Winter Pays for Summer
Disciples ofToad the Wet Sprocketheld their collective breaths when front man Glen Phillips tucked himself into semi-retirement following the band’s 1998 break-up. But after a few years as a home body and father, new songs again dripped from Phillips creative psyche, and his third solo record in three years may be his boldest, most rewarding work to date. Front and center, as usual, are guitar-hooks galore and mature and personal narratives, with producer John "Strawberry" Fields (Switchfoot, Andrew W.K.) straining the larger-than-life instrumentation and "woo-woo" choruses through a pop filter. The versatile Phillips can strike up a nursery rhyme ("Duck and Cover") or prosaic ballad ("True") as effortlessly as he can the hummably persuasive tunes that are his m.o.: the inspirational "Clear-Eyed, the Randy Newman-inspired "Don’t Need Anything" and "Thankful," which recalls the riff-heaviness of Matthew Sweet’sGirlfriendand leaves many Toad fan to breathe a little easier.--Scott Holter