TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2012: JACK WHITE - BLUNDERBUSS

#02: JACK WHITE - BLUNDERBUSS

 

 

Jack White has to be one of the hardest working men in music. Over the last few years he has played with three bands - The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather – whilst also finding time to run his own record label, Third Man Records, in Nashville Tennesse. He’s long been quizzed about a solo album and, with The White Stripes officially dissolved in early 2011, his debut Blunderbuss was released in April of this year. Jack White has always worn his influences on his sleeve. Much of The White Stripes early work is a love letter to 1930’s bluesmen such as Son House and Blind Willie McTell, while later albums pay homage to the likes of Led Zeppelin, who themselves took the sound of the Blues and evolved it into Rock and Heavy Metal. The Dead Weather is pure Garage Rock and Blues and The Raconteurs played Rock and Americana with sprinklings of country soul. Blunderbuss covers all of these influences and more. Album opener Missing Pieces and the second track, Sixteen Saltines both have a heavy rock and blues feel with the latter featuring a classic Jack White riff running through it. Lead single, Love Interruption is a country ballad with a bitter edge and Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy is a foot-tapping bar room ditty. The stand out track for me is the one cover on the album, I’m Shakin, originally by Motown star Little Willie John. Jack White showcases a wide variety of his talents and influences on his debut album and the result is one of his best efforts yet.

Favourite Track I’m Shakin’ 

GIG: JACK WHITE

Review by Jon Birch

Jack White live at the Blackpool Empress Ballroom - 06.11.2012

Stepping into the Empress Ballroom at Blackpool immediately transports you back in time to a more glamorous age. Majestic chandeliers hang from the high arched ceiling and you get a real feel of how this Dance Hall felt in its heyday. Today however, is about Jack White, and there can be few more fitting settings for an artist who so consistently fuses old school Blues whilst continually evolving his technique and sound.

As the crew set up the stage (all dressed in suits, bow ties and bowler hats!), one of them approached the mic. He reminded the crowd that they were there to witness, ‘a live show, not a YouTube clip’, and to watch the action live rather than through their phones. A personal bug-bear of mine, I wasn’t alone in cheering and applauding this statement loudly.

The lights dimmed and the band took the stage (all females tonight, they alternate with an all male band each night). White himself entered to the strains of his latest single ‘Shakin’, picked up his personalised Telecaster, and blasted into ‘Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground’, an old school White Stripes favourite.

The set was a solid mix of tracks from Whites solo album Blunderbuss, tracks from The Raconteurs and Dead Weather side projects, and of course, the extensive White Stripes catalogue. Hearing these songs played with a full band gave them a deeper, sometimes subtler feel than the original Detroit Garage Blues versions. It’s interesting to note that in a band of six players, there is only one guitar on stage and its White unmistakable sound that drives the show.

A six-song encore is finished with a triumphant medley starting and finishing with the iconic Seven Nation Army and dipping into Catch Hell Blues and the Son House cover/tribute, Death Letter. Whites sound still seems to be evolving and changing with each record he makes and band he starts. I can’t wait to see what comes next.