The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely

MINE

Those of you with sharp eyes will notice athe Raconteurs actually come, alphabetically, ahead of Rocket From the Crypt.  And that's because in Australia, the Raconteurs are  called the Saboteurs.  Because the name was taken.  Now you know.

Anyhoo, this is yet another Jack White project, which strikes me as highly unfair.  I mean, the guy has how many side acts, apart from the Stripes?  Prolific ain't in it.  But I have to announce (drum roll, please) I actually like  this one.  Which I'm so happy about.  I've written before of my desire to admire Mr White's output, given his delight in analog sound and his starkly staring talent.  Finally, he seems to have reinvented his sound just enough for me to fall in love.

And why is that, exactly?  I guess it's because there's not too much of the clever-clever stuff that seems to surface in his other incarnations. This sounds like a real band.  And with super-polished (but not over-polished) production, glorious voices and top-class playing, there's not much more you could ask for in an album.

But you get more (no, not steak knives).  The final track,  Carolina Drama, is a story song that had me turning the volume up high so I didn't miss a single nuance of the strange tale unfolding around me.  And it made me laugh.  This one's a keeper.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

This, as Mine has said, is another of Jack White's projects and a very good one it is too.  The Raconteurs (yeah, Mine has explained that one too) feature a killer lineup aside from White - Brendan Benson (guitarist/vocal with his own successful solo career) and Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler from the band The Greenhornes.  But don't call these guys a supergroup.  As White has said, they're long-time friends who finally got a band together.

Consolers Of The Lonely is the followup to their highly successful debut, Broken Boy Soldiers and is my favourite of the two (although this is splitting hairs, to be honest).  There is something mighty and long-ranging about both sets of songs and these will undoubtedly become American classics in years to come, to be fawned over by zealous pundits and provide inspiration for many basement-closeted musicians around the world.

Kicking off with the eponymous title track, which jumps from straight up blues rock to something else entirely and voiced by both Brendan Benson and Jack White, this track, more than any other on the album, puts the listener on notice that The Raconteurs not only mean business but they're gonna kick your arse as well.  And they don't fuck around either.  Every note sounds like it was meant to be sung or played and they've put a lot of everything here too, from straight up rock to acoustic driven, folky tracks and all the bits in between.  Simply put, if you've not heard this, then stop reading this, click the link above and do yourself a big favour because you won't be disappointed.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.theraconteurs.com/

In our collection we also have Broken Boy Soldiers