Magic Potion Review
I just picked up the new The Black Keys album: Magic Potion Friday. Having spent some time with it this weekend, I thought I'd give it a short review.
First the basics: Magic Potion is the Black Keys fourth album and their first on the Nonesuch label. They are a guitar and drum duo with Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney covering the guitar and drum parts, respectively. Comparisons with The White Stripes are legion, but the first track calls to my mind rather the first Gov't Mule album. Auerbach's fat, yet raw guitar tone and his laconic, almost relaxed phrasing bespeak a man who is deeply in love with the sound of his guitar and secure in his ability to stand and deliver the goods.
Speaking of standing(I was), I've never really been as aware of a guitarist standing while playing as I am with this album. It's hard to describe, but between the way he plays and the way the guitar sounds, you can tell he's standing. I believe players tend to play more in the pocket with the drums when they sit. The way Auerbach floats in and out of the pocket effortlessly reminds me of an old jazz or blues cat(or a boxer or tap dancer, for that matter).
The Blues do run deep through these tracks, though there's nary a twelve-bar. Much like Hendrix, they have appropriated blues idioms and made new music. Same words, new poetry. I suspect the more you like the old blues, the more you'll like what the Black Keys are doing.
Auerbach's vocals are nestled slightly behind the guitar and slightly in front of the drums. He occasionally uses delay effects and doubles his voice(hell, ya got 8 tracks on that there tape recorder!), but nothing that sounds gimmicky or would be out of place on a blues album. Sometimes the words can be hard to decipher, but fortunately deciphering them is worthwhile, as the lyrics are quite good. I consider it a bit of a feat to spend so much time in the neighborhood of the blues without sometimes slipping into cliché.
The drums, as I've said are in the background. However, Carney's contributions are always lively and positive. His ability to hang with the ebb and flow suggests he would be just as at home behind someone like Sonny Boy Williamson II, R.I.P., as someone like, say, Warren Haynes. And speaking of Warren, I could easily see Gov't Mule picking up any one of these songs for a full band treatment.
Magic Potion maybe a little to potent for mass consumption. I don't know the last time I put a CD in the Jeep's stereo and drove around actually feeling dangerous. I do know
I'm looking forward to picking up more of The Black Keys.
First the basics: Magic Potion is the Black Keys fourth album and their first on the Nonesuch label. They are a guitar and drum duo with Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney covering the guitar and drum parts, respectively. Comparisons with The White Stripes are legion, but the first track calls to my mind rather the first Gov't Mule album. Auerbach's fat, yet raw guitar tone and his laconic, almost relaxed phrasing bespeak a man who is deeply in love with the sound of his guitar and secure in his ability to stand and deliver the goods.
Speaking of standing(I was), I've never really been as aware of a guitarist standing while playing as I am with this album. It's hard to describe, but between the way he plays and the way the guitar sounds, you can tell he's standing. I believe players tend to play more in the pocket with the drums when they sit. The way Auerbach floats in and out of the pocket effortlessly reminds me of an old jazz or blues cat(or a boxer or tap dancer, for that matter).
The Blues do run deep through these tracks, though there's nary a twelve-bar. Much like Hendrix, they have appropriated blues idioms and made new music. Same words, new poetry. I suspect the more you like the old blues, the more you'll like what the Black Keys are doing.
Auerbach's vocals are nestled slightly behind the guitar and slightly in front of the drums. He occasionally uses delay effects and doubles his voice(hell, ya got 8 tracks on that there tape recorder!), but nothing that sounds gimmicky or would be out of place on a blues album. Sometimes the words can be hard to decipher, but fortunately deciphering them is worthwhile, as the lyrics are quite good. I consider it a bit of a feat to spend so much time in the neighborhood of the blues without sometimes slipping into cliché.
The drums, as I've said are in the background. However, Carney's contributions are always lively and positive. His ability to hang with the ebb and flow suggests he would be just as at home behind someone like Sonny Boy Williamson II, R.I.P., as someone like, say, Warren Haynes. And speaking of Warren, I could easily see Gov't Mule picking up any one of these songs for a full band treatment.
Magic Potion maybe a little to potent for mass consumption. I don't know the last time I put a CD in the Jeep's stereo and drove around actually feeling dangerous. I do know
I'm looking forward to picking up more of The Black Keys.
posted by Doug Utton at Monday, October 02, 2006
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