Brendan Benson - What Kind Of World - Printable Version +- Music Discussion (https://www.music-discussion.com) +-- Forum: Music Discussion (https://www.music-discussion.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=4) +--- Forum: Alternative (https://www.music-discussion.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=11) +--- Thread: Brendan Benson - What Kind Of World (/showthread.php?tid=6912)

Brendan Benson - What Kind Of World - Music Head - 26-04-2012 online listen association with Jack White who also has a new one this week power pop I guess, Nick Lowe a couple of likes, but not enough 1.5 from me and a converted 2.1 from the pros at allmusic from the album - Bad For Me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXvkJepyDbw released Apr 24th, 2012 Bio - from allmusic A Michigan-born songwriter who occupies the rockier end of the power pop spectrum (more indebted to the Who than the Raspberries, that is), Brendan Benson debuted at the age of 26 with a sterling first album, 1996's One Mississippi. He continued working as a solo artist for the better part of a decade, releasing three albums of his own while occasionally appearing on other artists' records. However, Benson remained a minor part of the musical mainstream until 2005, when he began collaborating with fellow Michigander Jack White of the White Stripes, forming a partnership that quickly turned into a four-piece band named the Raconteurs. The supergroup fared well on both sides of the Atlantic, with 2006's Broken Boy Soldiers and 2008's Consolers of the Lonely both cracking the Top Ten in the U.K. and America. Benson returned to his solo career in 2009, as the Raconteurs took an indefinite break and Jack White shifted his focus to the Dead Weather. Brendan Benson worked alongside songwriter Jason Falkner, former member of Jellyfish and the Grays, during the creation of his debut album. Falkner co-wrote over half the songs and produced the first version of One Mississippi, but Virgin Records rejected the album and sent Benson back into the studio with a new producer, Ethan Johns. Meanwhile, several of the Falkner-produced tunes were released via a limited-edition EP called The Wellfed Boy, which appeared not long after the revised version of One Mississippi came out. As major-label power pop albums are wont to do, One Mississippi sold fairly poorly despite receiving positive reviews, and Benson spent the next several years extricating himself from his Virgin contract while producing and appearing on other artists' records. Released in 2002, Lapalco marked his independent debut, and its critical success spurred Benson's return to the majors in 2005 with The Alternative to Love. Benson then joined with Jack White in forming the Raconteurs. The group released the aforementioned albums Broken Boy Soldiers and Consolers of the Lonely, and scored a number one single with "Steady as She Goes," which topped the modern rock charts in 2006. After playing with the band for several years, however, Benson struck out on his own with 2009's My Old, Familiar Friend, his fourth solo effort. In 2012, Benson returned with his fifth studio album, What Kind of World. Featuring the single "Bad for Me," the album was Benson's first release on his own Readymade Records label. Album Review - from allmusic Brendan Benson has always had an uncanny knack for first-person pop. Since his glimmering 1996 debut One Mississippi and its blisteringly catchy 2002 follow-up Lapalco, Benson's lyrical output has been widely focused around his repeated looks inward. The words "me," "mine," "my," and "I" come up a lot. More neurotically autobiographical and self-analyzing than narcissistic, the singer's hyper-personal inspection of himself and his struggles with the world are reflective of the meticulous magnifying glass he applies to his winding power pop compositions. The combination of therapy session lyrics and deeply controlled perfectionist pocket symphonies has really cultivated a sound that feels like being inside Benson's head, jittery place that it may be. His fifth studio album, What Kind of World is a further look inside the songwriter's wiry inner world, thankfully for his listeners a world that has as many ELO-inspired bombastic hooks and killer guitar tones as it does personal hangups. Benson's gift for harmonizing with himself is in the spotlight on songs like "Light of Day," fuzz-tone guitar lines pushing along the song's richly layered chorus. Long a student of the Beatles and everything that came from their lineage, the songwriter leans heavily on Lennon-esque melodies and wistfully nostalgic moods on songs like the roots rocky country-porch amble of "On the Fence" and the piano-driven single "Bad for Me." "Pretty Baby" is the odd song out on the album, with an eerie melody duetted by Benson and vocalist Ashley Monroe surfing on a huge beat and spooky Mellotron strings. This dusty collection of theatrical sounds bears the audible influence of Benson's songwriting partner in the Raconteurs, Jack White. White never shies away from over the top melodrama and filmic seriousness in his songs, and "Pretty Baby" is the most dramatic of the bunch on What Kind of World. This is as dynamic a record as Benson has ever made, but trades some of the homespun charm and young hunger of his earlier work for a more expensive-sounding studio sheen. The songs sound every bit as inspired, but something in the production of the album makes them less immediate, requiring a second or third listen before they really sink in. All told, the album is more of a grower than most of Benson's instantly gripping catalog, but those kinds of records from a longstanding champion of pop songwriting suggest growth both personal and musical. At this point in his journey, Benson's been writing self-accessing pop songs from a gleefully frazzled perspective for close to 20 years. When the results of his introspection sound so nice, we can only hope he takes as long as possible to sort out his issues. Track Listing 1. What Kind of World 2. Bad for Me 3. Light of Day 4. Happy Most of the Time 5. Keep Me 6. Pretty Baby 7. Here in the Deadlights 8. Met Your Match 9. Thru the Ceiling 10. No One Else But You 11. Come On 12. On the Fence