The Raconteurs - "Rich Kid Blues" (mp3)
Being a longtime Brendan Benson fan and always having more or less hated The White Stripes, a couple songs aside, I approach The Raconteurs from pretty much the opposite direction as at least 95% of the people listening to them; I mainly want to hear one guy and tolerate the other guy just like anyone else, it's just which ones that are switched. I really can't express how much I hate Jack White as a vocalist; that squirmy, snivelling upper register, that stuttering, goat-like vibrato. I don't know if there's some blues or classic rock singer he's imitating when he does that stuff, but to my ears it just sounds like the worst kind of indie rock affectation. It is kinda shame I can't stomach Jack White, though, since it's becoming increasingly apparent over the last few years that my favorite contemporary indie rock, more often than not, is the stuff that baldly, faithfully apes classic rock, which pretty accurately describes a lot of his less schticky songcraft.
Maybe someday I'll warm up to the White Stripes, but for now, the Raconteurs are about as much of him as I can take, and their new album, Consolers Of The Lonely, is a big improvement over their first. Brendan Benson actually almost gets too much time on center stage early in the album; there are some lyrics, like that whole ridiculous "any poor souls who trespass against us/ whether it be beast or man" passage on "The Switch And The Spur," that I have to admit White is much better equipped to pull off. Really, Jack White only gets in the way enough to be annoying on "Five On The Five," and to a lesser extent the single "Salute Your Solution." And the piano stuff, especially "You Don't Understand Me," really exceeds what I thought he was capable of based on that Stripes album a few years back that had 2 singles with near identical piano parts. But the one that's really my jam right now is the epic 70's organ rock of "Rich Kid Blues."
Being a longtime Brendan Benson fan and always having more or less hated The White Stripes, a couple songs aside, I approach The Raconteurs from pretty much the opposite direction as at least 95% of the people listening to them; I mainly want to hear one guy and tolerate the other guy just like anyone else, it's just which ones that are switched. I really can't express how much I hate Jack White as a vocalist; that squirmy, snivelling upper register, that stuttering, goat-like vibrato. I don't know if there's some blues or classic rock singer he's imitating when he does that stuff, but to my ears it just sounds like the worst kind of indie rock affectation. It is kinda shame I can't stomach Jack White, though, since it's becoming increasingly apparent over the last few years that my favorite contemporary indie rock, more often than not, is the stuff that baldly, faithfully apes classic rock, which pretty accurately describes a lot of his less schticky songcraft.
Maybe someday I'll warm up to the White Stripes, but for now, the Raconteurs are about as much of him as I can take, and their new album, Consolers Of The Lonely, is a big improvement over their first. Brendan Benson actually almost gets too much time on center stage early in the album; there are some lyrics, like that whole ridiculous "any poor souls who trespass against us/ whether it be beast or man" passage on "The Switch And The Spur," that I have to admit White is much better equipped to pull off. Really, Jack White only gets in the way enough to be annoying on "Five On The Five," and to a lesser extent the single "Salute Your Solution." And the piano stuff, especially "You Don't Understand Me," really exceeds what I thought he was capable of based on that Stripes album a few years back that had 2 singles with near identical piano parts. But the one that's really my jam right now is the epic 70's organ rock of "Rich Kid Blues."
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on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 4:40 PM.
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