Jack White - Blunderbuss Review

I find Jack White an interesting character in the pantheon of rock as any mention of him will inevitably lead to a dissection of the White Stripes asceticism - it was all drums and guitar man. Live, that was true, apart from the odd organ/piano song, it was the Jack and Meg show but pretty much since Elephant ten years ago, the records became more and more complex. Anyone thinking that purity ran through the White Stripes catalogue is deluding themselves as there were overdubs a plenty (oh my, studio trickery) and Get Behind Me Satan/Icky Thump embraced a broader palette of instruments. The guitar/drums concept was the hook but since the latter day White Stripes, Raconteurs and the Dead Weather, White has been been embracing diverse instrumentation for well over a decade. Still, everything I read in the build up to this record is talking about how it was essentially the White Stripes without Meg and how different it sounds - I call bullshit on this assertion. There is nothing shocking or unexpected on this record, it sounds like the Jack White solo record you would expect him to make, mired in music history but inspired and vibrant.

The other thing I find fascinating about Jack White is that his music never feels forced and the journey from his muse to record appears to be unclouded by overthinking or artifice. His music breathes and while I think the primitivism asserted by many fans is overstated, I can't deny that there is something naturalistic about his music. The record starts with the fantastic 1-2-3 punch of Missing Pieces, Sixteen Saltines and Freedom at 21. All three songs ride distinctive riffs but rather than rush at you, lay back in a groove and drop in and out with space to seduce you rather than hit you over the head.

This was always my biggest criticism of the White Stripes: while great, seeing them live or prolonged listening to their records felt like you were been yelled at for hours. Blunderbuss feels more relaxed and less hurried to make its point. The first single Love Interruption and the title track are both lovely. In particular, Blunderbuss sounds heartfelt and embraces the Nashville sound White clearly loves - it is gorgeous. Another highpoint of the record is the use of female backing vocals which are used to great effect throughout. Lyrically, White is funny and evocative but there is also sadness, there is some sting here:

She don't care what kind of wounds she's inflicting on me
She doesn't care what colour bruises she's leaving on me
She's got freedom in the 21st Century...

Sadly, the album starts to wane towards the end and this is in part by White being more conventional. You've heard a thousand different versions of I'm Shaking; Trash Tongue Talker sounds like a Jack White parody while Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy wafts on a familiar trope. This run of songs drags the album down. Fortunately, the record recovers with On and On and On which sounds like White covering something off Beck's Sea Change - again, gorgeous and restrained. Take Me with You When You Go finishes the album with a gentle piano waltz that morphs into a rock out - it's kind of silly but undeniably fun.

It's a satisfying end to a good record but like most Jack White productions (whether the Stripes or the Dead Weather), there's bound to be some songs that shine less brightly. However, don't be deterred, this is a quality album and if you have any love of White's distinctive take on rock, blues and soul, you'll get a lot of joy from Blunderbuss.

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Jack White - Love Interruption

The first song from Jack White's solo album Blunderbuss is a breezy acoustic affair, turning down the White Stripes blues howl to a restrained meditation on love. The thing about this song is that if you focussed on the keyboards rather than the acoustic guitar, slowed down the tempo and got D'Angelo or John Legend to sing it, you'd have the sweetest soul jam in the world. Seriously, this thing is screaming for a soul re-make and the first person to do it will strike gold, guaranteed (unless it's Cee Lo, dude, what the fuck was with that Band of Horses cover?) . It also bodes well for some new Jack White material away from the bluster of the Dead Weather and classic rockism of the Raconteurs. The embed above seemed to be working on and off, so if it's not there you can hear it at on White's homepage.

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Best cover songs of 2011

So, the best of 2011 lists starts here. While I will be listing my twenty favourite songs of the year soon, I purposely do not include covers in that list – no matter how good. This is mainly as when I’m talking about new music, I think it should be generally written and released in the year I’m talking about. Hence, my five favourite covers of the year. To be honest, Trent Reznor and Karen O could probably have snuck in there with Immigrant Song but as I only heard that in its entirety two days ago, I’ll stick with my original list:

5. Superchunk – Where eagles dare: Superchunk have made it a Halloween tradition to cover Misfits songs and while they’re probably not better than the originals, the indie veteran’s bring an undeniable bounce to the song. It takes seconds to start singing along with the chorus “I aint a goddamn son of a bitch” and enjoying a two minute blast of punk joy has never been so easy. It can be downloaded here.

4. Adele – Lovesong: OK, so Nouvelle Vague have been pulling off jazzy covers of punk and post-punk classics for years so there’s nothing new in a soul version of a Cure song. What makes this cover transcendent is Adele’s voice calling like a siren highlighting the longing and devotion of Robert Smith’s words. Even the hardest of hearts could not love a song with a chorus that goes “However far away, I will always love you”, particularly when it is sung as gorgeously here. I predict this will be the most popular wedding dance song for the next ten years.

