The first thing you need to know about the latest Belle and Sebastian album is that it's produced by Trevor Horn, the man behind Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The second is that it's funny. This Scottish seven-piece has always had a dark sense of humor, but here it's in the music as well, and it's gone barmy: When Stuart Murdoch sings, in "I'm a Cuckoo," about listening to "Thin Lizzy-o," dual electric guitars play a melody in harmony as if copping a riff from "The Boys Are Back in Town."

Surprisingly, Horn's presence isn't at all overbearing. The sound hasn't significantly slickened, but the performances are tighter, confident, even bouncy, bringing the band much closer to the vintage pop and soul records it adores. Belle and Sebastian are still twee, but with a twist and shout.

“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.