*** Jack Logan/Bob Kimbell

LITTLE PRIVATE ANGEL

(Parasol)

With his love of beer, his knack for crafting impeccable pop hooks, and his working-class cred, Jack Logan could be GBV frontman Robert Pollard's Southern doppelgänger. Like Pollard, Logan's written more songs than he'll ever possibly record (well over 1000), and most of those that have seen the light of day are short, witty, and unforgettably catchy. But his tunes are grounded in a melancholy realism inspired by his day job as a swimming-pool-motor repairman.

For the past 15 years, Logan has been making music with singer/songwriter Bob Kimbell; it's taken them until now to release their first collaborative CD, Little Private Angel. Kimbell's high, nasal wail sounds like a cross between Neil Young and Alex Chilton; Logan's voice is rawer and huskier, like Paul Westerberg with a drawl. When they sing together they create fluttering harmonies as their voices search for the right notes. Their songs about fixing cars, baseball, rain, and infidelity evoke classic tunesmiths like Hank Williams, Buddy Holly, and the Beatles. But Logan and Kimbell are at their best when they're sincerely goofy -- when "Little Private Angel" morphs into "Leader of the Pack," or when they turn the Ali-Foreman fight into a poignant metaphor for friendship in "Nerves of Steel."

-- Joshua Westlund