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Dec 7, 2011The brilliance of El Camino lies in the fact that it is still perfectly modern, a step in the direction of legitimizing the use of vocal effects, multi-tracking and ultimately catchy choruses.
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Dec 5, 2011The album hurtles forward with all the momentum and subtlety of a cannonball, and it's best either to get on board or just to get the hell out of the way.
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Dec 2, 2011The riffs are glam-nasty, the lyrics sublimely knuckleheaded, the basslines nimble and bombastic, the mood frivolous and fun and unabashedly corny.
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Jan 17, 2012With El Camino, the Black Keys have essentially twenty minutes of worthwhile music, at least as far as partying is concerned.
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Jan 3, 2012El Camino might be the weakest Black Keys album since 2006's Magic Potion, but the band certainly earned this celebratory joy ride.
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Dec 19, 2011All in all, El Camino sticks to a tried and true template of brazen impulsivity that's been explored by generations of rock bands.
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Dec 12, 2011The bulk of El Camino keeps that approach fresh by twisting their rock sound into a pop sensibility that may feel nostalgic, but here--in this concentrated, potent dose--reveals itself to be just as eager to move forward as it is to revel in the past.
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Dec 12, 2011El Camino offers, like they say in Spinal Tap, something none more black, lean mean T-Rex-ish blues party pop (because the melodies are audaciously and apologetically catchy) that spirals nearly out of control yet is reigned in (really?!?) by producer Danger Mouse at his most spare and frame making.
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Dec 8, 2011"El Camino" is all about instant gratification: guitar riffs, handclaps, slinky keyboard textures, walloping beats, wordless sing-along vocals, and even more guitar riffs. It sounds like it was written with the express purpose of rocking the arenas that the Black Keys will be headlining next year.
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Dec 6, 2011El Camino distills its predecessor's high-octane fumes and high-profile influences into very nearly the Platonic ideal of rock and roll.
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Dec 6, 2011Sometimes, a CD scratches an itch you didn't even know you had, and El Camino is that record.
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Dec 6, 2011For 37 rollicking minutes, they give it the full gun, meeting the challenge of being the biggest garage rock band in the world head-on.
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Dec 6, 2011El Camino is so relentlessly crowd-pleasing that it feels a bit inconsequential; there's no room for the sad, sludgy ballads that used to anchor Black Keys albums in the band's new, sugar-heavy music.
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Dec 6, 2011El Camino is the Keys' grandest pop gesture yet, augmenting dark-hearted fuzz blasts with sleekly sexy choruses and Seventies-glam flair.
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Dec 5, 2011More than any other Black Keys album, El Camino is an outright party, playing like a collection of 11 lost 45 singles, each one having a bigger beat or dirtier hook than the previous side.
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Dec 5, 2011It's meat-and-potatoes blues-rock topped with something sweeter, and it's the most consistent thing these guys have ever cooked up.
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Dec 5, 2011Despite their faults, The Black Keys do have something to offer the world in terms of reliable, entertaining garage rock. Just don't expect innovation.
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Dec 5, 2011As easy as it is to get hung up on how similar El Camino sounds compared to Brothers and even parts of Attack & Release, there are instances which set this effort apart from their past work.
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Dec 5, 2011El Camino is yet another ear-pleasing installment in the catalog of a consistently impressive band.
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Dec 5, 2011Too late for those album of the year polls?
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Dec 5, 2011There isn't a bad song in the bunch, nor a moment to relax until you've ingested El Camino in full.
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Dec 2, 2011Maybe their tightest, most replayable album yet.
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Dec 2, 2011The Black Keys have created a record that they believe is how a rock'n'roll record should sound, but without soul or sex or genuine sweet emotion.
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Dec 1, 2011They sound like a band who think they've made the year's best rock'n'roll album, probably because that's exactly what they've done.
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Dec 1, 2011Each track has a timeless quality, as suited to a Seventies mid-west saloon as a students' indie disco.
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Nov 30, 2011There's an urgency and drive about these tracks that's simply exhilarating.
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Nov 30, 2011They've teamed up with longtime producer Danger Mouse to do what they do best.
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Nov 30, 2011On El Camino, mariachi, C&W, gospel, psych rock, blues and soul all mash together into a warm and occasionally dazzling torrent; their appeal is less in fresh sounds as fresh composites of old ones, wrapped around classically dusty tales of errant womenfolk and addiction to love.
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Nov 29, 2011Down and dirty, it grooves by on soulful power chords and Carney's relentless hammering of his kit.
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Nov 29, 2011In revving so hard, though, the Black Keys have perhaps left behind in the dust the subtleties that made Brothers such an intriguing ride.
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Nov 29, 2011The trick to El Camino is how steady it runs; whereas past left turns have been distractions, this is what happens when the pedal is floored.
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Nov 29, 2011Gone are the prior albums' "tasteful" (i.e., boring) slow-burners; El Camino's 38 minutes are pure thrust.
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Nov 29, 2011Produced by man of the moment, Danger Mouse, the sound remains unmistakably Black Keys but adds further dimensions to what is already a winning mix.
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MojoMay 31, 2012It's never just meat and potatoes. It's more like eating bone marrow in a fashionable restaurant - earthy, carnivorous but still beautifully designed and knowingly conceptualized. [Jan 2012, p.88]
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Kerrang!Jan 3, 2012This is a rip-roaring, multi-faceted rock fest. [17 Dec 2011, p.52]
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Q MagazineDec 21, 2011This is unvarnished rock, primal and exhilarating, songs groaning with their abundance of great hooks, suggesting that El Camino may well prove to be the pair's definitive records. [Jan. 2012 p. 116]
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UncutDec 12, 2011El Camino feels like the dawn of greatness. [Jan 2012, p.76]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 264 out of 284
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Mixed: 12 out of 284
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Negative: 8 out of 284
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Dec 6, 2011
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Dec 7, 2011
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Dec 7, 2011