In 1989, Lloyd Cole left his U.K homeland and his backing band, The Commotions, for a solo career in New York. By this 1990 solo debut, the namedroppy lyrical folly that had sometimes plagued Cole's work with The Commotions smoothed itself out as if his actual life had taken hold; instead of writing songs from the POV of a shut-in kid who lived on films and novels, he began living his own films and novels. Here, Cole’s a bemused, literate, and half-broken narrator with Raymond Carver’s eye for prose and Lou Reed’s ear for song (though he sometimes seems more cosmopolitan than either). The songs hum, sizzle, and sing, balancing desolate landscapes and busted hearts (“Don’t Look Back,” “No Blue Skies,” “A Long Way Down”) with plaintive commentaries on the struggle between the good, the bad, and the maladjusted (“Ice Cream Girl,” “What Do You Know About Love”). Guest stars include the sweet-voiced Matthew Sweet and Cole’s New York City heroes from his record collection, guitarists Richard Lloyd (Television) and Robert Quine (Richard Hell & The Voidoids).