Customer Reviews

Lapalco

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Brendan Benson? Who? Never heard of him. That would have been my response to hearing that name about a month or so ago. Then I read a little review of "Lapalco" in my local newspaper (of all places) by the local music journalist (thanks David M.!). It was enough to make me want to get the CD, without even hearing a single tune from the album. A complete blind purchase...which is not at all unusual for me. There is something very exciting about purchasing an album having never heard a single song...then being completely blown away by it. Which is what happened with this one. What a musical pairing...Benson & Falkner. I knew the album had to be pretty darn good with Jason Falkner's hand all over it. Taking nothing away from the obvious talent of Brendan Benson mind you. These two seem to be twin sons of different musical mothers. Loads of talent. And it shows all over this album. This one is chock full of great tunes. Catchy, hook-laden, clever lyrics, stick to ya kinds of tunes. For something fresh and just a bit different take a chance on this one. If you clicked in this far go ahead and click the rest of the way and buy "Lapalco".

Brendan Benson was the man who wasn't there. He is there now. Make him there for you too!

Let's be frank here: anyone who likes popsongs with lots and lots of hooks, catchy melodies, beatle-like chord canges, and (often silly) lyrics about girls, should buy this album right away and never stop enjoying it immensely. At least that's what I did.

Whenever I can, I tell my friends about Brendan and what a good cd this is. Yet everytime I listen to it, I am blown away, forgetting that it isn't good, it's amazing. Listen to it on a rainy day, a sunny day, in the morning or at night. Benson creates melodies and pop hooks that manage to suck the listener in early, during "Tiny Spark", not letting go until the last fading moments of "Jetlagged". I can't say enough about this cd, so all I'll say is go out and get it. There's not a fave song, because all are excellent. There is a cohesiveness to the album, yet no song repeats another. Imagine my pleasant surprise when at a White Stripes concert they did a cover to "Good to Me"! I hate the puns, but this album is certainly good to me...

I'm not familiar with Benson's earlier work, but just happened to hear this disc in a local store. It's truly great! Kind of like a post-punk Big Star, or a more rocking Elliott Smith. Of course, the Beatles are always the ultimate source for this kind of thing. In his lyrics, a friend tells him "You're not John Lennon." Well, maybe not, but this disc is certainly the next best thing.

Brendan Benson, whose excellent new CD is called Lapalco, and who has opened on tour for the red-hot White Stripes, is a Detroit cult hero who seriously deserves wider acclaim.
Benson plays what I would call "hard pop," a mix of mostly edgy rockers interspersed with some rather sweet ballads. His lyrics tend toward the angst-y, tortured side, and what's impressive about his music is he isn't afraid of melody. The songs have a listenable, hummable, Beatlesque quality to them.
I have seen (and heard) this guy as a rare talent since hearing his first CD, called One Mississippi. Do yourself a favor. Discover him.

The music from that darn Saturn Ion Leaving College commercial was the impetus for this purchase...I couldn't get those first few bars out of my head! After digging around on the web looking for the artist, I finall stumbled across Benson's name and the song Tiny Spark. I read some reviews, bought the album, and, to be honest, am just floored.

This CD does not leave my cd player, iPod, etc. What a fantastic pop album with wonderful melodies, soaring vocals, beautiful instrumentation...superlatives do not do this record justice. I rarely review on Amazon...this album is a must have if you like great pop music. I have no idea why this guy is not more well known! Support him by buying this cd...I want more!

Genius Detroit singer/songwriter Brendan Benson and best friend number 4592 of Jack White comes out of his room to play on 'Lapalco'.
There's always a tendency with a solo singer/songwriter to take themselves too seriously. That and the fact that they generally seem only a moment away from imploding. Brendan Benson is a bit less sad than most though. Sure, all the usual signifiers are in place, songs about girls, lethargy and doubt. However this is coupled with a self deprecating melancholy and he writes fine songs that far from being introverted as you'd expect, lean more towards a sort of Beatles - loving pop.....he once even wrote a song about a hoard of insects taking over the world. stand out tracks include 'metarie' , 'folk singer' , 'you're quiet' , 'what' and 'good to me'.

