Send "Brendan Benson " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Ew |
 There's no way to prove Jack White was holding Brendan Benson hostage in the Raconteurs, but, boy, is it nice to have him back as a solo act. My Old, Familiar Friend is one warm power-pop bath after another, a cornucopia of oceanfront harmonies, plunky keys, and psychedelic marginalia, plus some Love Unlimited Orchestra-style strings thrown in for grins. Should not be consumed by the melody-averse. A–...full text |
| Guardian |
| Brendan Benson did, save the occasional tour de force and possibly making the tea. Thus, his fans will be glad to know that he's back to what he does best: pithily observed, sharply constructed power-pop. His fourth solo album finds the singer-songwriter, as ever, exploring what effervescent opener A Whole Lot Better describes as the "in and out of love" conundrum. Thus, mistrust meets orchestrated strings, and betrayal is bathed in spiky guitar sounds and Isley Brothers solos. The 11 wonderful songs are worthy of the Beatles, but Benson's solo career has never really broken through. When he seems to be wryly addressing this situation with Misery's "I have these thoughts I want to get off my chest, but nobody's listening", you wonder what else he could possibly do to hit the mainstream. Change his name to Jack?...full text |
| Latimesblogs |
| Brendan Benson has at least three good ideas before he ever parts his lips on "A Whole Lot Better," the first track of his new album "My Old, Familiar Friend." First, a tiny synthesizer flutters into focus, then a big prog-rock guitar riff stomps around a bit before finally building into one of the better updates of Alex Chilton's power-pop in Benson's career. Plenty of equally inspired singles follow on "Friend." Enough, in fact, to make you wonder how a songwriter so gifted and effortless became most famous as Jack White's wingman in the Raconteurs. The problem might be that Benson, for all his skills as a writer, is still missing a bit of that inscrutable star's juju. But don't lose sight of the fact that we have 11 perfect, swaggering new pop songs in the world. "Garbage Day" lays a melancholy disco orchestra over a witty impending-breakup ballad: "If she throws her heart away / I'll be there on garbage day." "Don't Want to Talk" has black-tongued pluck worthy of Joe Jackson, and the album closes grandly with the poison-pen rocker "Borrow." That Benson probably already has a dozen as-good new arrows in the quiver is the curse of the prodigious. But with songs like these, as coy and shiny as new pennies, Benson's private hunt for airtight guitar pop is worth relishing....full text |
Brendan Benson lyrics
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