Fez
There's a delicacy about the Trash Can Sinatras' sunny, thoughtful pop, a quality brought to the fore on their all-acoustic live recording,Fez. Recorded in New York on a cold December night, the Sinatras warmed up the place with a mix of old and new songs, all of which blend together here in a lovely, stripped-down blur. "Only Tongue Can Tell" from 1990'sCakeflows straight into "What Women Do To Men" fromWeightlifting, released 14 years later. The acoustic format provides less cover for lead singer Frank Reader's lyrics, and that's a good thing; Reader's words are precise, and exceptionally pretty. Listen also to the improvised instrumentation in songs like "Trouble Sleeping." Inevitably, fans will wish a favorite song had been included which wasn't (a version of "Worked a Miracle" fromI've Seen Everything, for instance, would have been swell), but that just speaks to the band's consistency and the affection that their uncommonly buoyant sound inspires. –-Matthew Cooke