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CD Review: Raconteurs - "Consolers of the Lonely"
Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: The Edge
The Raconteurs' debut album was nominated for the best rock album Grammy, and the band's sophomore release, "Consolers of the Lonely," looks to be an even more serious contender for the award this year.
The album, released March 25, takes listeners on a trip though the evolution of the Raconteurs, Jack White and rock 'n' roll itself. The first single off of "Consolers of the Lonely" is "Salute your Solution" and will sound familiar to fans of the White Stripes and Raconteurs. It is great rock in its rawest form, with simple rock riffs and drum beats driven forward by Jack White's unique voice.
The album is a natural continence of the Raconteurs' previous recording. However, White and company's experimentation with other sounds is peppered throughout the new release.
Songs like "Old Enough" and "Many Shades of Black" are based in bluegrass and Motown, respectively, but are not confined to these genres. The Raconteurs take the idea behind these types of songs and bend them to fit their own idea of music.
This ability to adopt different musical identities but keep the core sound is what sets this album above the mundane music currently being generated, but it is not the only thing.
Unlike most artists who seem to formulate songs with singles in mind, the Raconteurs are not afraid to drift away from the chorus or verse and have 30 seconds of instrumentals in the middle of a song.
"The Switch and the Spur" does an excellent job of this, building a wall of horns (which were arranged by White and fellow band member Brendan Benson), guitar and piano notes before transitioning to the second half of the song.
In addition to brilliant instrument playing, the lyrical construction is superb throughout most tracks (save for one or two that seemed to have words to simply fill a great song with vocals):
"I'm not sure if there is a point to the story, but I am going to tell it again. So many other people try to tell the tale, not one of them knows the end," starts out the last track, "Carolina Drama."
No one knows how the Raconteurs' story will end, but as long as the band keeps producing albums of this quality, it definitely won't be in obscurity.
- Andrew Thomason
online editor
The album, released March 25, takes listeners on a trip though the evolution of the Raconteurs, Jack White and rock 'n' roll itself. The first single off of "Consolers of the Lonely" is "Salute your Solution" and will sound familiar to fans of the White Stripes and Raconteurs. It is great rock in its rawest form, with simple rock riffs and drum beats driven forward by Jack White's unique voice.
The album is a natural continence of the Raconteurs' previous recording. However, White and company's experimentation with other sounds is peppered throughout the new release.
Songs like "Old Enough" and "Many Shades of Black" are based in bluegrass and Motown, respectively, but are not confined to these genres. The Raconteurs take the idea behind these types of songs and bend them to fit their own idea of music.
This ability to adopt different musical identities but keep the core sound is what sets this album above the mundane music currently being generated, but it is not the only thing.
Unlike most artists who seem to formulate songs with singles in mind, the Raconteurs are not afraid to drift away from the chorus or verse and have 30 seconds of instrumentals in the middle of a song.
"The Switch and the Spur" does an excellent job of this, building a wall of horns (which were arranged by White and fellow band member Brendan Benson), guitar and piano notes before transitioning to the second half of the song.
In addition to brilliant instrument playing, the lyrical construction is superb throughout most tracks (save for one or two that seemed to have words to simply fill a great song with vocals):
"I'm not sure if there is a point to the story, but I am going to tell it again. So many other people try to tell the tale, not one of them knows the end," starts out the last track, "Carolina Drama."
No one knows how the Raconteurs' story will end, but as long as the band keeps producing albums of this quality, it definitely won't be in obscurity.
- Andrew Thomason
online editor
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