Brendan Benson
The Alternative to Love
(v2)
Brendan Benson’s debut One Mississippi was one of the greatest records of the ’90s. Yet on record number three he is still an underground cult figure. The Alternative to Love’s blissfully raunchy pop will hopefully change this. The disc is a no-holds-barred rip through the foundation of power-pop. Taking bits directly from genre creators Big Star, The Raspberries and Todd Rundgren, he uses their groundbreaking The-Beatles-meet-The-Who ideology. Opening with the retro-pop blast of “Spit it Out,” fans of The Strokes and other ’70s revivalists will be hooked onto Benson. Each track has its own flavour led by his incredible songwriting prowess. Not only destined for alt-pop cult status, this record will be one of this year’s best.
—Trevor MacLaren
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.