The Broken West [ tickets ] is about the 10-millionth band to take inspiration from the Beatles/Big Star branch of the rock family tree. So why should you make space for "I Can't Go On, I'll Go On" on your music shelf already crowded with Cheap Trick, Spoon and Teenage Fanclub CDs?

Because The Broken West passes the listening test. Influences carry bands only so far--they still have to write songs people want to hear. And Broken West's main songwriters, Ross Flournoy and Dan Iead, have the necessary craft and gift for catchiness to make their tunes memorable. A spin or two of "On the Bubble," "So It Goes" and "You Can Build an Island" is all it takes to lodge them in your brain.

It's not hard to play "spot the influence" with these transplanted Angelenos. (Backing the two singing guitarists, Flournoy and Iead, are the very capable bassist Brian Whelan, drummer Rob McCorkindale and keyboardist Scott Claassen). They have the chops to cite their heroes, from the "ooo ooo" backing vocals down to the George Harrison licks on "Shiftee." There is less of a sense of place with Broken West than there is with, say, Fountains of Wayne, but there is the exuberance of a young band starting to come into its own.

Because so many bands have dipped into the same influences, the gameplan should be to find your own path. Wilco, to name one, started off as power popsters on debut "A.M." before forging their own identity. Perhaps The Broken West will get there on album two or three. In the meantime, they've created an album that warms to repeated listening.