Coffee's mention of Eels reminded me of E and his solo debut "A Man Called E". Much less mannered than Eels (so maybe less interesting to some), but utterly pure pop/rock songwriting in the vein of The Beatles. Along with his other solo effort, "Broken Toy Shop", a great record of this type.
Always wondered how these remained so obscure even after Eels achieved their cult success. BTW, Mark O. Everett (the man called E) had a fantastic songwriting partner who peforms under the name Parthenon Huxley or P. Hux. Great solo stuff there, too including another great debut from his short lived band, Veg. That one rocks a bit harder than most from P. Hux and is on my list of outstanding debuts, too.
Marty