Jack White has been a man of many personas over the years. He started in the garage-rock duo The White Stripes, founded the rock supergroup The Raconteurs, and then jumped-ship played drums for his next band The Dead Weather. Each one of those projects was innovative and wildly different, but they each had a certain Jack White sound that could not be ignored.
He recently released an entire album of that “Jack White sound.” White’s first solo album “Blunderbuss” was released last week, and it is reminiscent of all those projects while also remaining a monster of its own. There are huge, blistering rock ‘n’ roll tracks, soft piano ballads, and even the occasional country song. Without a band around him, he has been set free to do all the crazy, weird stuff that he’s always wanted to.
Much like an old White Stripes record, the album starts out with the heavier music first. The first track, “Missing Pieces,” starts the album off slow before transitioning into one of White’s classic guitar riffs. The first single “Sixteen Saltines” follows.
It is a loud and dirty rock song about how love can rip you to pieces. His lyrics are as dark and funny as ever on this track, such as when he screeches out, “Who’s jealous, who’s jealous, who’s jealous, who’s jealous of who? / If I get busy then I couldn’t care less what you do.”
Another one of the standout tracks on the album is “Love Interruption,” which was released a few weeks early on White’s website. The song was also performed on the otherwise disastrous Lindsay Lohan episode of Saturday Night Live. Only White could make a Lohan episode worth watching, and he stole the show with an all-girl backing band of violinists, pianists and a bassoon. The real star of this track, however, is Ruby Amanfu, a grammy-nominated Nashville singer whose voice echoes White’s on every verse. The lyrics about the devastating power of love are incredibly cynical once again, “I want love to murder my own mother / and take her off to somewhere / like hell or up above.”
The second half of the album is populated by slower piano-heavy tracks, like the title-track, “Blunderbuss.” This is where we get to see one of the most interesting sides of White. He may be a rock god, but his heart has always been in Southern-style blues. His love for Nashville comes through in the jangly, funk-filled “Trash Tongue Talker.” He also covers the 1960s R&B song “I’m Shakin'” by Little Willie John. White’s broken yet classic vocals make this version a must-listen.
It is always exciting when White starts a new band and decides to go a different direction, but this album seems like it came straight from his heart. It’s reminiscent of The White Stripes later works like “Elephant” or “Get Behind Me Satan,” when Jack abandoned the simplicity of the two-person garage band, and experimented with piano solos and xylophones. He had already made his place in rock history before this, but it’s clear that this is one of the best things he’s ever done.
