Anniversary Albums: Edition Eighteen - The Strokes "Is This It" (2001)

This week on anniversary albums we take a look at New York indie band The Strokes debut album "Is This It". Released in 2001, "Is This It" is considered a seminal indie rock album which had a significant influence on indie guitar music for the next ten years. 

The Strokes - "Is This It"

Tracks Played 

- The Modern Age 

- Barley Legal

- Someday 

- New York City Cops 

- Last Nite 

- Sam 

Anniversary Albums: Edition Fifteen - The White Stripes 'White Blood Cells' (2001)

This week on anniversary albums we take a look at Detroit garage rock-revivalists the White Stripes third studio album 'White Blood Cells'. Released in 2001, this record was very influential in the development of the garage rock scene of the early-2000's, as well as helping to establish the White Stripes as a commercial act. 

Tracks played 

- Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground 

- Hotel Yorba 

- I'm Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman 

- Fell in Love with a Girl

- Now Mary

- Offend in Every Way 

White Stripes - White Blood Cells

- Sam 

The Libertines - Anthems for Doomed Youth (2015)

The fact the Libertines have reunited to do some shows is not a surprise. Bands are reuniting all the time, this is not unusual in this day and age. What is a surprise, however, is the fact they have recorded an album, eleven years after their last one in 2004. The Libertines continue to pulverize opinion, you either love them or you hate them. Those that dislike them remember the very public relationship difficulties between Pete Doherty and Carl Barat, as well as Doherty’s very well publicized drug problems. There are also those who think their music is to one-dimensional and dare I say it boring. At the same time, they are well-loved British indie darlings, particularly by the music press. They were a band who took indie out of the 90s and brought it down a peg back to the level of the people, this after the heights of Britpop. So the fact they reconvened in Thailand of all places to record new music caught some people unawares, but has made this reunion just that more interesting in the knowledge that new music would follow also suit.

The album is titled “Anthems for Doomed Youth”, a title which in itself is perhaps more relevant than ever for a majority of today’s youth who are struggling in a firmly entrenched neo-liberal society. In terms of the word anthems, well, the Libertines are good at producing rousing anthemic indie rockers. You just have to look back at some of the songs off their first two albums to see this. But ten years after their last record, what would the 2014 Libertines sound like? Would the new tracks stand up and are new audiences ready for the rousing and very personal anthems that the Libertines are known for? Well, after several listens to this album, I would say yes. The likely lads are back and perhaps they are better than ever.

The album kicks off with “Barbarians”. This is classic Libertines with very catchy vocals, and Barat and Doherty harmonizing in the choruses. This track also has quite a Pulp-like sound to it, which in itself is quite interesting. Next is the reggae-sounding “Gunja Din”. This was the first track that was released and is very unlike the Libertines in sound. Was it the Thai surrounds that made them go down a reggae path? Or were they just caught up in a desire to experiment? Either way it sounds good and it shows there is more to this band than just straight out indie rock. “Fame and Fortune” is a very British pop track with nods to the Kinks and Blur, Camden and London, while “Anthem for Doomed Youth” is a rousing ballad that I can just see thousands of people sticking their cigarette lighters in the air to. Side one then ends with an old track “You’re My Waterloo” and the bouncing rocker “Belly of the Beast”.

The second half of the album kicks off with “Iceman”, a great track that sounds like it could have come from a mid-90s Blur album. This is followed by one of the stand out tracks on the album “Heart of the Mattter”, which is sure to get pubs, clubs and festival crowds singing in unison. A couple of weaker tracks then emerge in the form of “Fury of Chonburi” and “The Milkman’s Horse”, but luckily things pick up again with the fantastic “Glasgow Coma Scale Blues”. Boy this is a great track full of driving guitars, great vocals and a brilliant chorus. The album then ends with “Dead For Love”, another softer ballad, something the Libertines are not known for, but which appear quite a bit on this album. Along with the main album, the deluxe edition contains some fantastic bonus tracks which are also worth checking out. “Love on the Dole”, “Bucket Shop”, “Lust of the Libertines” and “7 Deadily Sins” keep in line with the quality found on the album and only serve to extend the idea that the Libertines have come back with a bang on “Anthems for Doomed Youth”.

