Matthew Sweet And Susanna Hoffs — Under The Covers, Volume 2

Under The Covers, Volume 2

Shout Factory

Ian Gormely (CHARTattack)

07/20/2009 3:10pm

Matthew Sweet has liberally borrowed from '60s and '70s pop rock for the entirety of his career. So it seemed like a no-brainer when he decided to record a series of albums comprised of tracks from the period. That he chose Susanna Hoffs, who as a member of The Bangles similarly looked to the 1960s for inspiration during their '80s heyday, was just icing on the cake.

Volume 2 follows a similar path to the duo's first Under The Covers installment, cherry-picking well worn hits (Carly Simon's "You're So Vain") and mixing in deep album tracks from familiar artists (The Grateful Dead's "Sugar Magnolia") and cult favourites (Big Star, The Raspberries).

While Hoffs' and Sweet's voices compliment each other well, perhaps best on Fleetwood Mac's "Second Hand News," there's little reinterpretation of the source material. It would have been nice to see these talented musicians come up with something a little more inspired.

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