Polyvinyl Records
2003
All Your Summer Songs
About This Album
Even though the largely emo-based Polyvinyl Records doesn't seem like the most natural home for Saturday Looks Good to Me's winsome, nostalgic pop, the undeniable emotional pull and heartfelt delivery of Fred Thomas and company's music makes it a better fit than one might expect. All Your Summer Songs, the group's fifth album and Polyvinyl debut, is another triumph, expressing the complexities of being in and out of love with deceptively naïve music and lyrics that are wise beyond their years. While Motown, Phil Spector, and the Beach Boys still exert a strong influence on Saturday Looks Good to Me's sound -- especially on "Alcohol" and "Ultimate Stars" -- the band explores an entire bandwidth of AM radio moments, ranging from the "Itchycoo Park" drum fills on "Meet Me by the Water"; the Peter & Gordon-esque acoustic guitars on "No Good with Secrets"; and the Byrdsy jangle of "You Work All Weekend," which sounds like said band backing the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt. And while Thomas has as much reverence for -- not to mention ability to create -- a perfectly written two-and-a-half-minute pop song as Merritt does, his music sounds fresher and less contrived despite its retro allusions.
Track List (try tracks 2,4,7,8,10,11 and 12)

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