I'd been holding my breath for the next Ben Kweller album since his much-praised debut two years ago. I, like many others, was awestruck by the quirky-pop charms of Sha Sha. Kweller borrowed the pop sensibilities of the Beatles and Elton John and skewed it with the power-punk riffs of Weezer.

This time around, Kweller doesn't stray too far from the recipe that made Sha Sha so infectious. True, On My Way lacks the immediately accessible singles, like "Wasted and Ready" and "Commerce TX" - it takes a few more spins to catch the hooks and see the light. Overall, however, it's a more straight-forward album with much less quirkiness than Sha Sha. I've read of this album that it's more mature and subdued, which isn't at all accurate. If anything the album rocks a good bit harder and these rockers are stripped down to the basics, (electric guitar, bass and drums) - a sound not unlike the Kinks.

What makes the album such a charmer is that whether Kweller's singing over one of his rockers or his Ben Folds-sounding ballads, his vocals still sound tentative, vulnerable and adolescent, which makes for an interesting juxtaposition.

The first single "The Rules" is a raucous track that sets the tone for most of this sophomore effort. In the second half of the record Kweller offers a few slower piano ballads, particularly striking are "Living Life" and "Different but the Same," both of which give a tip of the cap to Kweller's not-so-secret admiration for piano men like Elton John and, to a lesser extent, Billy Joel.

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