The Black Keys
albums
and stale to me than a twelve bar blues song that ANYONE could play. This band tries to make creative blues
music, and they can do it very well. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are only two people but together they
sound like a whole band. The two person band thing has been tried many times, most famously in the 00's by The
White Stripes, and these two bands will no doubt be endlessly compared (both play a version of the blues; they
have opposing colors in their name). Whatever the band is compared to, the bottom line is they are a great, old
fashioned rock band in a time where that is a rare thing. Few people can make music as infectious as this band,
and if anyone ever thought like I did for a long time that the blues has been done to death, think again: The Black
Keys make it fresh once more!
Band Members: Dan Auerbach - Guitar, Vocals
Patrick Carney - Drums
Best Album: Rubber Factory
Biggest Influences: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Junior Kimbrough (and countless 50's blues musicians)
2002
The Big Come Up - 6/8
The first Black Keys album comes off as if the Beatles were a solid blues-rock band. At least that is their
intention, whether they succeed completely is a very intriguing premise, I'll give them that. A lot of this material
really shines and shows how blues rock and be entertaining and good: "Heavy Soul", "Countdown", "Yearnin'",
and "The Breaks" are the best examples of that. There is more traditional sounding blues stuff that is also good,
standard blues rock along the lines of B.B. King and Junior Kimbrough (whose "Do the Rump" is covered on the
second track). "Them Eyes" is probably the best of the "old standard" blues sound, but "Busted" and "I'll be Your
Man" ain't too bad either. There are some duds that show the band sticking too much to formula, "Run Me Down",
"Brooklyn Bound", and "Leavin Drunk" are these, which just sound like boring twelve bar blues. See, when the
music shows talent and originality there is nothing better than listening to this band. When it is boring and
derivative, blues music just sucks plain and simple. More often than not, The Big Come Up shows a band with
talent enough to do something interesting with the blues and not repeat the age old formula. On its best songs
(and there is way more good than bad), this debut does just that. - Trevor e.y.
1.busted- 3
2.do the rump- 3
3.i'll be your man- 3
4.countdown- 4
5.the breaks- 4
6.run me down- 2
7.leavin' drunk- 2
8.heavy soul- 4
9.she said, she said- 3
10.them eyes- 4
11.yearnin'- 4
12.brooklyn bound- 2
13.240 before your time- 3
2003
Thickfreakness - 7/8
Now this is the sound of a band transformed: during the first thirty seconds of opener "Thickfreakness" one can
sense the passion in these two players' sound. Auerbach and Carney take simple sounding riffs and songs and
completely make them something unique here: a kind of blues rock for the 00's which takes everything that came
before and does something new with it. It hard to get over how fresh sounding the great songs are on here: the
pounding, inhuman drums of "Set You Free"; the Zeppelin tear of "Hold Me in Your Arms"; the emotional struggle
of "Hard Row". Another thing besides just sounding better and more comfortable with each other is the way any
sense of tradition has gone out the window and has completely incorporated itself in the band's evolution. "Have
Love Will Travel" is a cover song, but it SOUNDS like the band wrote it and it blends right in the flow of the record.
Same is true for "Everywhere I Go", another Junior Kimbrough cover. There is still much to be desired form songs
like "No Trust" and "If You See Me", but they aren't bad songs by any means. There is a great human element on
Thickfreakness, in "Hurt Like Mine" the guitar seems to never stop moving - even though Auerbach misses an
obvious note at one point, they left the mistake in and the song is better for it! Little touches and careful playing
make this a record where it seems like nothing is missing, and it is only two people playing! Compare this to a
band like the White Stripes and The Black Keys win any day (a comparison just had to be said somewhere didn't
it?) - Trevor e.y.
