"No matter how good your new favorite band is, the Stratford 4 are better. Sexy astral travelers from San Francisco, they specialize in melancholic-erotic guitar ballads, as singer Chris Streng wanders through the feedback in search of another girl and another planet. All the songs are great, but the killer is the eight-minute "Telephone." Streng sings about calling his mom on a Saturday night. He tells her that he's sitting at home alone, listening to music, and he wonders if he's going to be all right. She advises him to get out of the apartment and live a bit - but as long as he's there, he may as well put on another Dylan record. And in the chorus, she says, over and over: "When I was twenty-two/I was a lot like you." It's one of the best rock & roll mom songs ever written, from a truly amazing album. More, please. - Rolling Stone review of Love & Distortion, April, 2003 - Rob Sheffield