Track two entitled "Start a Revolution" is such a good song that for weeks I really had a hard time getting through this record at all. It happens to all kinds of artists. That one-hit wonder tendency. Some small bit of a talented artist connects with the audience in a way that just transcends all notice of anything else. When the chorus pounds in I get goosey from end to end and giddy to the point of howling, "COME ON, COME ON, COME ON, LET'S START A REVOLUTION!" It's unavoidable. For all I know, that song is really sort of weak. It probably is. Sugar being what sugar is. Easy burns.

I think by the time I get to "Brogadiccio" I'm about ready to hit something. And I'm not a violent person. I've had this reaction to other great pop bands that lay it on lackadaisical after infusing me with a fist pumper.

It's a shame too because actually "Brogadiccio" is a good tune. In fact, this record is filled with great pop songs. It's like a catalog of all the various enjoyable pop waves of the last 40 years or so. Everything from Bowie and Linda Rondstat all the way up to Rob Crowe. XTC is there. Momus is there for crying out loud! Synth ditties and fey strummers. The Cure teams up with Hall and Oates on "I'm falling." Faris is one mean pop musicologist surfing the map, but yet his bio in his cd says, "I am an avid book reader, but rarely listen to music."

He also writes, "I make music the way an author writes a book."

Then this must be a collection of short story tributes. It's not a one-hit, but a collection of "The best songs of" as the album cover says. Lot's of different stories. Many voices. Many wonderful voices. 8/10 -- Matt Perkins (27 June, 2006)