Despite being the proverbial big in Japan, the Nebraskan Matthew Sweet is still one of the music industry's best kept secrets, and even the most cursory listen to this round-up of eighteen of his most glorious back pages will offer incontrovertible proof of this.

Vocally, the ex-Golden Palamino could be the bastard cousin of Alex Chilton and his specialities include melodic power pop and grown-up rock, with Beatles, Beach Boys, Big Star, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, REM and Byrds overtones, and a truly original and captivating lyrical approach to his intensely personal story-lines.

Sweet is a man whose influences are all impeccable. Yet he uses them not as inviolable templates but as stepping stones towards his own unique brand of visionary singer-songwriter rock. Time Capsule proves that if you stand on the shoulders of giants sometimes you can really see further than they can. Eighteen times, actually.