It's not a surprise that a child of Crowded House's Neil Finn would be musically inclined. But who would have guessed that Dad's voice and knack for bittersweet melodies would pass so perfectly to son Liam? The younger Finn cut his teeth in the unremarkable New Zealand band Betchadupa, but his solo bow, I'll Be Lighting, finds him firmly in control of his father's gifts. That's another way of saying the disc owes much to the Beatles, albeit that band at its most mysterious and melancholic. That much is clear from the first couple tracks: gems like "Better to Be" and "Second Chance." To Finn's credit most of the rest of the disc makes good on those initial highs. Granted, he'll never be a star in today's market, which emphasizes flash over songs, but no one could deny the guy's a class act.

-- Joshua Klein