Despite their popularity in the UK and Europe, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions didn’t really hit it big here in the States, which is an absolute crime. I didn’t discover them until the summer of 1991, when friends from Belfast turned me on to what is arguably one of the best three-album runs of the 80s (Rattlesnakes, Easy Pieces, and Mainstream).

“Forest Fire” starts off with vocals, a plaintive organ, and drums, then guitar and bass layer on top and the parts all build until settling into a steady groove by the third verse. At the 2:29 mark, the beat just stops, and the bass plays a pickup line that takes us into the last verse.

Coming out of the bridge, Lloyd sings “We’ll tear this place down”; when the drums drop out, what was steadily building musically gets torn down, echoing the lyric. After this momentary release, the bass turns right back around into the groove, delivering us into one of the greatest guitar solos ever recorded; so great, in fact, that I might write about it in a future installment.