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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Broken Boy Soldiers
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 77 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: V2 / XL
Release Date: 16 May 2006
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock
Summary
'Soldiers' marks the debut for the new band consisting of the White Stripes' Jack White, fellow Detroit musician Brendan Benson, and members of the Greenhornes.
Also By This Artist: Consolers Of The Lonely
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: Brendan Benson: The Alternative To Love The Greenhornes: Sewed Soles White Stripes: Elephant White Stripes: Get Behind Me Satan White Stripes: Icky Thump White Stripes: White Blood Cells
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site Raconteurs @ MySpace
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times
The songs zing with the excitement of two music nerds caught up in a game of "Top This!" [16 May 2006]
Alternative Press
The real pleasure here is hearing what Jack White can do when he's away from the confines of the White Stripes. [Jul 2006, p.202]
Paste Magazine
An efficient 33 minutes, Broken Boy Soldiers supplies the summer's most gas-conscious road tunes. [Jun/Jul 2006, p.128]
Mojo
An album that sounds effortless, but at times almost dissyingly diverse--imagine The White Album, but made by happy people. [May 2006, p.96]
Filter
Just like with White Stripes albums, the music rattles your brain like no other and gets better with age. [#20, p.97]
E! Online
Sounds like they had as much fun making it as you're going to have listening to it.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Much of Broken Boy Soldiers is fired by the same liberated, intuitive spirit that drives the Stripes. [Jun 2006, p.86]
Spin
The cool sound of hot days, fragrant smoke, and FM radio at ear-splitting volume. [Jun 2006, p.77]
Dot Music
An impressively rounded, engagingly inventive record that ranges across British blues / R&B, Mod pop, psychedelia and American country rock.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
It's neither deep nor meaningful, but Broken Boy Soldiers succeeds in sounding like four guys having fun making music; albeit music that's as elegant as it is raucous. [Jun 2006, p.108]
Playlouder
Key to the success of 'Broken Boy Soldiers' is the relatively restrained musicianship.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
This is all Broken Boy Soldiers was ever meant to be: an off-the-cuff collaboration between two friends and one which, despite its imperfections, is an effort worthy of applause.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
If you have a favorite Foghat album or can name a single member of Deep Purple, you will love Broken Boy Soldiers; fortunately, it doesn't end there. [18 May 2006, p.226]
The Guardian
What the Raconteurs offer is the middle-ground between White's muscular, distorted blues and Benson's Who-goes-bubblegum approach. The end result seems unlikely to change the face of music as we know it, but it's often breathtakingly executed.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
Much of the Benson/White songwriting ethic seems cut from classic rock radio, finding the meeting point between Cheap Trick and Led Zeppelin and ending up with a timeless album in the process. [#13, p.88]
musicOMH.com
It's a hugely enjoyable record, with songs on it as good as anything the individuals involved have produced elsewhere. It's simply that high standards achieved elsewhere aren't consistently obtained throughout.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Within its own little garage, the album succeeds completely, but in the big picture, Broken Boy Soldiers never feels especially important.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Tie on the celebrity blindfold, and Broken Boy Soldiers no longer seems like that much of an achievement-- just another case of men recreating their favorite vinyl deep cuts, if a bit more skillfully than most FM scrapbookers.
Read Full Review >The New York Times
Mr. White shares the songwriting, and the spotlight, in the Raconteurs, but it sounds as if he's still the wild-card inspiration, the one who puts the structural quirks and guitar fireworks into the songs.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
It's brief and even a little slight, but it's almost as much fun to listen to as it must have been to make.
Read Full Review >Amazon.com
Like so many all-star bands before them, The Raconteurs could be one and done. But don't place the blame on this fertile and genuine debut.
Read Full Review >NOW Magazine
Broken Boy Soldiers won't reverse global warming, but it certainly tops Get Behind Me Satan for rockin' entertainment.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
I was really hoping that some critical insight the bigger publications had missed would shine through here, and on this front I am let down, albeit pleasantly: all this record strives to be is a power-pop record, of second-string Lennon/McCartney-crossed-with-Americana type that proliferated in the ‘70s and has carried on, doggedly, through the decades.
Read Full Review >ShakingThrough.net
The moody “Together” reveal[s] what’s possible when White and Benson join forces. If only collaborations in this vein had been given greater consideration, the Raconteurs might have had something truly revelatory beyond a whimsical side project.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Combine the dull wordplay with the uneven tone and Soldiers feels indulgent quickly -- and that's saying something for an album that's just 33 minutes.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
When it comes down to it, it ain't gonna change your world any.
Read Full Review >Billboard
No one is breaking any ground here, and White fanatics looking for a new White Stripes record should temper their expectations. But as far as side projects go, this is as good as it gets.
Read Full Review >Blender
The results are either stiffly egalitarian... or stripped of personality altogether. [Jun 2006, p.143]
Stylus Magazine
Instead of consolidating their respective strengths, Broken Boy Soldiers is White and Benson compromising them in favor of finding an agreeable but ultimately dull and colorless middle ground.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
In the end, though, Broken Boy Soldiers merely makes you wonder what Meg White has been up to.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
If The Raconteurs were any other group (that is, if The Raconteurs didn't have Jack White), the press/Blogosphere would slam it.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 77 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Nick M gave it a7:
Its very good....in my opinion, it isnt as good as jack white's work with the white stripes, and im very happy that the raconteurs didnt end the white stripes, but still im very happy with this cd
[Anonymous] gave it a10:
No downs. Just ups.
Chris W gave it a10:
The song "Level" is, by far, the best song of 2006.
Nasha C gave it a10:
the assembly of 4 amazing talents into one revivalistic-chic amazing super-band.
Reuben F gave it a6:
Not sure whether Jack White has made a good move, abandoning the White Stripes to form the Raconteurs. While it was perhaps time to retire the White Stripes, as they were beginning to reach the limits of what can be done with a two-piece outfit, and while the Greenhornes' sound in theory complements Jack White, his distinctive voice is largely lost here. I also prefer his work with Loretta Lynn on 2004's 'Van Lear Rose', though on that album White was also barely there as a presence. Hopefully next album, White will re-emerge as a strong and original voice and regain the inspiration that hasn't been seen since the White Stripe's 2003 LP 'Elephant'.
Juan L gave it a9:
I loved the Withe Stripes... until I listened to The Raconteurs, I hate to say this... but everybody who was saying "Jack White needs a complete band" were correct. The Raconteurs cannot be compared to The White Stripes musically, as their styles differ enough to fit in different categories, but the comparison point can be made in Jack's performance: he sounds way happier here, every single word, every single note shows a delightful love for music. Benson and the Greenhouse boys make it even better, everybody's performance is with the purpose of making the others look good, that's the way music should sound. As long as Jack's as happy as with in this album, we'll be even happier. A must-have for the lovers of rock.
S Nair gave it a9:
I am giving this a higher rating since comparisons to the White Stripes are fully useless - this band is not them. Great rythmns, super infectious riffs, totally a fun-in-summer album - and that is sufficient in my book.
