Saturday 29 November 2014

The Genius Of... Jack White #4


#4: Intimate Secretary by The Raconteurs

I was never blown away by the Raconteurs, the band formed by Jack White and some old friends. However, their debut album 'Broken Boy Soldiers' was not just highly anticipated, it was also widely acclaimed. I wasn't struck as deeply by any of the songs as I had been by the White Stripes, but I didn't dislike it.

My favourite track on that record is Intimate Secretary because it is rather silly. Like all Raconteurs songs, it was co-written by Jack White and Brendan Benson so I'm not sure who wrote the lyrics about rabbits and teapots but they put a smile on my face.

One thing the Raconteurs project did illustrate was that Jack White had a more conventional and melodic side to him rather than just the skewed blues he became known for. It's also worth noting that White and Benson had worked together before in the short-lived Jack White & The Bricks in 1999, so they were far from strangers.

'Broken Boy Soldiers' is a worthy document of a side project that worked, even if they didn't set the world alight. But then, that was probably never the point.




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