So in summing up, my thoughts on “Anthems for Doomed Youth” is that it is a great return for the Libertines who many thought were done as a recording act and would fade away into indie history. They seem to have matured as a recording act and their songs seem more crafted and melodic than a lot of their earlier work. The classic Libertines sound is still there in the form of great harmonizing and the ever-present minor chords (are they ever not playing in a minor key?), but at the same time they have shown a willingness to experiment with other styles and not simply just sit and attempt to re-invent the past. The band have been touring and playing festivals and by all accounts aside from one incident before a show where Pete Doherty had an anxiety attack, everything has gone smoothly and they have been well received by audiences. Where to now is any ones guess, as previous history with this band suggests anything is possible both good and bad. But if this is the final Libertines album, it does hold up well musically, and would be a fitting way for the boys in this band to go out on. 

A-

Sam 

Jack White - Lazaretto (2014)

Jack White has had a very diverse music career and is what I would describe as being a bit of a musical chameleon of sorts. He had great success with the White Stripes, whilst also intermittently moving between off-shoot projects such as the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather. The beauty of following Jack White is that you don’t really know what he is thinking and where he will go next musically, making his career an intriguing follow as much as anything. With this in mind he has now moved on to a solo career, releasing his debut solo album in 2012 Blunderbuss which was a solid first up effort that encompassed many different styles. It is now 2014 and again White has another album out, his second solo offering Lazaretto and although there are some good tracks on here, the results end up being a little bid underwhelming.

White again mixes up the sounds on this album, with blues rock, garage, alternative and country all making appearances in various guises. White has been known to speak of his song-writing methods and how he never has a pre-set plan of making an album but simply records what he feels like at the time, and this is perhaps why his first two solo records sound so diverse musically and do not follow any set patterns. Lazaretto starts up with a storming track the bluesy rocker “Three Women” which on first listening perhaps could be deemed one of his best. It certainly gets the album off to a positive start with its sizzling organ and playfulness lyrically and musically. The title track “Lazaretto” follows next and is a typical White garage rocker that congers up early White Stripes with its heavy guitar riffing and pounding drums. It is nice enough as a track, but falls a bit flat as it doesn’t really explore any new musical ground and ends up being a bit pedestrian. On “Temporary Ground” White goes all country/singer-songwriter as he often has a tendency to do, and is accompanied on vocals by one of the members of his all-female backing band, with a bit of fiddle thrown in for good measure, while “Would You Fight for My Love” is a mysterious almost dark track with a bit of a psychedelic rock feel to it in what is one of the stronger tracks on the record. The first half of the album then ends with an instrumental “High Ball Stepper” which does nothing for me, and “Just One Drink” which has a country-blues vibe to it with a good sing-along line about drinking, what could be better.

The second half of the album begins with “Alone in My House” which brings out Whites softer country side again while also showcasing some thunderous piano playing, a strong feature of the album. White sounds good when he dives into the country-folk area and I am still waiting for the day the record a full country/Americana album. However, it is at this point where the record begins to flounder a bit, starting with “Entitlement” a country ballad which although sweet is a bit predictable. This is followed by “That Black Bat Licorice” which returns to the heavy guitars of the title track, but with less success in what is quite a high intensity number that moves in all sorts of directions. The album finally comes to an end with “I think I Found the Culprit” a filler type track that sees White moving in an alt-country direction this time and “Want and Able”, yet another country ballad with the ingenious lyric (insert sarcasm) “who is the who telling who what to do”. By this point I am afraid it sounds like White is running out of ideas both lyrically and musically, with this track sounding a bit like a good warm up studio track but nothing more.

