No one begrudged Lloyd Cole for breaking up his great British pop band the Commotions and moving to New York to make American rock, although his subsequent solo records appeared to stray further and further from the facile songwriting that had early on made Cole so cherished. With this 1995 set, however, Cole settled back into doing what he does best, offering his best music since the Commotions' debut, Rattlesnakes, over a decade ago. Love Story returns to the colorful neobeat, English-major lyric style Cole developed as a young postgrad, though his writing is tempered now with the graceful maturity that graying hair, a marriage, and a child inevitably bring. Back are proper nouns, pop culture references, and clever quotes ("Penny walked in with that 'Love in Vain' look, said 'Every last man should be hanging from a meat hook'"), plus a subtle beauty in even his most basic lines ("She loves you best/And I love her nonetheless"). Restored as well are the tender accompaniments of acoustic guitar strums and tasteful lead lines, with a moody backdrop of light keys and strings. Like the smartest of love stories, the music is happy and sad, whimsical and doleful, never tired and often touching. --Roni Sarig