The Raconteurs is a new band made up of old friends, consisting of Jack Lawrence (bass), Patrick Keeler (drums), Brendan Benson (guitars, vocals, keys), and Jack White (guitars, vocals, keys). The seed was sewn in an attic in the middle of a hot summer when friends Jack White and Brendan Benson got together and wrote a song that truly inspired them. This song was ‘Steady, As She Goes’ and the inspiration led to the creation of a full band with the addition of Lawrence and Keeler. While each of these four individuals had successful careers with their own bands, the culmination of all of their talents is what truly makes The Raconteurs a force to be reckoned with. The quartet convened at Benson’s East Grand Studio to lay down the basic tracks for BROKEN BOY SOLDIERS. Work would continue whenever the boys could get together over the next year. The band is now, for its members, all consuming and they now present themselves to be consumed, or at best simply heard.

The Shake and buRn Verdict

Now you will either dig this or you won’t. It’s just one of those albums that if you don’t get, then you never will, and for so many reasons. You may dismiss it as some chaps getting together to whack out some tunes that their day job would not allow, but they said that about Cream! You may think that there is no room in the 21st century for music that is fuelled by passion and creates a thought pattern not controlled by radio or TV, but by good old fashioned songs; like in the 70’s when you went round to someone’s house and they played you an album that they simply said ‘you just got to hear this!’ The next day you bought it and for the next year lived it… Then years later re-discovered its timeless passion, a thing of the past. Well, not with this record buddy…

I think I was spoilt because I was at the band’s world debut UK live show in Liverpool and live this album is simply untouchable in 2006. However, the record is a little more reserved, and somehow better for it, because if you hear this record and then go and see the band live, you will simply be blown on your ass. It has nothing to do with where the members of this band have been, but simply where they are going… I could sit here and tell you my fave tracks, but it does not matter for this is an L.P. now do you remember the first time??? I can’t remember the last time??? So embrace this for what it is, where it’s at and where it may just take you. Two of my fave films are ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘Almost Famous’, this album is a modern day soundtrack for both…

I may have said it too many times in 2006 already, but fuck me, one word sums up this album… Essential!

5/5

Some Other Thoughts

**WARNING: This review engages in a shameless Jack White lovefest, as this reviewer is a helpless Jack White fanatic. Those of you who aren’t fans of the man or his band(s), or those of you tools who call him a sell-out, turn around now, because this review is just going to tick you off.**

The title says it all… John Anthony Gillis, better known as Jack White, is not only the president, CEO, AND vice president of the new movement of rock and roll that, while remaining a relatively underground movement to the left of that Atlantic, has swept our brethren over in the great country of England; he is the greatest musician of our generation. I’d even venture to say he’s the most genius musician since Frank Black Francis, Charcoal Franky, Dark Franklin, or whatever moniker combining variations of the name Frank and the color black the former Pixies front man is going by these days. Ever since this man exploded onto the scene as the front man/guitarist of the White Stripes, he has been lauded by many as a prodigy, something of a saviour of rock and roll (unfortunately, looking back, that hasn’t been the case, at least in the American mainstream). Along with his simplistic drummer sister/wife Meg White, he created three very, very good albums (self-titled, ELEPHANT, GET BEHIND ME SATAN), and two downright flawless albums (DE STIJL, WHITE BLOOD CELLS). This legend-in-the-making, apparently getting bored with shouldering the load of the biggest (?), best (?) rock band in the world, has ventured from the White Stripes, produced an acclaimed comeback album for country legend Loretta Lynn, and now teamed with a fellow Detroiter, acclaimed singer-songwriter Brendan Benson and the rhythym section from relatively unknown Cincinatti band the Greenhornes to form a new band with a completely new sound. And this man can just not fail with any music he contributes to.

Here, on his new band The Raconteurs’ debut album, he decides to work with Benson and recalling 60’s pop (the good kind), and succeeds at nearly every turn. One wouldn’t be too far off to think this was an old Kinks record. The infectious leadoff single, Steady As She Goes is merely an appetizer to a hard-hitting, well-written, quick, and remarkable power-pop album. The band approaches the pop song from a new angle on nearly every song here, and even go prog-rock for Store Bought Bones. But it is clear throughout that they are trying to recreate 60’s and early 70’s pop, when pop was still good and not Top 40 bubblegum muck, and succeed masterfully. Hands will be stuck in your head for days. Broken Boy Soldier and Intimate Secretary showcases how full Jack White’s vocal/guitar attack can be when backed by a bassist and “real” drummer (don’t get me wrong, I *do* like Meg White and what she brings to the Stripes, but her rhythms *are* very simple), with Jack White summoning a Robert Plant howl on the latter. Together is clearly a Benson-driven track, but is catchy throughout nonetheless. Level is the closest Jack comes on the record to wailing away on his guitar and flat-out rocking. Store Bought Bones, Yellow Sun, and Call It A Day are all solid, but forgettable tracks, but then the album closes brilliantly with possibly the best track on the album, the pseudo-masterpiece Blue Veins. All in all, I have my money on this album being the best of the summer, and possibly the year. And, I have my money on Jack White being viewed as a musical genius, and a legend years from now, a true revolutionary, the face of Generation X rock and roll.

Jack White Fan??