{mosimage}Quickly cooked and served! Fast music world. At the beginning of March, The Raconteurs finished the masters of their second album and just a couple of weeks later, the album is released all over the world, in every possible format, from download to vinyl, being the latter the recommended format by the band. So here goes a quick review on the day of its release.
This immediate distribution is another step for the fast changing music industry. It not only avoided the album from being leaked, but it has also brought some attention to a release that needed no presentation. The band’s first album (Broken Boy Soldiers) was one of the biggest surprises in 2006 and it created a lot of hype due to the popularity of the band’s line up, which includes Brendan Benson and White Stripes’ Jack White. The song Steady, As She Goes became a hit and the band was quickly as a supergroup. Now, without little announcements, the band comes up with its second album Consolers of the Lonely. This time it cannot be said that this is a long-awaited album, but no disappointment here. The band delivers a refreshing dose of garage rock, with some hard rock riffs and lots of ideas and originality (for a genre with little room for this quality).
This album’s single, Salute Your Solution, is a quick three-minute song, with crunchy guitars and crazy melody. It easily tops Steady, As She Goes and along with R.E.M.’s Supernatural Superserious, it can become one of this year’s hit singles.
Like in the first album, there are clear references to Led Zeppelin’s music. The mid-tempo Old Enough captures the folky vibe of Gallows Pole and the opening track, Consoler of the Lonely (like in the first album, the title track is in singular and the album title in plural), brings some Jimmy Page-like riffs.
Perhaps the most surprising songs include some soul oriented moments, which bring some horns to the mix in The Switch and the Spur and, overall, in Many Shades of Black.
Consolers of the Lonely is a rocking album (just listen to the smoking Hold Up), delivered with a tremendous energy and spontaneity. It is fast and direct, not so moody as Broken Boy Soldiers. If the band keeps up with this energy on stage, The Raconteurs shows can be epic.
Rating 4/5