I was holding out on this one but curiosity ultimately conquered my reticence. In case you’ve been in a coma or rely solely on Candied Pop for your music news, The Raconteurs are a so-called super group made up of The White Stripes’ Jack White, power-pop savant Brendan Benson, and The Greenhornes’ drummer and bass player, Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence. I’m not much of a White Stripes fan but I did want to check out how Jack White fared playing with a decent rhythm section. And I do really like Brendan Benson so I was interested to see how he meshed with a more bluesy-by-way-of-garage based crowd.
The result? Broken Soldier Boys is only okay. It’s not as loose or fun as you might expect from such a convergence, nor is it very inspired. If it weren’t for the novelty of the band’s pedigree, I doubt most people, myself included, would even have paid much attention. In fact knowing who the players are actually distracts from the music. I’ve yet to listen without thinking, “So that’s the best they could come up with, huh?”
The most surprising aspect of the whole arrangement is that it largely sounds like a Brendan Benson album. “Hands,” “Today,” “Yellow Sun,” and “Call It a Day” would all sound at home on one of his releases and that’s nearly half the album. Jack White’s presence is somewhat subdued in comparison, mostly relegated to background vocals and not particularly flashy guitar duties, although he does take lead to approximate Robert Plant on “Blue Veins” and the title track. One of the few songs that sounds like a true clash between the two artists’ styles is the Zep riffing power-pop of “Intimate Secretary.” It also features ridiculously inane lyrics like, “I got a rabbit, it likes to hop / I’ve got a girl, she likes to shop / The other foot looks like it won’t drop / I had an uncle and he got shot.” Perversely, those lines have been lodged in my brain for days.
The best song, by far, is “Steady, As She Goes.” Starting off with a slinky bass line and almost surf-y sounding guitar, it immediately grabs your attention and then completely reels you in with chunky guitar hooks and an undeniable chorus. As the opener, it’d be nice if it signaled even better things to come. Unfortunately it only gives a glimpse of their potential. But if this is just a one-off project, they’ve at least left behind a pretty great single.
Mixtape track- “Steady, As She Goes”
Freebies- No mp3’s but you can stream “Steady, As She Goes” and “Store Bought Bones” at the band’s official site.
