The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers (2006)

In the early years of my university education, there was probably nothing as cool as The White Stripes. I was such a fan of them that I used to buy only clothes that were either white, black or red at the time. I had also just been introduced to singer-songwriter Brendan Benson, who I also really liked. Then I heard that there was a new superband that included both Jack White and Brendan Benson. Needless to say that I was very excited about that. The first thing I heard by them was the hit song Steady, As She Goes, which I really liked. The rest of the album didn't convince me as much back in the day. It wasn't as cool as the garage rock of The White Stripes and the songs weren't quite as catchy as Brendan Benson's amazing power pop. Later on, however, I have been able to evaluate The Raconteurs as a separate band and there are many things to like in their music.



The songs on this album vary a lot. There are some clear garage rock songs, some power pop songs, some more chilled down indie rock ballads and even some songs with influences from country and folk music. It kind of sounds to me like Jack White would've wrote songs for Brendan Benson to sing and vice versa. Almost all the songs that sound more like the White Stripes are sung by Benson and every song that sounds more like Benson's solo material have been sung by White.

There are many retro elements on the album. Even if the main style is guitar driven indie rock that was popular at the time the album was released, I can't help but thinking about great rock bands of the 70's when I'm listening to this album. The production is really good and the instruments are played masterfully. There's even some guitar hero moments on this album that weren't that common in music in the mid 00's.

The album starts with the biggest hit, Steady, As She Goes. This song used to play on the radio and MTV all the time when the album came out. It sounds a lot like The White Stripes, although a bit more melodic and not quite as heavy. The next song, Hands, is a power pop song that sounds a lot like Brendan Benson's solo stuff. There are some great rock guitars in this song. Broken Boy Soldiers sounds like some of the later White Stripes albums that had not yet been released by that time. There's that desperate sounding heavy sound that you can hear in many songs on Icky Thump. Intimate Secretary is a neo-psychedelia song that seems to be inspired by the late-60's psychedelia. Together is a great rock ballad. It switches the mood from quite melancholic to more cheery. Level is a rhythmic rock song that's all about riffs and not really about the melody. Store Bought Bones has some heavy organ sounds which makes me think of the band Wolfmother. Yellow Sun is a light sounding folky pop song. The album ends with a great psychedelic bluesy song Blue Veins.

I must've seen the music video for Steady, As She Goes many many times, but still I didn't really remember the video at all. I guess it's no wonder, because the video isn't that interesting. It's just hte band playing the song. The video is kind of blurred and it looks like not a lot of thought has been put into it.

The Raconteurs, like many other so-called supergroups are not quite as good as the other projects that made these people famous. The debut album of The Raconteurs is still quite an interesting album with lots of good songs. It's quite nostalgic for me personally.

Listen to the album on Spotify.