1.thickfreakness- 4
2.hard row- 4
3.set you free- 4
4.midnight in her eyes- 3
5.have love will travel- 4
6.hurt like mine- 4
7.everywhere i go- 3
8.no trust- 2
9.if you see me- 2
10.hold me in your arms- 4
11.i cry alone- 3
2004
Rubber Factory - 8/8
Talk about an opening salvo! The band keeps getting better every album, and in this case their breakthrough
record is also by far their best. Rubber Factory starts off with the best music the band has ever done, seven
tracks of complete awesome hard rock. The blues element is still there in the band's sound, but it is more buried
than ever and every element of The Black Keys sound is expanded here. "When the Lights Go Out" gets a kind of
Indian element going on throughout the mid tempo song; "10 a.m. Automatic" is easily one of the best ready made
singles in rock music; "All Hands Against His Own" combines qualities of all of this into the best song the band has
done yet; "Desperate Man" gets the blues despair just right; "Girl is on My Mind" shows off more of Carney's
powerhouse drumming while sampling a bit of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"; last but not least, "The Lengths" is
an elegant, country tinged ballad and marks a new phase for the band.
The last half of the album doesn't quite match the first, but it is still some of the best work the band has done.
"Act Nice and Gentle" is a Kink's cover that fits right in and "Grown So Ugly" is a Robert Pete Willams tune, no
doubt inspired by Captain Beefheart's similar cover on Safe is Milk. I have to say that I think "Stack Shot Billy" is
the album's only dud and should have left off of the album, but even a bad song on this record is still very
listenable. The closing triad ("Aeroplane Blues", "Keep Me", and "Till I Get My Way") is a force to be reckoned
with on its own, each one being a soaring rock song in it's own right. The Black Keys have made the best album
of their career and set a high standard for other rock band's of the era to look up to. Rubber Factory truly stands
above the competition is great hard rock music in this or any decade. - Trevor e.y.
1.when the lights go out- 4
2.10 a.m. automatic- 4
3.just couldn't tie me down- 4
4.all hands against his own- 4*
5.desperate man- 4
6.girl is on my mind- 4
7.the lengths- 4
8.grown so ugly- 3
9.stack shot billy- 2
10.act nice and gentle- 4
11.aeroplane blues- 4
12.keep me- 4
13.till i get my way- 4
2006
Magic Potion - 3/8
Where to go but down once you make a record like Rubber Factory? Not only the Key's best album, but one of
the best pure rock records of the 00's. Of course the follow up has a lot to live up to, but the band took off a year
to tour and write new material so my expectations we're very high. They should have taken longer. Magic Potion
sounds like a pale imitation of the band's sound. It's an insult to call this a Black Keys record and I for one was
pretty angry upon hearing it. It's pretty bad, most songs are not memorable at all and the ones that are do not
compare with the band's best. There are NO great songs on here, though "Your Touch", "You're the One" and
"The Flame" are probably the best. Truth is, I don't feel like talking about this any more. It is easily the career low
so far, and I will be careful before buying the next record on the next release. What does the band expect when
they don't write good material? - Trevor e.y.
1.just got to be- 2
2.your touch- 3
3.youre the one- 3
4.just a little heat- 2
5.give your heart away- 1
6.strange desire- 2
7.modern times- 1
8.the flame- 3
9.goodbye babylon- 1
10.black door- 2
11.elevator- 2
Non Album Things
2006
Chulahoma EP- 5/8
It would seem like a unique concept - a whole album full of Junior Kimbrough covers, the band's favorite old
blues musician. I am no historian, but I read Kimbrough was a cult blues musician form the Mississippi Delta area
who had a deep influence on Auerbach's music writing. Yeah I can buy that, since the band has reworked two of
his songs, "Everywhere I Go" and "Do the Rump". Interesting to note also, that the same delta bluesmen who
created a lot the foundations of rock music as we know it influenced different people fifty years later. It makes
sense that this tribute EP doesn't sound just like blues music, it kind of incorporates other genre's of rock music's
past as it goes. Imagine what an album in 2050 covering delta bluesmen might sound like! "Have Mercy on Me" is
probably the most interesting of the bunch, though "Meet Me In the City" and "My Mind is Ramblin" are also
notable. The other three songs really aren't though, so Chulahoma comes off as less of a great idea tribute to
and idol and more of a sign that the band is out of ideas on where to go next, leading to their dissapointing Magic
Potion of the same year. - Trevor e.y.
1.keep your hands off her- 2
2.have mercy on me- 4
3.work me- 2
4.meet me in the city- 3
5.nobody but you- 1
6.my mind is ramblin- 3
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