Fed by Plush may potentially be one of the finest pop albums of the 21st Century so far. Released in 2002 as a Japanese import, Liam Hayes has assembled a crack orchestra and croons like a post-modern day hybrid of Ray Davies, Nillson, and George Harrison — yet he has his own style.

“Sitting on a Greyhound Bus Station” is so amazing with the rave-up orchestral arrangement, which sounds like sweet Seventies R&B meets vintage Bowie, yet the intro is downright Eels-like for the first few seconds. Then when I got into it more, it all I could think of was Mott the Hoople.

The track “Blown Away” is something that deserves to be over-played on the radio, but with the lyrics, “I’m just a lonely man/cause somebody told me I was great” is probably far too tame for the middle-of-the-road CD buying majority. Maybe Liam partially realized that as he obtained After Hours as the label for his material. The real reason, as I understand it, had to do with budget restrictions. I sort of admire someone who is willing to take a financial risk for his art, but it’s a challenge to shell out this kind of bread for a CD in the new economy. At the same time, listening to it now, I’m really glad I did.

Anyway, the mere fact that Liam can stretch a vowel like soft taffy on a summer afternoon coupled with a bevy of talented musicians including Morris Jennings on drums, Matthew Lux on bass, and Rian Murphy on additional drums is pure amazing. All the supplementary musicians include Azita Youssefi on keyboards, extra percussion by DeDe Sampaio. Throw in the fact that Steve Albini had a hand in this production and you will realize that Liam has accomplished a far greater feat than most musicians today would attempt today. I don’t even think Prince has been up to anything like this lately, but honestly, I’m not 100 percent so don’t quote me on that Ok?

Another tune that struck a chord with me (not intended, sorry) was “No Education” in which our protagonist sweetly sings about how he’s doing fine although he’s no intellectual. Not since “Mayor of Simpleton” by XTC has anti-intellectualism sounded so good.

Even the weak songs stand up on this album. The title track almost has a Jazzy feel and leaves a lot of room for the lyrics, “May I sleep in dirty water/till my soul shines.” This doesn’t come into play until almost four minutes into the song, but it’s not exactly the track that knocked my socks off. I think “Blown Away” and “Greyhound Bus Station” are the gems.

The only thing I might caution the reader about is that this is pure, easy listening pop in the Burt Bacharach, Seventies, Vintage Bowie tradition. And I mean real pop. And the thing is that you can tell that Liam understands the pop aesthetic maybe even better than all those so-called household names.

This whole album is great, and deserves more credit in a market-based industry where we need more gentleman crooners such as Liam who put the self-respect back into pop music with innocent wisdom.