Opinz

The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely

One of the more perfect homages to classic rock created recently, Consolers of the Lonely channels the ghosts of Led Zeppelin and The Who without sounding like they’re ripping them off or trying to cannibalize their legacies while at the same time building off the back-to-basics-but-carefully-experimental vein of The White Stripes’ Icky Thump of last year; there’s plenty of pumping guitar rock (“Salute Your Solution”, “Hold Up”), soaring horns (“Many Shades of Black”), and frantic traditional-ly tales (“Carolina Drama”) – the whole thing is rough and ragged and the more bombast they try to cram into the songs the better they sound.

Grade: 3.9 / 5

March 25, 2008
Third Man/Warner Bros.