For pop songwriter Matthew Sweet, the recent public focus on the Mars

Pathfinder mission couldn't have come at a better time, as he finishes his European tour in support of his latest album.

Sweet's most recent effort, Blue Sky on Mars, which received some harsh criticism since it came out last spring, features a shot of NASA's original Mars lander, complete with prog-rockish lettering for his name and the title. So, Sweet was only too happy to see the attention given to the Mars Pathfinder as it made its way around the red planet this summer.

It was kind of a vindication.

"I think the most compelling thing in our future is finding life elsewhere," Sweet said from London after wrapping up his recent European tour. He added, laughing, "Maybe a hundred years from now, the fact that I was interested in Mars might seem kind of enlightened, instead of embarrassing and geekish."

The 32-year-old singer, most famous for the modern pop classics

Girlfriend and 100% Fun, said he followed the news on

Pathfinder closely, but not only because of the historical nature of the mission. "That was especially exciting," Sweet said, "because everybody hated the Mars

artwork (on the album). It was sort of a pat on my back as well. I still couldn't get the label to really capitalize on that, because they talked so much about how they hated it."

Pathfinder's findings that the skies on Mars are actually red, not blue,

mattered little to Sweet, who said his album's title comes from the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi movie Total Recall, not actual science. More important to the bittersweet singer are the metaphorical implications of the title. "The idea that being out of place on Mars is what was interesting about the title to me. The unreality of it, the implication that you wouldn't find happiness anywhere on this planet."

Sweet said while he holds out hope for future manned space missions,

he doesn't foresee any interstellar travel in his own future. In fact, the singer won't even step on a plane. After his swing through Europe, he began the five-day boat trip back to the States aboard the QE2.

As for his next move on American shores, Sweet said he's undecided. "I'm

either gonna tour more, or start working on demos for a next record.

There's some talk of a greatest hits record with a couple of new tracks,

but I'm not really sure what's going on yet. I'd be more interested in

making a weird box set of demos from over the years. That would be cool,

because I'd just have so many things to choose from."

Either collection may receive a warmer American welcome than Blue Sky on

Mars. Although the album was by no means panned, it did not receive

the high marks of either Girlfriend or 100% Fun. Sweet

compared Blue Sky on Mars' reception to that of his fourth record

Altered Beast.

"I feel like I'm fighting for the record," he said. "During Altered

Beast I heard more from people saying 'I don't like it as much

as Girlfriend,' or 'It's weird.' But this is so much more of a

positive, concise sort of record that it doesn't really seem like the

record is real uncommercial."

Still, the man with his eyes on the skies said he believes that one day Blue Sky on Mars will get its proper acclaim. "I thought a lot of people were

unduly hard on it," he said. "But I think it'll be good over time." [Wed., Aug. 27, 1997, 9 a.m. PST]