 24, 1935) is an American musician. She is one of the most prolific recorded bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning over 65 years. Kaye began play ...

–

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

(2, 8, 12, 14), bass (5) *

Tony Marsico Tony Marsico (born November 8, 1957) is an American bassist and composer best known as the co-founder of the rock and roll band the Cruzados, formed in 1983, with two albums on Arista Records in 1985 and 1987. Prior to Cruzados, Marsico was a member ...

–

acoustic bass The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than, a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar an ...

(2, 8, 12, 14) * Ric Menck – drums (1-4, 7-14), percussion (10) *

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 (2, 14), percussion (4, 9, 10, 13) *

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America". Howard Sounes. ''Do ...

– drums (5), percussion (5) * Victor Bisetti – percussion (2, 8, 12, 14) *

Don Heffington Don Heffington (December 20, 1950March 24, 2021) was an American drummer, percussionist, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the Los Angeles alternative country band Lone Justice, which he performed with from 1982 to 1985. Heffington was ...

– percussion (2, 8, 12, 14) *

Bruce Fowler Bruce Lambourne Fowler (born July 10, 1947) is an American trombonist and composer. He played trombone on many Frank Zappa records, as well as with Captain Beefheart and in the Fowler Brothers Band. He composes and arranges music for movies, a ...

– trombone (1, 12, 14),

euphonium The euphonium ( ; ; ) is a tenor- and baritone-voiced valved brass instrument. The euphonium is a member of the large family of valved bugles, along with the tuba and flugelhorn, characterised by a wide conical bore. Most instruments have thr ...

(12, 14) * Walt Fowler – trumpet (1, 12),

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

(12, 14)

Production

* Greg Leisz – producer * Fred Maher – producer * Matthew Sweet – producer * Jim Scott – producer, engineer, mixing * Mike Scotella – second engineer *

Bob Ludwig Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...

– mastering at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine) * Nick Gamma – art direction, design * Elizabeth Moore – set design * Johnny Buzzerio – photography *

– cover painting * Christine Ehrlich – stylist * Miriam Vukich – stylist * Russell Carter Artist Management Ltd. – management

References

{{Authority control 1999 albums Matthew Sweet albums Volcano Entertainment albums Albums produced by Matthew Sweet