Altered Beast (album)

Recording

Some of the album's guest musicians included drumming by Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac), Jody Stephens (Big Star) and Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello's backing band, the Attractions), guitaring by Richard Lloyd (Television), Robert Quine (Voidoids) and Ivan Julian (Voidoids), keyboarding by Nicky Hopkins, and fiddle by Byron Berline on the lead single, "The Ugly Truth".

Cover

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 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 writing that it had "inspiring moments; the problem is finding them." AllMusic 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."

Details

The title of the album is based on the arcade game, Altered Beast. Sweet has declared 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, where "you have to find these little power-up things, and when you eat them you become the Altered Beast, this other creature that's really powerful and violent".

The track, "Intro", is a clip from the Malcolm McDowell film, Caligula.

Track listing

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

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

Music videos

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