After many months of waiting, my patience was rewarded and I checked out a copy of Jack White’s new solo album Blunderbuss. To keep me busy while I waited my turn, I decided to revisit some of his earlier works and some other great albums with a relationship to “black” or “white.” In hindsight, I should have been checking Freegal, where Blunderbuss is available for free download (three songs each week)!
Released in the year 2000, the White Stripes album De Stijl still sounds as fresh today as it did back then. Stylistically, this record is all over the map, featuring songs such as the punk-blues rocking burners (and personal favorites) “Jumble Jumble,” “Hello Operator” and “Little Bird”; country ballads like “I’m Bound to Pack It Up”; as well as a stellar fuzzed-out cover of the Son House classic “Death Letter.” The album serves as a nice introduction to the genre-bending tendencies that Mr. White so often displays through his song writing.
Fast-forward to the year 2008 and the release of the Raconteurs second album, Consolers of the Lonely. A brilliantly heavy album that takes you for a wild ride from start to finish, ‘Consolers’ is a rocking record, peppered with many complex and interesting horn, string and piano arrangements. Beginning with the doubled-up guitar rocking title track, the album moves along nicely from more pop-friendly tunes like “Attention” and “Old Enough” to the dynamic and powerful “Many Shades of Black” which showcases the striking similarities between White and Brendan Benson’s vocals as they harmonize beautifully together on the song’s chorus. The album comes to a close with the story of a family in crisis in the mandolin-driven bluegrass ballad “Carolina Drama.”
I used Jack White’s music as a jumping off point to explore a variety of other “black” or “white” titles available at the library. Two recent additions to the catalog are Dr. John’s new album Locked Down, produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and Jack Black and Tenacious D’s new Rize of the Fenix. Thinking off the top of my head, I can also list the Ray Brown Trio’s Black Orpheus, Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides, Cypress Hill’s Black Sunday, Jay-Z’s Black Album, the Beatles White Album, and Metallica’s Metallica (AKA “Black Album”). What are some of your favorite black or white albums? Not named here? Leave a comment! Until next time, keep on rocking.
Leave a Comment