Lost Highway
2005
Winter Pays For Summer
About This Album
Ex-Toad the Wet Sprocket frontman Glen Phillips has always sounded wiser than his years -- he was 14 when he joined the band -- so it's no surprise that his second full-length collection of solo material is as elegant as it is weighty. With a cast of characters that would appear in boldface if there were a pop underground wall of fame (ex-Jellyfish frontman Andy Sturmer, Ben Folds, Kristin Mooney, Jon Brion, Switchfoot's Jon Foreman and Semisonic/Trip Shakespeare scribe Dan Wilson), Phillips has made a bid for commercial success -- each track is poised for prime-time programming -- that's as strategically planned as it is lovingly crafted. On the lush opener, "Duck and Cover," he pays homage to Sprocket's ambitious folk-rock, utilizing the kind of winsome lyric ("Seems like life is a palindrome/Cry when you die/Cry when you're born") and dramatic melodic structure that made "Walk on the Ocean" such a genre-skipping hit. While Phillips is unabashedly introspective, he's not above being happy about it -- the first single "Thankful," is layered with staccato Phillips/Sturmer backing vocals and enough power pop key shifts to rival an A.C. Newman
Track List (try tracks 1,2,5,7,12 and 13)

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