Words like “shimmering” and “jangling” seem like such rock clichés, but if any guitars ever deserved the term, those on Forever Breathes the Lonely Word certainly do. The album is almost too perfect a pop masterpiece — upbeat, succinct, and wildly catchy — with the only out-of-place element being Lawrence Hayward’s Tom Verlaine-esque vocals. That’s not a drawback, though — the imperfect vocals give the album just the kick it needs to stand apart from the rest of the flock (much like their contemporaries, the Smiths, come to think of it). It may be overstating the case to say that the album laid the groundwork for a lot of pop music that followed, but the sound was certainly influential in certain quarters, and considering the success of some of those followers, the fact that this album wasn’t a hit may be all the proof you need of the injustices of the music industry. – Sean Carruthers