CD Reviews

The Raconteurs
Consolers of the Lonely
(Third Man)

“The one thing I hate is being labeled a side project,” Jack White bemoaned in August 2006, mere hours before The Raconteurs served as the house band for the MTV Video Music Awards. ... Read more at Nashville Scene.

What separates the blues greats from the legends? A good story. And Jack White knows how to tell one. (Did you hear the one about the guitarist who married his sister?) It's no coincidence that his side band is called the Raconteurs. ... Read more at Rolling Stone.

Aren't superstar side-projects usually devoted to exploring the weird, indulgent stuff that don't quite fit with the star's regular assignment? ... Read more at The Village Voice.

On the occasion of their second album, the Raconteurs offer some advice about relationships that is equally applicable to their own artistic inspiration: "Take it as it comes/ And be thankful when it's done/ There's so many ways to act/ And there's many shades of black." ... Read more at the Boston Globe.

They couldn't quite plug all the leaks in advance, but the Raconteurs' stealth-release strategy for Consolers of the Lonely – whose completion was only made public a week ago – has kept most of us in the dark about what to expect from their second album until it officially shows up in stores today. ... Read more at the Toronto Star.

Released with neither promotional fanfare nor review copies, The Raconteurs' Consolers of the Lonely is a marked improvement on their Broken Boy Soldiers debut, which drew plenty of fawning praise but relied too heavily on drab prog-rock antecedents. ... Read more at the Belfast Telegraph.