Bones in the Desert, a tight collection of 10 songs, is easily my favorite thing to bear songwriter and artist Jack Logan's name since his “Pete Buck Comics” of the 1980s. I'm probably the only person on the planet to hear Big Audio Dynamite in opening track “What Have You Been Up To,” but I stand by that.

For the rest of the album, it'd be easy to say, “Oh, it's like Sticky Fingers/Exile On Main St.-era Stones,” but to do so would miss the point. Although that's certainly a comparison that can be made, it's much more honest to recognize Logan and Baxendale as part of a tradition. They're no mere copyists.

From the organ swells and choir backing vocals of “Do It In Normaltown” to the restrained, deliberate urgency of “Motivated” to the watery, head-trip psychedelia of “Technical Difficulties,” the mix of styles sits atop a common foundation of rock truisms. That is, the guitar is foundational, melody is taken as a given and mood and attitude is a human right. The sweet spaghetti Western contained in “Erased” and the dissipated simmer of closing track “Sweet Refrain” are pleasant extras in an already overflowing, loving cup. 4 out of 5.