My Old, Familiar Friend

When I first started listening to the Raconteurs, I never paid much attention to Brendan Benson; my focus was generally on Jack White. My first impression of Benson was that he was White's new partner in crime who had a similar singing voice and who could write decent songs, but I wasn't really blown away by his presence.

Now, after listening to Benson's fourth album, My Old, Familiar Friend, it's hard not to look back at the duo of White and Benson and see some slight Lennon-McCartney resemblance. White, both in the Raconteurs and even more so in the White Stripes, is the rocker that plays the more raw rock and blues flavors; many of the songs have rougher edges and unconventional lyrics. Benson, on the other hand, leans on the poppy side, writing more melodic, accessible music. That's not to say he can't rock out with White, just listen to Raconteurs songs like "Hands," "Attention," and "Many Shades of Black."

Still, as soon as the first track, "A Whole Lot Better," kicks in, it's easy to imagine it on a McCartney album. The same goes with most of the songs. "Gonowhere," with it's keyboard opening, sounds like classic Wings. "Garbage Day," "You Make a Fool Out of Me," "Eyes on the Horizon," and "Feel Like Taking You Home," all sound like cuts off of McCartney's more recent albums, and the same can be said for most of the record. The whole album has a very clean, poppy production, and while Benson does rock out on songs like "Borrow" and "Misery," the songs never lose their catchiness.

There isn't quite the variety of sounds that can be found in Benson's work in the Raconteurs. With the albums Broken Boy Soldier and Consolers of the Lonely, Benson's songs ranged from the rocking "Hands" and "Attention" to the country-tinged "Old Enough" and the western-influenced "The Switch and the Spur." My Old, Familiar Friend doesn't have that range or variety. That's not to say all the songs sound the same; each song has its own identity and the album never sounds repetitive. However, all the songs have the same pop quality to them, like Benson wanted to distance himself from his Raconteurs image and make a straight pop record unlike that of his work with Jack White. He certainly has succeeded in that respect; the Raconteurs this is not. Benson manages to carve out his own identity and sound independent of his ties to White, even if that identity sounds an awful lot like an ex-Beatle.

But that's what I love about this album--the poppy sound. All the songs have been stuck in my head much more than anything by the Raconteurs, who make pretty catchy songs themselves. It may sound a little too much like extra McCartney songs, but I love McCartney, and since he didn't release a studio album this year, I take what I can get, and when he can't make it, Brendan Benson is there with the tunes. The title My Old, Familiar Friend is fitting beyond the fact that it's one of the lyrics. This all sounds familiar, like the old friend we all know as Paul McCartney. Does this mean that Brendan Benson is the new McCartney, or that the Raconteurs are the new Beatles? Of course not. Still, they're doing a damn good job.

Middle Cyclone

Alright, I'm very much behind on this whole thing, for which I'm ashamed of myself, so I'm going to make this somewhat brief and move on to the next album pick, which I'm also behind on.

Neko Case and her new album Middle Cyclone are a breath of fresh air. In the world of country music today, Nashville is dominated by the mainstream pop-country of people like Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, and the other bombshells of the scene, just as it was ten years ago with Faith Hill and Shania Twain. Maybe that's a generalization, but either way, Neko Case has a much different sound. Honestly, if it weren't for her voice, it would be tough for me to label Middle Cyclone as country, even alt-country. The record transcends any one genre and plays to different tastes, but it's all tied together by Case's voice, which sounds like the reincarnations of Patsy Cline and Wanda Jackson.

That very voice ranges throughout the album from strong and independent to soft and whispering, but it is always beautiful, both aesthetically and just as a different sound among the usual stuff that is made these days. With songs about Mother Nature, prison girls, the usual relationship troubles, and her own inadequacies, Neko takes the usual subject matter (the relationship troubles, not the prison girls obviously) and makes them sound fresh. Again, this has mostly to do with her singing, which is the biggest country element of this alt-country album.

Instrumentally, much of the music strays from the usual modern sounds of walls of guitar overdrive, steel pedal crying, and the general overproduction that is prevalent in today's mainstream country. Some songs are soft, with only an acoustic guitar and piano, like "Vengeance is Sleeping," and the title track, which features a music box playing alongside the acoustic guitar for an added innocence, while others are more poppy, basic guitar-drum-bass combos like "This Tornado Loves You" and "People Got a Lotta Nerve." "Prison Girls" takes a dreamy, trippy turn that, even with Neko's voice, isn't really deserving of being labeled as "country" but it is nonetheless a great track to get lost in. Everything fits in this album, every instrument is in the right place; gentle plucks of string sections here and there, the above-mentioned music box, the overdubs of Case's voice on "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Nature," etc.

What else can I say about this album, other than it's a great listen? It's tough for me to think of much more to say, I've just had trouble coming up with anything. I know that sounds like lazy writing (it is), but sometimes that's all you can say about a great album. You don't always know exactly why you like it, but it connects with you somehow and you just enjoy it. It's the same way with books and movies; you can't always explain what makes you feel good inside. Whatever it is, I hope Neko Case continues making music like this; God knows we need it these days.