Beautiful, thick transcendent guitar solos. Songs with hooks to die for. A crunchy exterior that encloses some of the most touching melodies ever created in rock. This is a great, great record that everyone with even a passing interest in what became known as "alternative rock" should own. The true inspiration for My Bloody Valentine's wall of sound, and for others too numerous to mention. J mascis' goal was "ear bleeding country" and if you play these songs stripped of their sonic assault on an acoustc guitar you can hear what he's talking about. The lyrics may be obscure and inscrutable, but somehow that only adds to the charm and the feeling of loss that pervades the LP. Fans of this record should do everything they can to get their hands on bootlegs of the band from this period, where tensions ran high and the material (and songs from their first record like "Severed Lips" and "Quest") gets absolutely SLAYED ...it's like the LP on steroids!! Ira Kaplan begged them to "turn it down" when he was a soundman back in the day, but for once his musical instincts were wrong. Flame on!