My first, and most personal, encounter with Mr. Hitchcock's distinct blend of jangly folk-rock and misdirection-filled lyrics. Bought on cassette in high school. It still sounds great to me two decades later. Peter Buck (of REM) plays guitar, mandolin, etc. Despite somewhat 80s-ified production, it's aurally gorgeous, and the songs are among his catchier and most approachable. Not a jangle out of place, and lyrics tend toward the almost-normal, with very few insects or vibrating fish guts... though the line "He's a long kebab through your ovaries" (from The Devil's Coachman, about the devil presumably), always makes me squirm a bit. Anyway, it's good stuff.
