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To fully appreciate this album’s modest virtues, it helps to have a working knowledge of just what Golden Smog is all about. A part-time venture featuring members of other bands--the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris and Marc Perlman, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Soul Asylum’s Dan Murphy and Run Westy Run’s Kraig Johnson--Golden Smog began as an exercise in offhand frivolity. The band’s first two recordings featured a smattering of lovelorn ballads and cheery sing-alongs, performed with boozy bonhomie.

While “Weird Tales” (which features former Big Star drummer Jody Stephens) is no less appealingly ramshackle, it’s far more cohesive and affecting. Golden Smog maps out familiar thematic territory--unrequited love, the lure of the road, unattainable women--but does so with a kind of unself-conscious glee. In songs that range from boisterous to disarmingly gentle, Golden Smog throws sloppy power-pop, lopsided harmonies and even the occasional synth squiggle into the mix, and comes up aces every time.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.

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