Hearts of Oak by Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

Hearts of Oak, the third album from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, came out on Lookout! Records on February 11, 2003, following The Tyranny of Distance, and it's a punk record with a big heart and a long memory. Ted Leo, the Washington, D.C. band's singer, guitarist and chief songwriter, throws punk rock, indie rock, art punk and plain old rock and roll into the same pot, with flashes of folk and dub reggae bubbling up, and he sings every word like he means to change your mind.

James Canty was in the band at the time. "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?" got a music video, and Pitchfork later put the album at number 59 on its list of the 200 best albums of the decade. Shake the Sheets was next.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.