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"Broken Boy Soldiers" lacked tunes like these, tunes with considerable weight, and these songs turn Consolers of the Lonely into a lop-sided, bottom-loaded album that's better and richer than their debut.
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There are blunders ("Attention," "You Don't Understand Me"), but Lonely consoles with the strongest and most diverse album from any of these raconteurs in years.
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BlenderThe introductory kiddie voice and opening guitar scrape establish this second album as White's show; mariachi-style brass fanfare, Appalachian-hoedown fiddling and plenty of Roman-candle solos soon follow. [June 2008, p.76]
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Not content to merely shake up the music industry by releasing Consolers with only one week's advance notice, the Raconteurs have also had the nerve to drop a near-classic album.
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What keeps Consolers of the Lonely from being an outright shit affair is, predictably, the assembled chops of its musicians, a group never so much fussy as amicable, wide-eyed about the righteous licks and insensitive tempo shifts they solder together so tightly.
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Great fun to record, no doubt, and probably great live, but an annoying conceit on record.
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Consolers of the Lonely is often grotesquely overblown despite moments of genuine excitement.
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The result is neither refined nor especially modern, but it still evokes the thrill of playing hooky on a Friday afternoon.
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Jack White’s bit on the side return with an accomplished and musically diverse second album.
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With plenty of talent, the Raconteurs have a unique sound; they only need to spend more time trimming it down.
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White's second fling with The Raconteurs is quite the party, and perhaps one that may leave Meg a bit jealous.
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A notable progression from the foursome, and plenty of huge riffs to enjoy at the summer festivals.
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It’s a much more musically diverse album than the Raconteurs have done before, but there are many more misses than hits among these 14 tracks.
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Consolers of the Lonely is heftier than its predecessor, both in its Led Zep-go-garage wig-outs and in its cosmic balladeering.
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while one can easily imagine smoke machines spurting during many of the album's 13 other tracks, there is no irony in the mix. Just fun.
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Whether it was intended or not, White's personality sometimes overwhelms, and makes Consolers sound like a little sibling to Icky Thump--a little less unique, certainly, but another loose, comfortable affirmation of what they do well.
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Consolers is a labored album, the product of much studio tinkering and a desperate need for the band to prove themselves as a “serious” outfit.
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With Consolers of the Lonely, the Raconteurs are still content to play record-collection plunderers, but instead of ripping what they can from the '60s, they spend much of the album as twenty-first-century stand-ins for Grand Funk Railroad, Blue Oyster Cult and Three Dog Night, playing big, limp, calculated rock 'n’ roll.
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Overall, Consolers feels less like a project and more like a jam session. But it's fun to watch White make things up as he goes along.
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Consolers of the Lonely, despite its surprise entrance, is predictably pleasing, a fine collection of shit-kicking rock n' roll just varied and experimental enough to sound original and unbored.
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But too often, the Raconteurs' love of twisty, monolithic rock gives way to bombast that teeters between homage and parody.
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Sometimes The Raconteurs' competence and professionalism get in the way of their fieriness, particularly in moments that sound like a White Stripes album given a coat of '70s AOR polish.
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The Raconteurs establish a firm, emotionally charged identity of their own when White finally takes a back seat to Brendan Benson.
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The Raconteurs are singing, more often than not, about desperate characters. But that desperation only makes the crunch of the music more euphoric.
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UncutTwice as long as the band's debut, it's also more than doubly assured. [June 2008, p.99]
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Under The RadarMost of the album is in second person, and it’s another way that Consolers of the Lonely isolates the audience. The lonely are far from consoled; they’re made to feel uninvited to a fantastic party. [Summer 2008]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 105 out of 117
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Mixed: 9 out of 117
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Negative: 3 out of 117
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Nov 9, 2012
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Apr 10, 2012
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Feb 14, 2012