For me there are four stand-outs on Guts and they're maybe the four with the most strongly idiosyncratic personalities: "All-American Bitch" and its smashing pop-punk chorus, the topsy-turvy energy of "Bad Idea Right?", the epic that is "Vampire" and, most of all, "Get Him Back!", sung-spoken verse and classic chorus. And then a strong second tier that includes "Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl" (the most convincingly alt-rockish number on the album), "Making The Bed" (ballad), "Love Is Embarrassing" (appropriately giddy) and "Pretty Is Pretty" (riding those Wish-era Cure guitars and a melody that wouldn't have been completely out of place on that record either - shades of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart too).
There are things that they all - and the other songs on Guts - have in common: the specificity of the lyrics, the sharpness and precision of the attitude, the way the omnivorous mingling of musical influences is unified by both of the above (apart from the two I've already mentioned, artists that it's brought to mind at various points include Avril Lavigne, the Pipettes, Lily Allen, the Offspring and Sia, along with plenty of other sounds and styles). Taken all together, this is a major step up from Sour and probably my favourite pure-ish pop album for some time - though I guess with the caveat that genres are probably less and less relevant these days and maybe especially when it comes to interfaces with 'pop'.
