By: Rinjo Njori

When Jack White and Brendan Benson announced they were forming The Raconteurs with Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler (The Greenhornes' rhythm section) there were rumblings through the "underground" that not only did this make sense, but that fans of both The White Stripes and Brendan Benson's power pop would by default create the elusive "supergroup."

Benson, a pop song writer and producer, has been releasing albums since the mid-90s. White, the reluctant avant-garage godfather, had just released Get Behind Me Satan and produced Loretta Lynn's comeback album, Van Lear Rose. While seemingly sudden, the truth is the band had been evolving for some time, with friends coming together to write some music void of expectations. In a perfect world, the two would bring everything great about their respective bodies of work and create something greater, perhaps a spectacular rock record that would incorporate blues, country, rock and power pop. Sadly Broken Boy Soldiers makes you think this might be a one shot deal. There's nothing spectacular or great, just pretty good music with Benson and White rarely taking any chances.

The ten songs on Broken Boy Soldiers cover just over thirty three minutes. "Steady As She Goes," the first single, is a good song and lays the groundwork for the rest of the album. White and Benson trade verse and chorus and display their aptitude for writing lyrics. As usual, White inundates the song with all sorts of "effects." Fortunately, he has left the marimba at home and the "effects" are limited to guitar pedals, solos, and Benson's work on the keyboards. "Hands," "Together," and "Yellow Sun" are textbook Benson tunes; purely crafted pop songs with shades of the 60s and 70s singer-songwriters. While Benson handles the majority of the vocals on these songs, it's White's singing on the chorus that brings them to life. "Store Bought Bones" and the creepy and magical "Broken Boy Soldier" are the two most adventurous songs. The middle-eastern flavor of "Broken Boy Soldier" matches up with the hauntingly repetitive chorus, "the boy never gets older," and showcases what kind of great songs The Raconteurs are capable of writing. Lawrence and Keeler are obviously along for the ride and have the least at stake. They provided the rhythm section behind White on Van Lear Rose and prove again to be more than able behind White and Benson as they run through the songs along a range of styles.

Where it mostly goes wrong for The Raconteurs is on the last two tracks. The Benson tune "Call It a Day" sounds like a half finished Weezer song. And, not even Weezer's best stuff - think green album, not the blue album. "Blue Veins" is nothing that White hasn't done before with The White Stripes. He sounds more like Robert Plant than he does in the White Stripes and the blues-jazz music just doesn't translate. Benson also fails to offer much on the songs where he sings the chorus over White's lead.

In the whole, Broken Boy Soldiers is a good album. When "Steady As She Goes" and "Store Bought Bones" were initially posted to their official website [one of the goofiest sites the Earvolution E-I-C has seen] they were met with indifference and most hoped that Broken Boy Soldiers would have even better songs. On "Together," Benson sings, "you want everything to be just like/the stories that you read but never write/you got to learn to live and live to learn." Perhaps that's the expectation that White and Benson set for themselves when they concocted The Raconteurs in Benson's attic. An expectation that isn't quite met.

Labels: Jack White, The Raconteurs