Toad The Wet Spocket

Named after a skit from Monty Python, this Santa Barbara four piece made the kind of jangly, poppy music that recalled early REM. Their second record, PALE, is by far their darkest record, with songs full of desperate characters like the drug addict in "Come Back Down" or the the lonely woman of "She Cried". Even when singer Glen Philips turns the light on himself, it isn't the most uplifting experience. From "Don't Go Away", with it's plaintive call to a lost love, to the absolutely heartbreaking "I Think About", Philips is clearly in a bad place. But through all of this comes some truly breathtaking music. Toad went on to put out several more albums that traveled into a more mainstream pop territory, but this album still stands as a work of four boys finding their souls through the simple pleasures of three chord pop.

(ZIP FILE) Toad The Wet Sprocket - Pale