Friday, December 12, 2008

For Your Consideration: The Raconteurs

Too hip for the cool kids. Too cool for the hip kids. Too classic rock for the indie rockers, and too much Jack White for Drischord. Despite all this, The Raconteurs put out one of the best rock albums of the year. Brendan Benson and Jack White are perfect collaborators. Benson adds a power pop melodic sense and a smooth as butter voice to White's crunch and jagged edges.
Here are some of my favorite songs on the record:







6 comments:

Quinapalus said...

I liked this album a lot....Rich Kid Blues is the standout for me.

drischord said...

For the record, I like this album far more than any White Stripes offering. I think that Jack White has talent. It's just that his output often sounds like a '70s cover band that mixes a couple of their own originals in between Heartbreaker and Whole Lotta Love.

In this case, the cover band sounds like they do a lot of Queen and Houses of the Holy type of stuff-- aspects of '70s classic rock that I prefer to Led Zeppelin II.

A lot of these songs are undeniably catchy and more varied than White Stripes stuff. But ultimately, I enjoy this with the same rationale that makes me enjoy Drive-By Truckers or The Hold Steady, or even The Darkness to a certain extent. I like it as much for what it reminds me of as I do for what it actually is.

Via Chicago said...

Whoa. Uh, that was awesome. I may need to buy this album before the year is out (posting tracks leads to an album sale? Crazy concept!).

I never gave these guys the time of day, which I now see was a real error on my part. I think it was a combo of not loving the direction the Stripes went in with their last album, and really actively disliking the lead single from the first Raconteurs album.

But yeah, this is great. I'm particularly a fan of about 1:10 in Rich Kid Blues where it goes all mega-Queen style and I smile.

texplush said...

Glad you like it, VC. This whole album is particularly up your alley I think....

drischord said...

Via Chicago, not so loud! If the Web Sheriff finds out that you're actually purchasing music based on posted tracks, you're going to undermine the music industry's central logic behind their new primary revenue source: Suing fans.

That's right. Don't buy any more albums. This industry prefers to now make all of its money in court. The lawsuit against Tex Plush alone is going to buy Lars Ulrich a brand new Maserati.

Eric said...

Count me in with the pleasantly surprised crowd. I was always only the most lukewarm fan of the White Stripes and I too really didn't care for Steady as She Goes. This is good stuff though.