The Mood Elevator's second album, Married Alive, sounds a lot like a Brendan Benson record. Maybe that's because the dude is all over the record. He's on drums, co-writes a bunch of songs, does background vocals, plays guitar, and produces the album. He and Mood Elevator's main man, Chris Plum, were pals in high school, and Plum is a member of Benson's backing band, the Wellfed Boys. As are all the members of the Mood Elevator. On Married Alive they mine the same rich rock territory that Benson does: '70s power pop, glam rock, new wave, and hard rock with lots of loud guitars married to big hooks involving vocal harmonies, lots of inventive arrangements, and lots of care in the sound of the record. The sound they get is live, powerful, hard-rocking, and reminiscent of the Romantics if they were smarter and Todd Rundgren if he were dumber. The overall lyrical theme of the record can be summed up by the large print in the liner notes: love breaks your heart are the words, and songs like the rocked-out "Boycott," the angular "Guilty," and the pounding "Best Kept Secret" detail the breaking of Plum's heart, heartbreakingly no less. Modern power pop wouldn't have the somewhat deserved reputation of being a pretty lame impersonation of the past if all the records were as good as this one. Fans of Benson should get Married Alive ASAP, while fans of pop full of power, brains, and hooks shouldn't be too far behind. — Tim Sendra