keepers 2
keeper avg .200
The two-headed beast comprised of Jack White and Brendan Benson has composed a mixed bag ranging from off-kilter traditional folk and blues to British pop. Three guesses as to who contributed what. The most extreme example of the former is the Balkan flavored title song****, probably owing most to Led Zeppelin in the fullest flowering of the third and fourth albums' folk experimentation (including a ridiculously shrill vocal part). At the other extreme, "Intimate Secretary" pairs a series of inane non-sequiturs with power pop, tarted up with a bubble gum version of Wilco's electronic flirtations. Followed by the pointless soul exercise "Together", both are pretty lousy. But fortunately the collaboration is frequently much more cohesive and fruitful, such as on the alternative rock hit "Steady As She Goes" and the hard-hitting "Level"****, two solid tracks that begin each side. To round out the album, there's more 60's pop, "Hands", "Yellow Sun", the especially Beatle-esque "Call It A Day", and "Store Bought Bones", more blues via Led Zeppelin with Deep Purple keyboards thrown in. All of which brings me to the loungy blues closer, "Blue Veins", which is sonically similar to Led Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You". Unfortunately I built my expectations for this song upon live performances I have seen, where there are none of the distracting backward masking effects, and Jack White is free to melt some faces. The loose, jammy build from murky lounge music to the unhinged lead guitar assault is a wonder to behold, and sadly it's hard for me to judge the album version on its own merits when I'm expecting the same kind of performance.
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