So in conclusion, I would say that Lazaretto is an album with flashes of brilliance and small moments that make you sit up and take notice, but these are few and far between, with side one being the best half of the album before it eventually falls away. At this point I am still waiting for Jack White to deliver an entire album of good material, or should I say a complete musical statement that measures up to his reputation as a twenty-first century rock master, something he has so far failed to do on his first two solo outings. 

C+

- Sam 

Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid (2009)

Keep It Hid is the debut solo album by Black Keys singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach, and is also so far his only non-collaborative solo album. Released in early 2009, the year before Brothers would catapult the Black Keys well in truly into the global music spotlight, Keep It Hid is an interesting album in that it is quite a diverse and varied album musically and is by no means a complete carbon copy of Black Keys material. This album rather than being a full on blues rock album contains a mixture of styles, with Auerbach moving between delta blues, garage rock, blues rock and even. This mixture of styles across the different tracks gives the album a nice balance and allows Auerbach to showcase other sides to his musical pallet, with the results speaking volumes.

Opening track “Trouble Weighs a Ton” is a rootsy pastoral folk tune of which when I first heard it I thought I was listening to a Mumford and Sons album. I certainly wasn’t expecting a Dan Auerbach solo album to start with a soft folk tune, but I was pleasantly surprised that it did. “I Want Some More” has an early-Black Keys feel to it with its swampy rhythm and dirty blues sound, while tracks such as “The Prowl”, “Keep It Hid” and “Street Walkin’” continues this theme with heavily distorted guitars and a blues rock template . “My Last Mistake” is one of Auerbach’s most poppy songs out of all his repertoire including his work with the Black Keys, and his also one of his best. Written in a similar vain to the tracks on Keys album El Camino, this is blues pop at its very best in the form of a driving backing track of guitar, bass and drums, as well as a very catchy melody which bounces along at you as you listen. The heavier blues tracks on this album are separated out nicely by some softer tracks where Auerbach shows off his tender side more so than he ever has done on any Black Keys album for mine. “Real Desire” is a beautiful soulful blues ballad laced with organ and very delicate guitar playing, while “When The Night Comes” is just Auerbach playing acoustic guitar and singing accompanied by a synth backing track. Album closer “Goin Home” probably gets the award for the softest track on the album and would also be in contention for the most beautiful, with Auerbach’s delightful finger picking and heartfelt vocal delivery floating along together in tandem in what is a gorgeous end to the album. What this album shows if anything is that this man can write softer soulful tracks just as good as he writes hard out blues rock epics, whilst singing them as equally as good.

A standard out feature for me on Keep It Hid was the overall production of the record, a task that Auerbach took on himself. Not only is Auerbach a wonderfully talented musician, but he is also a very good producer and it shows on this record where he pays careful attention to the needs of each track in attempting to get the right feel for each individual song, rather than an overall feel for the album. This comes across in the music, of which I noticed when listening is by in large less full on and fierce than the albums of his other band. The blues-oriented songs have a roughness about them and it is on these tracks where Auerbach uses distortion of the guitar and on occasion the vocals, while the folk and soul tracks have a beautiful simplicity to them with minimal production apart from the odd bit of echo. Overall I would give full marks to Auerbach for the production on this record in creating a sound and feel that I would describe as being quite organic in nature and very well suited to the eclectic mix of sound and style on display.

In conclusion then, I would say that Keep It Hid was an excellent debut for the Black Keys front man who showed with this release how he isn’t just a one dimensional blues rocker. Auerbach does a fantastic job in showing off his full range of musical abilities both as a songwriter and a player on multiple instruments on this album, while also giving a glimpse of his softer side as a song-writer, in particular showing how he can write tranquil folk songs as well as down to earth soulful blues. Keep It Hid is well worth a listen if you are into the Black Keys, especially their earlier work, and want to find out what Auerbach sounds like on his own. I thoroughly recommend this album, and I am sure you will be just as pleasantly surprised at the quality of the material as I was.   

A-

- Sam