I've always said that the mark of a classic album is how one can't pick a favorite song off of it: one day it's this song; tomorrow, another. Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend is the almost-perfect power pop album of all time (I say "almost perfect" because "Holy War" simply doesn't belong on it).
A lot of folks think the real heroes on this album are the lead guitarists, and it's all-star indeed: Robert Quine, Lloyd Cole, and Richard Lloyd. And it's true -- the guitars soar and swoop like freed, angry birds. But for me it's always been about Matthew Sweet: his reedy, Neil Young-like voice, at times weary from lovelorn longing or resentment, or exulting in a newfound love (though probably with the slight bite of leftover bourbon in the throat).
Sweet would never release an album that even came close to this masterpiece, though some later singles like "Someone to Pull the Trigger" and "Sick of Myself" were just as classic. The "Helter Skelter" dynamics of "Divine Intervention," the crushed-out melodrama of "Winona," the bruised lyrics of "Looking at the Sun" -- it's one pop jewel after another.
I picked "I've Been Waiting" for my list simply because Madeline loves it too. Imagine it: a summer's day, driving in a car, the wind in your hair, the sun in your eyes -- yeah, all those cliches and more -- and Matthew Sweet on the radio. No, I take it back: not "almost-perfect," but perfection itself.