Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947 (2005)

Following his wife Aimee Mann's Americana concept album, journeyman songwriter Michael Penn proffers his own thematic opus with the characteristically pop-rocking Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947. Lyrically, the setting is tumultuous post-WWII U.S., but sonically he's still stuck in 1967, humming with the Byrds and crawling alongside the Beatles. Devoid of his significant other's uncanny gift for piercing melody, many of the record's vivid, detail-heavy vignettes come off like PBS docs: intriguing but a bit dull.

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