Friday, October 9, 2009

Lapalco

Onward to 2002.



Back in 1996, before Brendan Benson was a Raconteur or associated with Jack White in anyway, he made a great solo album called One Mississippi with Jason Falkner. The album got loads of acclaim but didn't sell in sufficient numbers, so he was immediately dropped by Virgin Records, and the album was exhiled to the dollar bins.

Six years later, in early 2002, Brendan resurfaced with another great album called Lapalco on a small indie label. This album was even better than the debut, and was met with even better reviews, including plaudits from notables like Jack White, which gave Brendan even more sales and a higher profile than One Mississippi did.

He later joined forces with Jack in a band called the Raconteurs, and made a couple more solid solo albums, but Lapalco was Brendan's high water mark as a performer, and the one album of his that I keep coming back to. Easily one of the top albums of the 2000s. Here's an acoustic performance of "Metarie".

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