The Raconteurs: If Jack White Were in The Beatles

(Published in The Mirror 10/5/06)
When God made rock n’ roll, he had an idea of how it should be performed. Well, Jack White had that same exact idea Friday night. To be in the presence of this kind of energy is strange, weird and exactly what you would expect from one of the only living rock legends today that is still crafting his best work.
The Racon- who’s? No, this was Jack’s house.
The single “Steady as She Goes” starts up with a strong bass line, and Jack White steps into the light for one of the only times all night. He’s telling everyone to clap. And for some reason, it doesn’t sound as cheesy as all the other times a singer has asked his crowd to clap. If you can imagine Snoop Dogg or Elvis asking everyone at one of their concerts to clap, you have an idea of the crowd’s response.
The Raconteurs are Jack White, Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler. Lawrence and Keeler are both previously of the Greenhornes and Benson is no stranger to the national stage.
White has put out a critically acclaimed album almost every year since his first album with the White Stripes, in 1999. He has become one of the most influential musicians of at least the last ten years. This kid from Detroit has been honestly representing himself through music and changing modern rock since he first picked up a guitar. He’s a Grammy-winning musician and producer and Rolling Stone named him number 17 on their “Top 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” list.
The accomplishments of White and the White Stripes are no doubt largely responsible for the Raconteur’s success, but they are not the only reasons. The band is technically a “supergroup” made up of independently recognized artists, but they simply consider themselves a new band of old friends.
Benson’s impressive 10-year career as a singer/songwriter has been a heavily critically acclaimed one and has drawn a tight following. His music is typically called power pop, which refers to a fast-paced British rock sound, like “My Sharona,” by the Knack or anything by the Who.
Half the band used to be the part of Greenhornes, and their first album was considered by many to be the sleeper hit of 2005. It was almost immediately after its release, in May of this year, that they released “Broken Boy Soldiers” with the Raconteurs.
Together, they’ve created music that is reminiscent of that from which rock ‘n roll was birthed, just sped up a bit with some creepy harmonies. A perfect example of this is the chorus of “Store Bought Bones,” which is based on the slower lyrical style of a barbershop quartet or 40’s folk group. A clear Beatles influence flows throughout all the songs and lyrics; maybe this is what it would have been like with Jack White as the 5th Beatle. This sometimes take a back seat to their Zeppelin roots, though, on tracks like “Level” and “Broken Boy Soldier.”
The album came across a little too rich in pop music for some people, while others complained about the length being not much more than a half hour. The album definitely left a lot to be desired, especially for those fans used to the perfectly crafted 13 and 14-song Stripes albums.
Their live show, however, could kill a guy. The passion, raw talent and pure intensity is unmatched by any rock band today. Jack White knows he’s a rock star. But somehow he still seems humble.
Every problem the “Broken Boy Soldiers” had as an album disappeared as a live show. Some songs came on too weak, but not in concert. Some songs came on too weird, but not in concert. Also, in concert, many harmonies and melodies were either switched around or completely changed, each time for the better. White said to Rolling Stone once that the songs evolve quickly on the road and that the band improvises often.
The musical professionalism on stage was instantly overwhelming. They came out in a psychedelic haze of fog and music and sang nothing for a few minutes. Then, to match their too-short album, the show was not much longer than an hour. The roaring applause at the end did not sound like disappointment, though. Clearly length doesn’t matter to the thousands and thousands of instant fans that bought all the tickets to every Raconteurs show for this, their first tour ever.
This, in combination with Jack White’s raw and unfiltered energy, created one of the most memorable concert experiences anyone could ever experience today. After seeing the Raconteurs, you’ll feel like you just saw the Who or the Rolling Stones in the 60’s, when nobody knew what was coming.