Hard to get past "Don't Worry, Be Happy." On an album of covers and songs that structurally sound as if they were written by someone else, "Don't Worry, Be Happy" stands out as apart, above. The original good vibes anthem, sullied by oversaturation and I Love the '80s (Hal Sparks has much to answer for). It makes sense that this is the song, above all others, that rings out three decades since its initial release.
There are records a person enjoys and there are records a person admires, and Simple Pleasures is admirable as hell. The arrangement and layering of vocals on display, to say nothing of their performances, are technically magnificent and strategically impressive. This is the kind of album that wins Grammys. The bones of the future of indie rock are here; the do-it-allism of Andrew Bird, the haunted house call-and-response of early TV on the Radio. Much to take from it, less to return to. Hakuna Matata.
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