This EP from the prolific, megatalented Conor Oberst is the kind of thing you suspect he could turn out every month or so: one hot single and five relatively good B sides, all from the same sessions that birthed Bright Eyes' forthcoming LP. Soundwise, it's no great departure from his earlier work. Oberst lays his typically solid melodies and heartfelt croak over both lovely acoustic stuff and rocking backup, including the Crazy Horse guitar attack of "Stray Dog Freedom" and the mishmash of upbeat country and strings on "Tourist Trap." The standout is the title track, a fiddle-laden romp where Oberst drops agitated spew and abundant catchiness (plus a W.B. Yeats reference). Though ninety-five percent of American songwriters might wish they'd written any of the other five songs, they're Oberst's B sides for a reason — hopefully because he's saved the killer stuff for the full-length.

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.