Hoffs & Sweet Cover the Bases

Ex-Bangle, 90's Indie Rocker Have Fun with 60's Classics

Mark Williams
Music Editor

Covers albums, at their best, provide dual pleasures: first, they de-familiarize the known, adding personal flourishes to songs we already know; second, they introduce less recognizable material, recovering pieces of musical history while letting us better understand the concealed influences of the cover artist.

It apparently comes easy for Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, who glide through "Under the Covers, Vol. 1" with graceful charm. The two make a great team, having honed their chops together playing in the filmic Ming Tea, in-house band for the "Austin Powers" movies —- perhaps not the most prestigious gig around, but this is not a duo lacking in power-pop street cred. Sweet has peddled his melodic wares for over two decades, and if he’s a long way from his early ‘90s glory days of “Girlfriend,” he’s never lost the faith of the devoted; Hoffs, of course, led the delightful Bangles, a group written off only by knee-jerk ‘80s-bashers. On “Under the Covers” they rightly sound like they have nothing to prove and want only to groove. 

Sweet and Hoffs certainly bring the hits, though they’re careful to avoid bombarding us with the same singles we hear ten times a day on the oldies station. Thus when the Beatles arrive, as we knew they would, it’s in the form of “And Your Bird Can Sing”, from “Revolver.”

Also adorning the selections are several more Hall-of-Fame-level luminaries. Sweet & Hoffs sweeten the rougher edges of Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, draining it of the ambiguously tender snarl that somehow left lines like “forget the dead you’ve left” sounding simultaneously bitter and affectionate; their precedent seems instead to be the Byrds’ version of the song.

Their cover is delightful, with Hoffs’ harmony vocals filling in for anything lost in translation. Likewise, these two are too perky to replicate Nico’s hauntingly vacant vocals on the Velvet Underground’s “Sunday Morning”, but they give the song a warm, comforting take that looks past the heroin and kink to recover the pop songwriter hidden inside Lou Reed. 

Throughout, Sweet & Hoffs alternate lead vocals, intertwining gorgeously on harmonies but generously stepping aside when songs call for it; thus Sweet dominates the Beach Boys’ “Warmth of the Sun”, while Hoffs absolutely nails the Linda Ronstadt lead on the Stone Poneys’ “Different Drum”.

Sweet plays most of the instruments, with help from some longtime power-pop allies. Richard Lloyd of Television assists on guitar, ripping through a classic one-note Neil Young solo on “Cinnamon Girl”, while Velvet Crush drummer Rick Menck leaves his toms looking like lunar surfaces after giving them a Keith Moon pounding on the Who’s “The Kids Are Alright”. 

Stepping away from the hit parade, Sweet & Hoffs also dish up a healthy platter of less-famous ditties. Music geeks will swoon over the chamber-pop bliss of “Care of Cell #44”, from the Zombies and Love’s “Alone Again Or” makes for a somewhat more obvious but no less splendid choice.
“Under the Covers” may not deliver any jarring surprises, but it’s a loving tribute to 15 unimpeachable songs, narrated by two skilled and knowledgeable tour guides.

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