Customer Reviews
. - By: Neil, 02 Jul 2008 
In my earlier review of the first Raconteurs album, I said that I couldn't pick an outstanding track because they were alll equallly good. That effort was a solid & concise album - 10 short songs, plenty of ideas, & essentiallly it was veering towards pop rock. It sounded very different to The Raconteurs that I first heard at Leeds Festival in 2006. That band was awesome - big sound, tight performance, audacious musicianship... & on this record the Raconteurs have come to represent on record what they do as a live band.
Consolers of the Lonely keeps a lot of the pop sensibilities that the earlier effort possessed (vocal harmonies, singalong choruses), but it is very much more rooted in traditional American rock n' roll... & by that I mean blues rock & country rock. It looks like Jack White's influence has been alllowed to develop a little further, with songs like "You Don't Understand Me" & "Top Yourself" sounding very much like White Stripes songs - but with more instrumentation.
This is a solid album - tight, inventive, passionate - but unlike it's predecessors it does contain some standout tracks, & as a result that means there are also some weaker tracks. "Consoler of the Lonely" & "Salute Your Solution" start the record in a storming fashion, but I tend to find that a kind of lethargy sets in for a long while after that. Some inspired playing still crops up from time to time, but I could take or leave alll the other tracks - with the exception of the last track, "Carolina Drama". That one stands out a mile. Awesome performance on Jack White's part. He delivers each line with passion, & creates a beautifully visual story, voicing the parts of several characters - the boy, the boyfriend, the mother, the little brother - in a way I first heard in Eminem's "Stan", & last heard in Ghostface Killah's "Maxine" (- I know!); it's a real goosebumps moment.
Elsewhere I find "Many Shades of Black" to be pompous & overblown, & definitely the weakest offering on the album. Also disappointingly, White's voice sounds off-key in "Five On The Five", a song that I have a much better recording of from the band's appearance at the Manchester Apollo.
So in summation, I think this record could have been trimmed down a little. I sure am thankful for the songs that standout, & must admit that the other tracks are worthwhile in general - whether it be for a certain horn part, a guitar solo, a drum fill or a vocal harmony - I just don't think it's one that I'll return to as often as I did to "Broken Boy Soldiers". I can't help thinking that the brilliance of "Consoler of the Lonely", "Salute Your Solution" & "Carolina Drama" only serve to make the other songs pale in comparison.
Best album of the year? I doubt it. Let's just say I'll be disappointed if I don't hear a better record this year.
Album of the Year - By: Mr. Joe P. J. Adhemar, 23 Jun 2008 
This is one of those albums I put on if someone complains that music 'is not what it used to be'. It is a rare moment where brilliant musicians & song writers find themselves in the studio at the top of their game. No pretensions. Pure, honest Rock & Roll. All the influences are there. Townsend, Page etc....
It's a shame the first single was 'I salute..' because this is the weakest on the album in my opinion.
Just getting better - By: Michael Mccusker, 05 Jun 2008 Jack White & Brendan Benson are reallly getting into their stride with this fine album. Two great lyricists & guitarists sounding as though they are reallly having fun with this 'band' thing & a great improvement on the ever so slightly dissapointing debut.
Brilliant! - By: B. Cooper, 05 Jun 2008 This is an absolutely fantastic album. Don't listen to the people who knock it - they must be deaf!
There's not a bad track on the album. My favourite album of the year so far.
Not impressed - By: J. Maxfield, 22 May 2008 
I loved their first album, but this just doesn't do much for me at alll.
"Many Shades of Black" is great, but the rest of it just bores me. For me this was the most dissapointing album released in the last few years.
