Built to Spill CEO Doug Martsch is alt-rock's Thomas Pynchon, holed up in a remote studio (Boise, Idaho) and issuing immaculate artworks when he damnwell pleases. His latest is classic latter-day BTS, a crystal palace ofrefracting guitar tones and textures, walls rising majestically above hissweet, nasal mewl. What's on Martsch's mind? What you'd expect from a dudespending lots of time in his head: dreams, boredom, life's meaning or lackthereof. Those seeking the naive concision of earlier records will bedisappointed: Most songs sprawl near five minutes or longer. But theircomponents are all about simple melodic beauty, writ large — prog-rock for pop purists.

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.