Album Notes

"The enigmatic song-poet of Queens delivers another disc of moody folk-pop and weirdly compelling lyrics (check out "Christian Mob" and "Negative Hill"). Maguire may be spinning his wheels a bit here, but he remains utterly hypnotic."

-Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday

"Somewhere between the ultimate demise of his Modern Lovers, and before the begining of his solo recording career, Jonathan Richman, spent years traveling around, signing kids songs at elementry schools, where he felt his wide-eyed songwriting would be best appreciated. A decade and a half later, in between his Noise Addict days and his slick- pop- rock albums, Ben Lee recorded a couple of ultra low-fidelity albums on his 4 track. Both Jonathan and Ben wrote simple songs about the Ice Cream Man, turntables, and the insecurity of going shirtless at the beach. Both sounded like they were nostalgic for an idyllic past that never existed.

Thomas Patrick Maguire sounds like that childhood Ben Lee is finally old enough to go to the pub. Still ultra lo-fidelity, still simple songs, with a little less wide eye wonder on songs like "Christian Mob", and "My Own Personal Earthquake". This is mostly guitar and vocal, but still summery, with some lyrical passages consisting only of oohs and aahs. My only real complaint is that (excepting opener "The Remedy") "Woodside Lanes" lacks the drums that move TPM's previous CD, "Pissing Streams," aling at a steady pace."

-Jonathan Berger, Urban Folk Music