Although Sweet hasn't been able to duplicate the feat, for at least one disc he reached the heights of pop God. This, his third album, brings to mind the lightning-in-a-bottle qualities of Big Star's first two LPs, and retains the same sort of charm and freshness over the years since its release.  Though his subsequent releases have shown flashes of this brilliance, it's Girlfriend that packed all of the goods into one, incredible album. His songs are perfectly fleshed out, with production that can be tough or sweet, but never lose their edge.  His singing comes from some place spiritual. His joys and heartbreaks, his sense of sublime, are as palpable as your own.  As he subsequently gave himself into more 70s excess, his music lost the compactness and focus that makes Girlfriend such a repeatable listen. But then, how many people ever write and perform even one song (let alone a whole album) this great?  Very few - though the list certainly includes Matthew Sweet.