When I heard the first couple of tunes on this record I thought Jack White was trying to make a funky, Led Zeppelin type big rock record. And I was psyched because I’m down for that kind of record especially the funky side of the railroad track as I think that white boy rock ‘n roll could use a shot of black music influences.
But as the record unfolded I was more disappointed.
The record sounds great, the playing is very good, and Jack White is a wizard arranger. But the album is long on chops and short on passion — if there was anything I always dug about Led Zeppelin is that they did not appear to be obsessed with the perfect take but were trying to capture a strong feeling.
Too manicured, too smoothed out, a lack of spontaneity, everything about this record is what I don’t like about today’s music.
Not a horrible record, but a disappointment and a record I don’t think people are going to be listening to 5 years from now.
Ironically, for a guy who has gone out of his way to shit on the drummer for the White Stripes, those raw White Stripes records are what’s gonna get Jack White remembered. Not this record.
The Cross Pollinator 