Brendan Benson, "Poised And Ready" (2009)

find it on My Old, Familiar Friend

Say! This rock and roll stuff is pretty catchy, huh?

There's something almost anachronistic about Brendan Benson's latest, which is weird. I mean, there's still plenty of people making power pop and rock music, but I can't help but hear this record and, enjoyable as it is, feel like it's a little bit out of time.

But like any good band reliving a past sound, all that matters is how good it is, and "Poised and Ready" is about as perfect a slice of heavy-handed pop rock as you could get. The organ that comes in for the hyper-energetic last verse sounds like someone's leaning on it as hard as they can, and it gives me chills. Brilliant stuff, no matter what time it's in or sounds like.

Listen to every song from Fine Tune Friday on Lala.com