Brendan Benson

Most rock fans may know Brendan Benson from his costarring role in the Raconteurs, but his solo career deserves the kind of widespread acceptance that Wilco, Death Cab and the White Stripes enjoy. Benson's melodic power-pop gifts are still in full force, but this time out he also brings in some real psych-rock muscle on tunes like "Eyes on the Horizon." How good is Brendan Benson? Well, you can't really call out the best songs here -- the eleven tunes buzz with nonstop spiky hooks and sing-along melodies. Benson should be your radio's familiar friend.

You can't be too surprised at Brendan Benson releasing a new album just a year after the
Raconteurs' last chart-buster — it must be in the band charter for everyone to follow Jack
White's album-per-summer plan. Benson's fourth solo jam is his first since the Raconteurs
introduced him to the masses, which means now everybody gets to play catch-up with his
skewed acumen for classic power pop in the Seventies AM-gold mode of Wings a... More >