Lincoln

The album where they figured out they could write actual hits without giving up any of the strangeness. "Ana Ng" alone — that descending guitar riff, the lyric about a person on the opposite side of the earth — earns the record's reputation, but "They'll Need a Crane," "Purple Toupee," and "Where Your Eyes Don't Go" are nearly as good. Named for the Massachusetts town the Johns grew up in. The Bar/None pressing that cracked them onto college radio in earnest.