Albert,
Do you own the two solo E records ("A Man called E" and "Broken Toy Shop")? I believe that they are among the most perfectly realized pop albums I own. I also thought "Blinking Lights" was-by a very long measure- the best pop/rock release I heard last year.
For the record, other "auto-buys" (pop/rock division):
Don Dixon/Marti Jones
Todd Rundgren
Paul Westerberg
Marshall Crenshaw
Kid Creole
Los Lobos
and, actually, a bunch of others now that I think of it.