Artist: Raconteurs, The
Label: XL Recordings
Release: 2006
Rating: 4/5
The Raconteurs are a “new band of old friends,” or, as they put it themselves, “storytellers” — which is supposedly what the band’s name means in French.
On guitar, keyboards and vocals we find Jack White, who’s here on a break from Meg White, his partner in the duo The White Stripes; also on guitar, keyboards and vocals is Brendan Benson, a successful solo artist; on bass guitar is Jack Lawrenc, who is otherwise a member of The Greenhornes; and on drums is Patrick Keeler, who also plays in The Greenhornes.
The music they play, which they’ve immortalized in a few casual recording sessions on the debut Broken Boy Soldiers, could be described as a mix of influences from the whole history of rock & roll. The most important role in creating the material is shared by White and Benson, who are credited together on every song, but it’s pretty obvious who gets the lion’s share on certain tracks.
Jack White decided not to work blues into this music, even though blues plays a decisive role in the sound of his main “tricolor” band The White Stripes. Instead he’d rather give himself over to riffs that call to mind everyone from The Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and The Animals to Nirvane, and plenty of others in between.
Brendan Benson, who only really put his name on the musical map with his second album Lapalco (V2, 2002), and cemented it for good with last year’s Alternative To Love (also V2), is mostly responsible for the more melodic side of Broken Boy Soldiers. Over the years he’s worn out a lot of records by all sorts of bands, like The Cars, The Kinks, The Pretenders and others, and of course their influence can be felt in these songs too.
None of this means we should overlook the other two members, though. They weren’t involved in writing the songs, but they’ve more than clearly and definitely left their mark, especially in the energy that’s positively boiling over on this album, which is a good half hour long, and in the dynamics of the songs, which further reinforce the band’s chosen sound.
Broken Boy Soldiers is an album that’s remarkably balanced and democratic as a band effort. Neither of the (two) singers tries to overpower the other, they basically split the lead duties totally equally, and all four musicians simply shine the whole way through. You can really hear the joy and the unspoiled spirit of a band that (still) is exactly that, in the truest sense of the word!
Lineup
Jack White – vocals, guitar, synthesizers
Brendan Benson – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Jack Lawrence – bass guitar
Patrick Keeler – drums, percussion
Production
Jack White & Brendan Benson
Tracklist
1. Steady, As She Goes
2. Hands
3. Broken Boy Soldier
4. Intimate Secretary
5. Together
6. Level
7. Store Bought Bones
8. Yellow Sun
9. Call It A Day
10. Blue Veins
Album length: 33.52
