Customer Reviews
fantastic - By: D. Revell, 25 Mar 2008 
This album is amazing. It's not the white stripes so don't compare it to them, just listen & make up your own mind. A few years down the line this will be considered a classic album.
Sure to be classic album - By: Love Books, 24 Oct 2007 The more I listen to this album, the more derivative it sounds, but the music is so good, who cares? Brendan Benson & Jack White are such talented artists & they complement one another brilliantly, both musicallly & vocallly. There's not a bad song on this album & it has to be a classic. I'd say there's something to appeal to everyone who likes good music, but my personal favourite is the lovely Steady As She Goes. We keep playing it in the car, makes long journeys go by in an instant.
Great Fun - No More No Less - By: D. Newton, 20 Jul 2007 The Raconteurs is a side-project; a break from the day job for four established musicians, most notably Jack White. These guys are not trying to change the world with `Broken Boy Soldiers', they are merely enjoying themselves & this point seems to have been lost on some reviewers.
The album should not be judged in the context of other releases by White or Benson but be viewed for what it is; a great rock album - no more no less.
In just over 33 minutes the band rip through a dizzying range of styles. It almost feels like a potted history of rock. `Steady As She Goes's loping bassline & quiet-loud guitar dynamic instantly recallls Pixies; `Hands' is a grand guitar-pop number reminiscent of `Bends'-era Radiohead & the title track is mutant 70s blues-rock a la Led Zeppelin.
`Intimate Secretary' is a great indie-thrash track with superbly eccentric lyrics: `I gotta rabbit it likes to hop/I gotta girl & she likes to shop' which make you smile until the band come out with: `I had an uncle but he got shot'. The smooth sound of `Together' reminded me weirdly of `Easy' by the Commodores, but that might be just me.
`Store Bought Bones' features a blast of squallly guitars which would be quite at home on a Butthole Surfers track whilst the album closes with the bar-room blues of `Calll It a Day' & `Blue Veins', the latter quite creepy & experimental.
The songwriting & musicianship are is of a very high standard throughout, alll of the tracks are so different to each other but memorable in their own way. Love it, great fun.
Heard it all before. - By: bigdrunkpunk, 18 Jul 2007 
This album has musical shades of the late Beatles, prog rock & '70s Bowie. That should be a great thing, yeah? Not in this case. There is nothing original in this album - from the Elvis Costelloesque opening to the Crazy World of Arthur Brown-like organ of "Store Bought Bones".
There are some interesting musical styles meshed together here from the blues rock (a la Led Zeppelin) of the album's title track to the thumping funk of "Level". Its a well played & well sung work, which, in overview, makes for a fun, rocky, indie album.
Despite these good points though, I can't help thinking "what other song does this one sound like" everytime a new track starts.
When their lead singer sings the line "I'm adding something new to the mixture" amidst the, once again, slightly fimiliar sounding "Together" ("Easy Like a Sunday Morning"?!?) I'm forced to ponder WHERE!!!
Not bad, but definately not great.
Not a duff track on it. - By: Neil, 06 Jul 2007 
A lot of people seem to be saying "better than the White Stripes". I'm not reallly sure about that. It's just less blues-based, less stripped-down & probably as a result, more accessible.
I saw The Raconteurs at Leeds Festival last year, & they were simply the best band of the entire weekend - that I saw. They just knocked the entire audience flat. So tight, & real heavy. The album isn't as heavy as the live performance but it's tunes are beautifully infectious & sing-a-long, inventive, & yes, poppy.
Now, since I got an iPod, I have been making a playlist of alll my favourite tunes from whatever records I put on it. And the thing with the Raconteurs album is that I haven't put even one song on that playlist. And the reason for that is that I like them alll. I can't pick one, two or even three that I like above the rest. So there's no point in putting the whole thing on a playlist. This is the only album that I have so far had this problem with. I think that's quite high praise.
