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As minimal two-man blues-rock bands go, this has to be near the top of the heap. The problem with minimal two-man blues-rock outfits (and there have been more of them than you think) is that they're, well, usually too minimal, with thin garage sound and a shortage of variety. The Black Keys' sound, impressively, is not too thin (though it is garage-ish), and there's enough deft incorporation of funk, soul, and hard rock into the harsh juke joint-ish core to avoid monotony. Most importantly, Dan Auerbach has a genuinely fine, powerful blues voice, sometimes approximating a white, slightly smoother Howlin' Wolf (particularly on the opener, "Busted"). Auerbach's a good guitarist, too, conjuring suitably harsh and busy (and sometimes heavily reverbed) riffs out of what sounds like a cheap but effectively harsh amp. Patrick Carney's drums might be the cruder component of this two-man band, but they keep the sound earthy without sounding sloppily punkish for the hell of it, as too many such groups searching for the blues-punk fusion do. The very occasional insertion of hip-hop snippets seems neither here nor there, and the cover of the Beatles' "She Said, She Said" seems like an odd choice.
Condition:NEW. Brand New Factory Sealed
TRACK LISTINGS
1 Busted 2:33
2 Do the Rump 2:37
3 I'll Be Your Man 2:20
4 Countdown 2:38
5 The Breaks 3:01
6 Run Me Down 2:27
7 Leavin' Trunk 3:00
8 Heavy Soul 2:08
9 She Said, She Said 2:32
10 Them Eyes 2:23
11 Yearnin' 1:58
12 Brooklyn Bound 3:11
13 240 Years Before Your Time 23:20
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