Together (The Raconteurs) (LP 4505 - 4507)

The Raconteurs  Broken Boy Soldiers (CD, Third Man Records, 2006) ****  

The Raconteurs  Consolers of the Lonely (CD, Third Man Records, 2008) ***  

The Raconteurs  Help Us Stranger (CD, Third Man Records, 2019) *****  

Genre: Alt rock

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi, Adam Purdy

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Steady As She Goes (Broken Boy Soldiers)

Gear costume: Bored and Razed, Live a Lie (Help Us Stranger)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: The Raconteurs are a group of musical mates who joined up to form a new band. Some may call this a supergroup in that all the members come from substantial musical careers: Jack White (vocals, guitar) from The White Stripes, Brendan Benson (vocals, guitar) had a pile of solo albums to his name, Jack Lawrence (bass guitar), and Patrick Keeler (drums) both from the Greenhornes. 

Their debut album kicks off with Steady As She Goes - the first song they worked on together. This album is full of guitar pop smarts and sounds like it was fun to make. It's certainly fun to listen to as well. The guys trade lead vocals as they go, and manage some great Stones-like harmonies.

Second album Consolers of the Lonely was a gift from one of my sons. He knows how much I love blues rock and this album delivers the goods. Jack White is the big name in the band, but he allows the others to shine as well on a more varied set of songs than the debut.

That said, overall, it's a more sprawling album and not as much fun as the debut.

Sidenote: The production is terrific - it sounds like you're in the studio with them.

Their third album, Help Us Stranger, came out 11 years later, and it's a monster. It's back to the sixties/ seventies power pop/rock with many songs around the 2 to 3 minute mark. Everything about it - the guitars, the drums, the bass, everything is dialed up to 11. It's outrageous!!

Where do they all belong? I've written about Brendan Benson before (here) but there is more Jack White coming up in The White Stripes and in the W's.