Haven't heard this one mentioned here, but I am absolutely swooning over 
the new Ted Leo & the Pharmacists disc, "Hearts of Oak".

I came to this CD completely ignorant of any of Ted Leo's former work, 
though at least AMG seems to think at least some of it (in the band 
Chisel) was pretty influential in the mod/punk revival of the early 90s. 
  I jumped solely based on an almost unqualified rave on the Pitchfork 
site; and man, am I ever glad I did.

Imagine all of the best elements of every band you ever heard between 
1977 and 1981 rolled into one supercharged bundle.  Name checks are all 
over the place, but I definitely hear a LOT of early-nervey Joe Jackson, 
maybe some EC (esp. in the romantic yet snarly lyrics),the Jam, even 
some Thin Lizzy (and I mean that in a good way!).  My wife even thought 
I had slipped in something new from Adam Marsland--a similar balls-out 
approach to his falsetto I think.

God I love these bands that wear their hearts that far out on their 
sleeve; this guy sings like he has something important to say, damnit, 
and once you check the liner notes you see that there's a hell of a lot 
going on there.  Check out 'Where Have All the Rudeboys Gone' for an 
unabashed love letter to the turbulence and (perhaps naive) idealism of 
the 2-tone scene.  Or 'The Ballad of the Sin Eater' which covers 
T.E.Lawrence, Beau Geste, the road to Damascus, and the Manifestation of 
Doubt all within 4 minutes!

Intelligent songwriting, plenty of hooks (and amped up guitars), and a 
frontman singing like his life's in the balance.  That's a trifecta in 
my book.  Suffice it to say that I didn't even make it throught the 
entire CD before I was back online to snap up the rest of the 
Pharmacist's catalogue.

Anybody else knocked out by these guys??

Best,

Shawn Huckaby

PS:  an aside to Adam... have you heard this?  His falsetto and total 
investment in delivery really does remind me of you!