Parallel Lines is a work of pop genius imo. I had the album Plastic Letters before anyone else I knew (it was dutch or german or something from memory and hadn't had a UK release). It got me my joint highest ever cool rating, hitting 8.1 (struggle to keep it close to 4 now). Parallel Lines is one of those albums that has two very distinct 'phases' for me. The first, at age 7 was hearing it constantly blasted out from my older sisters bedroom, and despite it being accompanied by a lot of really bad 'sing along' from her and her friends I really, really liked the songs and borrowed it from her on a regular basis (basically when she was out and had no idea). The second phase was when I picked it up in a HMV sale some 15 or so years later, and at that point being far more musically 'educated' I began to appreciate it all over again and on many more levels. As I say, a work of pop genius.