Week 1: The Glands

3. THE GLANDS – The Glands
Capricorn, 2000

Those in search of the perfect pop record can keep looking, ‘cause it don’t exist. But they can at least stop and smell the flowers on The Glands, which comes dangerously close to claiming that title. Unlike so many records of its type, there’s no sag in this album’s midsection (no sweat, happens to the best of us); instead, after a would-be total downer like “Mayflower” comes the upbeat, la-la-la-ing “Lovetown,” which is then followed up by Best Song on the Album candidate number one “Straight Down,” with its delightfully inane lyrics (“See a lady with a poodle/It’s the color of tomato/In a bad way”) that somehow make sense even though they don’t. Sure, “Swim” cribs a little too hard from “Martha My Dear,” and in their hometown of Athens, GA, the (now defunct) band’s biggest fans are, weirdly but perhaps not so much so, the same frat boys who pack out shows by hacks like the Whigs or the Modern Skirts, but we’re willing to look past all that, because this album’s one of the best to come out of that wonderful little town, ever. In The Aeroplane... and Dusk At Cubist Castle aren't without their charms, but for my dollar, The Glands outlasts 'em both.

STREAM: The Glands - "Swim"