The Books - Lost and Safe

The Books – Lost and Safe

Tomlab, 2005

Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2007

Price: $9

While it’s typically not as highly regarded as The Lemon of Pink or Thought For Food, this is my favorite Books record. Or not, listening to this I just think it’s pretty good. Although “An Animated Description of Mr. Maps” was one of my monster jams of 2005 and yeah, it’s still just as good. “Be Good to Them Always” is another monster jam I only recently (while listening to this record) realized. But overall, it’s a really pretty, interesting record and when I heard it in 2005 when I was in the midst of my getting-over-punk phase it blew my mind. Lyrically, “Mr. Maps” is fucking amazing. “He felt lost but he felt pretty intensely good, and he woke up screaming having dreamed of a color he had never seen before.” That line, every time, kills me. The song also makes reference to chicken fingers, and that line, about the smell of chicken tenders, always makes me want chicken tenders because I love chicken tenders.