The Alternative To Love

There was a time, not so long back, when it seemed like Detroit was going to re-establish itself as a major musical force in the world. Luckily we soon tired of second rate garage bands and moved onto Sunderland. However, here comes the neatly turned out and all important 'friend of Jack White' Brendan Benson, not with a bunch of Stooges and Muddy Waters records tucked under his arm but a seemingly unquenchable love for polished '70s rock.
It is, you must admit, a refreshing change after all that grimy realism but as with all sweet things you'd want to be careful you don't ingest too much. 'Spit It Out' is as about as grungy as it gets, but even that is drenched in sunny harmonies and relentlessly upbeat lyrics. Despite the full band nature of most tracks it has that indefinable but obvious sound of a solo record, enabling Benson to skip from genre to genre with little regard for continuity.
Most of it is clever, some of it too clever, and the production is at times very two dimensional, lacking any real depth to the sound. He can pull off moments of real inspiration though, such as the Elvis Costello homage 'The Pledge', the electronic 'Biggest Fan' and the Gilbert O'Sullivan-fronts-Weezer whimsy of 'Gold Into Straw'. When his songwriting talents let him down the whole house of cards does tend to collapse in on itself but this a largely impressive, if sugar coated, piece of work.