I have a rule that I never review an album that I haven't heard at least ten times all the way through. If you scroll through my various reviews and notice just the music, I invariably give albums either four or five stars. This is mainly because albums I really dislike never fulfill the ten-times rule. I bring this up because on the first two or three hearings of this album I wasn't terribly impressed. I didn't think it a bad album, merely one that I wasn't going to be able to listen to ten times. I stuck with it, however, and somewhere around the sixth listen everything clicked. Now, I am a huge fan of power pop and have been since discovering Big Star, the Raspberries, and the Shoes ages ago. Now the thing is, those bands all blew me away on a first listen. This one took longer, but I'm simply delighted that I stuck with it.

There is not a whole lot to say about this album. The melodies are great, the performance excellent, the lyrics filled with some great twists. He often reminds me of other artists, whether A. C. Newman or Apples in Stereo or the Shoes. That's a pretty wide range of music, but he seems to fit somewhere among them with his own unique sound. I think what initially failed to turn me onto him is the fact that his songs have less aggressive hooks than many other power pop performers. The Smithereens, for instance, are all hooks, and as a result tend to be as interesting upon repeated hearings. But this album seems to get better with each time I listen to it.

I like nearly every song on the album, but my favorite might be the one that opens the album, "Tiny Spark." It starts with some misdirection as a synthesizer that does not represent the sound of the rest of the album opens things up. But it opens up immediately to a pop song of the first rank. This, like many of the other best songs on the album, were co-written with Jason Falkner, who has been in several bands, but is probably best known for his work with the Three O'Clock. But Benson's songs have an equal charm, such as "Metarie" and "Folksinger" that follow the opening cut. I personally like Benson's more up-tempo numbers than the slower cuts, but I can easily imagining feeling the opposite depending one's taste.

So I definitely recommend this one. And if, like I did at first, you don't love it at first, stick with it. I bet you come around.

I bought Brendan Benson's latest album 'The Alternative To Love' and really loved it. I saw
him in concert in Dublin a month ago and was similarly impressed. To be honest,in concert the
songs that worked best were off the album 'Lapalco' which I hadn't heard.

I bought 'Lapalco' a day after the concert and it's been on heavy rotation on my IPod ever
since.

Five of the twelve songs on 'Lapalco' were co-written with Jason Falkner ex-Jellyfish and
The Grays. It has to be said that all of these songs are excellent. Falkner as a solo artist
specialises in intricate, catchy, intelligent power-pop with lots of nice touches in every song
that he does. He and Benson are a great combination - they both know how to write great
pop songs. Falkner seems to have spurred Benson on to great accomplishments. In must be pointed
out to be fair that the Benson-only penned tracks are as good as the co-writes.

The album opener 'Tiny Spark' is great.He closed his show in Dublin with this one and it is a
great anthem. 'Metarie' is lovely also. Benson's lyrics are always very honest "Met a girl,
introduced myself, asked her to go with me and no-one else".It's a great song about trying to
get a girlfriend."Folk Singer" is another cracker - it's one of the many songs where Benson's voice
hits falsetto on the chorus. This to me is the essence of power-pop - soaring vocals that lift the
spirit. The rest of the album is equally strong and I can honestly say that there are no weak tracks
afterwards. My personal favourite is 'Pleasure Seeker'. It too features a killer chorus and
Benson's voice soars high again.

If you haven't heard of Benson and are a fan of the power-pop , you should give him a chance.

He deserves all the success he gets for his intelligent, intricate music. I'm listening to his
songs as I write this review and they still give me a kick after four weeks of heavy rotation.

Brendan's next collaberation is going to be with Jack White of The White Stripes. It will be
interesting to hear how it turns out. Hopefully it will bring Benson's music to the attention
of a wider audience. He really deserves it.

There's not much point in adding to what's already been said about
this disc. I agree that if you like the Beatles and solo Lennon, you will like this. Best album of 2002? Listen to it and you may
agree.

If you're debating whether to buy it, do yourself a favor and just
get it. It was a blind purchase for me, and the best blind purchase
I've ever made.