Ohio's Black Keys are the duo of
singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach (influenced by Howling Wolf) and drummer Patrick Carney.
They form a miniature garage-band that plays visceral blues-rock.
The Big Come Up (Alive, 2002) was still close to the original, but
the rougher and faster sound of Thickfreakness (Fat Possum, 2003)
was meant to ride the traditionalist White Stripes bandwagon (Midnight, Set You Free).
Rubber Factory (Fat Possum, 2004) is a bit more polished and more
varied, but, basically, it is as derivative as the previous one
(The Lengths, When the Lights Go Out).
10 A.M. Automatic stands out as one of their most visceral performances.
The EP Chulahoma (2006) contains six Junior Kimbrough covers.
Magic Potion (Nonesuch, 2006) is elegant but redundant
straightforward Led Zeppelin-ian blues-rock
(Your Touch,
Modern Times).
Attack & Release (Nonesuch, 2008), their best arranged album yet
(credit Danger Mouse)
and the first album to distance itself from the blues-rock paradigm,
ran the gamut from the garage-rock of
I Got Mine and Remember When - Side B to the
poppy Psychotic Girl to the
mournful country ballad Things Ain't Like They Used to Be, littering
along the way so many dignified nuances to fill an encyclopedia of well-behaved
roots-rock (Same Old Thing, Lies, Remember When - Side A).
The Black Keys' singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach debuted solo with
Keep It Hid (Nonesuch, 2009), possibly a better album than the duo
ever recorded together.
His simple, primitive jamming works best when he avoids the cliches of the
Black Keys, as
in the poignant gospel ode Trouble Weighs a Ton,
in the Van Morrison-esque serenade When the Night Comes (mostly rhythm-less, with only acoustic guitar and a distant keyboard hum),
in the martial soul ballad Whispered Words,
in the catchy country singalong Real Desire (reminiscent of the Band).
The method fails when Auerbach tries a bit too hard to reach a mainstream
audience with the blue-collar anthem
My Last Mistake, a hybrid of
Creedence Clearwater Revival and
Bruce Springsteen.
The Black Keys' influence cannot be shaken away from the
melodic Caribbean-infected blues I Want Some More,
the vaudeville-esque parable of Mean Monsoon, the
Bo Diddley-like boogie Street Walkin'
and the
post-Rolling Stones shuffle for fibrillating
vibrato guitar Heartbroken in Disrepair, two of the most brilliant
takes on the blues in ages.
While the talent is undeniable, and the honesty palpable, and the melodies
mostly memorable, the album feels
a bit under-produced and under-performed,
evoking the naive side of the 1960s even when it was probably meant to
be thoughtful; but then maybe that was precisely the point.
However,
the last six songs of the collection are vastly inferior to the first half.
Goin' Home
Blakroc (2009) was an uninspired collaboration between the Black Keys and a number
of rappers.
Black Keys' drummer Patrick Carney formed Drummer with musicians who were
drummers in other bands. They debuted with Feel Good Together (2009).
The much tamed
Brothers (Nonesuch, 2010) turned them into stars thanks to lighter fare
such as the
Prince-ly falsetto soul-pop of
Everlasting Light
and especially Too Afraid To Love You, a sort of
agonizing gospel hymn paced by a baroque harpsichord.
I'm Not The One even features a
Moody Blues-esque mellotron.
There are moments of sheer class, like when a
western-movie guitar and a gospel organ cross path in Tighten Up (another collaboration with Danger Mouse).
And there are occasional bursts of violence:
the incandescent riffs of old-school British hard-rock
(Free and the likes)
echo in Next Girl and She's Long Gone.
However, the album indulges too often in languid litanies that detract from
the show.
The stereotypical bluesy riff of Howlin' For You is too little to
restore their garage-rock credentials.
This album is a schizophrenic tour of the pair's musical background that
can't choose between wilderness and civilization. In the end, it's too albums
in one, and neither makes strides.
Meanwhile, the rhythm section bestows voodoo bleakness on most of the songs,
and that's the only reassuring factor.
They relocated to Nashville in 2010.
The punchy garage-rock of El Camino (2011) constituted almost a
retreat (and a welcome one) from the soulful Brothers.
With the exception of the acoustic Little Black Submarines, all the
songs display a virulent impetus that works particularly well in
Lonely Boy (the standout) and Gold on the Ceiling, and evokes long gone
party music of the Sixties in Money Maker and
Hell of a Season.
Turn Blue (2014), again with Danger Mouse, contains
the psychedelic-soul ballad Weight of Love (with echoes of latter-day Pink Floyd), which is one of their best ballads,
but also the shamelessly danceable synth-pop of Fever.
Gotta Get Away (the standout) sounds like Tom Petty fronting the Rolling Stones' rhythm section, halfway between folk-rock and blues-rock,
while Bullet in the Brain sounds like Rush
covering Deep Purple's Child In Time.
Dan Auerbach also released a second solo album, Waiting on a Song (2017).
Let's Rock (2019) continued their tribute to guitar-rock of the 1970s,
but this time the focus is on laid-back middle-of-the-road pop-rock. Hence the
power-ballad Shine a Little Light
and the country-rock shuffle Sit Around and Miss You
(reminiscent of Stealers Wheel's Stuck in the Middle With You)
the soul-rock elegy Tell Me Lies, etc.
The notable exception is Get Yourself Together,
a slight gospel-boogie a` la Doobie Brothers.
The Black Keys' 10th album, Delta Kream (2021), was a collection of blues covers.
Their 11th album, Dropout Boogie (2022), is devoted to a diligent revival of blues-rock of the 1960s.
There are boogies with catchy refrains like Baby I'm Coming Home that sound like tributes to Free.
There is the tribal, Willie Dixon-ian plantation song Your Team Is Looking Good, and
Burn the Damn Thing Down sounds like a song from the Rolling Stones'a Exile on Main Street.
Best is perhaps the coupling of
limping rhythm and soul crooning in For the Love of Money.
If the album were an EP with just these four songs, it would be
a delight for lovers of blues music. Unfortunately the rest is hardly memorable.
