I went to the cinema today, to get to the cinema it is necessary to walk past a used record shop. It is not necessary to go into the used record shop. I went in. The ‘New In’ box had this in it:
From the picture it is probably quite clear that it is no longer in the ‘New In’ box and is now in my house. Just in case it isn’t clear, it is in my house now.
I haven’t heard a single track from it, not one, so I was rather excited to get it home and have a listen, but I still went to the cinema so that had to wait a bit. So, The Raconteurs, they are also known as The Saboteurs in Australia, I’m guessing the name was already used in that territory, and consist of Jack White (formerly of The White Stripes, currently The Dead Weather, as well as solo), Brendan Benson (solo), Jack Lawrence (of The Greenhornes, Blanche and The Dead Weather), and Patrick Keeler (also of The Greenhornes).
I’ve only played the album all the way through once but I like it already, being pre-disposed to liking the White Stripes it wasn’t unexpected.
To me it sounds like Jack White took the lead on this album with Brendon Benson taking a bit of a back seat, although there are a couple of tracks where benson comes to the fore. It seems unlikely that there will be any more from The Raconteurs but this is a fabulous album and I’m looking forward to listening to its predecesor at some point, if I can find a reasonably priced copy. Perhaps they felt that the band had run its course, and they did sort of morph into The Dead Weather, but there hasn’t been an official split, so who knows, maybe they’ll find time for another go at it.
The only thing I had from them prior to this was the 7″ single ‘Steady As She Goes‘, and I haven’t actually played the b-side of that yet, so I’d say they were on the radar but not really catching my attention, until now.
Tracklist
| A1 | Consoler Of The Lonely | |
| A2 | Salute Your Solution | |
| A3 | You Don’t Understand Me | |
| A4 | Old Enough | |
| B1 | The Switch And The Spur | |
| B2 | Hold Up | |
| B3 | Top Yourself | |
| C1 | Many Shades Of Black | |
| C2 | Five On The Five | |
| C3 | Attention | |
| C4 | Pull This Blanket Off | |
| D1 | Rich Kid Blues | |
| D2 | These Stones Will Shout | |
| D3 | Carolina Drama |
Whoda thunk Adele would cover the Raconteurs? She did:
Difficult to give an album on one listen, but I really liked it (not always a good sign but hopefully it will be on this occasion).
Rating: 8.8
