The Raconteurs
A review of their album 'Broken Boy Soldiers'
Review
Snapshot:
At last, the eagerly-awaited album by the indie dream-team of White and Benson. It's a likeable confection of
Beatlesy guitar pop which generally sounds more Benson than White - which is a good thing. Will Brendan Benson finally become a star?
The Cluas Verdict: 7 out of 10.
Full Review:
By the end of 2005 great heat was being generated in advance of the forthcoming
collaboration between Jack White and Brendan Benson. Given White's profile as
alt-rock's most mythologised current star and Benson's back catalogue of
agreeably melodic pop, even the most cynical of White's doubters (present
reviewer included) must have been intrigued by the proclaimed 'event' release of
2006.
No record could live up to that kind of expectation, and 'Broken Boy Soldiers'
doesn't. It's still worth a listen, though. While in no way the
let-our-powers-combine superalbum some predicted, neither is it the
too-many-cooks ego-trip it could have been. It's not a White Stripes record in
disguise - the familiar guitar jerkiness of 'Store Bought Bones' is the only
overt nod to White's day job.
However, the Raconteurs suffer from the same flaw as The White Stripes; slight
material. 'Steady As She Goes' has those catchy guitar slashes and a
radio-friendly chorus but the song itself is lightweight. And so it goes for too
many of the tracks here - as with the White Stripes, half-ideas are stretched
out with inane lyrics, three-chord-tricks and unremarkable playing.
Benson's contribution seems to be the unmistakeable Beatle-ness of this record.
'Hands' has the tightly-wound guitar lines and droning harmonies of George's
tracks on 'Rubber Soul, 'Intimate Secretary' is White Album-era Lennon acoustic
pop and 'Yellow Sun' has the mellow organ sound of 'Abbey Road'. But it's not
all Beatles - the startling title track sounds like Steve Marriot screeching
over a strange hybrid of 'Paint It Black' and (okay, just a little more Beatles)
'Helter Skelter'. It's by far the most interesting and adventurous track on the
album.
The rest of the album is formulaic, but fortunately for Benson/White it happens
to be a sound formula of Sixties-influenced guitar pop with a little bit of
blues (that is, White's rather bland and tame idea of the blues).
This album's good points may be lost in the mild disappointment that it's not
the masterpiece many wanted it to be. It's still better than the White Stripes,
though.
Aidan Curran
To buy a
new or (very reasonably priced) 2nd hand copy of this album on Amazon just click
here.