3. Ryan Adams – Black Sheets of Rain: Of course there would be a Bob Mould cover! Black Sheets of Rain is the title track from Bob’s difficult second album, a record which is often seen as so miserable with a heavy air of depression hanging over the songs and sandpaper dry production to accentuate the misery. However, lurking under all the pain are some excellent songs and Adam’s makes the grinding murk of the original a distant memory with this elegant re-imagining. It’s incredibly beautiful and Adam’s reminds us that he is capable of producing heartbreakingly moving performances (also check out his cover of Heartbreak a Stranger – superb also).

2. Jack White – Love is Blindness: I spoke about this song recently and I still think it’s an incredible work. While there is an underlying hurt in the original U2 version that is palpable and real, White brings an off kilter rage to the song that lights it up like a bonfire. The solo can be best described as a shrieking animal caught in a snare and White’s vocal shows a man on the edge. A great, great cover of a great, great song.

1. James Blake – Limit to your love: Already sparse in its original form, James Blake breaks down Feist’s version into a subterranean gospel lament… with bass… deep, deep bass. As with all great covers, now I’ve heard this version it has superseded the original and any time I hear the Feist version, it sounds like a clumsy imitation of Blake’s fragile masterpiece. If you’ve never understood the buzz around James Blake, listen to this. If you still don’t get it, there’s a new Nickelback record out there for you somewhere.

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Various Artists: (AHK-toong BAY-bi) Covered Review

(AHK-toong BAY-bi) Covered (I see what you did there) highlights the joys and peril that can be found on compilation albums. This atrociously named record features some big names paying tribute to what I believe is U2's greatest album and apart from the proceeds on the sale of the album going to charity, there are at least four or five great covers here that are worth your money.

The real joy or sorrow on this record can be how attached you are to the original record. For example, Zoo Station on Achtung was a shock for U2 fans - framed by a soaring buzzsaw riff that alerted fans to the fact they were listening to a new iteration of the band. Named after the Bahnhof Zoo in Berlin, it seems that Nine Inch Nails uses the Trans Europe Express to get there as Reznor takes an icy Kraftwerk approach to the song. To be honest, it could have used a bit more of NIN's distorted grit to set it on fire and it appears to be a understated meditation rather than grand narrative changing statement it was conceived as.

This isn't to say that direct homage is necessary as the best tracks on the compilation swing between faithful renditions to total deconstructions. In the former camp, Glasvegas make a fair fist of Acrobat while the Killers come closest to actually sounding like U2 on Ultra Violet but more based on their stadium ambitions than sound. In the other camp, Depeche Mode* turn So Cruel into a subterranean hymn which resonates with the same sadness of the original. It is an elegant re-imagining which is probably born from the Mode being the closest fellow travellers to U2 on the record. I would imagine remaking Mysterious Ways would be a challenge for any band but surprisingly Snow Patrol's deconstruction and slow build approach to the track is strikingly effective. However, the best track on the record is easily Jack White's Love is Blindness. The standout song on the original record, White brings the crazy and turns it into the unfettered primal scream that it was always meant to be.

The record features some songs which are ok but I find problematic. Damien Rice's cover of One is a delicate acoustic waltz which is beautiful but let down by his decision to change the narrator's perspective. So for example, the original went:

Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without

Rice's version goes

Did I disappoint you
leave a bad taste in my mouth
I act like I never had love
And I want you to go without

Ultimately, this detracts from the song and makes it seem far more egocentric than the original. If you can ignore this, it is an achingly beautiful cover but what is it with sad acoustic folk singers who want to make the drama all about them? Patti Smith makes a noir vamp out of Until The End Of The World which is more interesting than enjoyable while Garbage's cover of Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses sounds exactly as you imagine it would. Gavin Friday's The Fly is a little perplexing, seemingly too much studio time and too little focus, it's all over the place.

The only two real misfires on the record are by the Fray and U2 themselves. The Fray are a pop band that try to make Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World into an FM radio ready drive time hit - it fails on every level. The Jacques Lu Cont mix of Even Better Than The Real Thing turns the original song into a thumping disco number which highlight how great Bono's original vocals were but little else. U2 have dabbled with dance remixes throughout their career but I can never remember any of them being particularly successful (and let's not mention Pop - ever).

Ultimately, this is a pretty good collection of songs but as expected none of them come close to the original record. If anything, it actually highlights how great Achtung Baby is and that in retrospect, it is a miracle that record exists after the self destructive impulses of Rattle and Hum. Again, for me, it depended on how attached I was to a notion or intent of the original as to how much I enjoyed the cover which is probably unfair but I hardly care about what's fair. More a curio for U2 fans than a satisfying record in its own right, the highlights are indeed great and worth a listen.

*I could write a thesis about why I think Depeche Mode tried and failed to have an Achtung Baby-like reinvention on Songs of Love and Devotion. However, I choose not to...

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