Just to make sure there are no misunderstandings of my opinion on this album, let me be clear; No matter what kind of music you’re into, no matter what kind of music you hate…You should go out and buy this album right now. On your way home, stop at the liquor store (preferably not inside a Walgreen’s) and buy a bottle of whiskey. Extra points if it’s “Kentucky Fighting Cock.” Just make sure you poor one for Muddy too.
The Black Keys debut release “The Big Come Up” has the kind of grit, soul and raw emotion you’d expect to find listening to an artist with 40 years of experience behind them. Yet this Akron Ohio based twosome, assure us that this is only the beginning. 22 year old Dan Auerbach’s guitar sounds like it was purchased at a garage sale in downtown Chicago 20 years ago, and submerged in swamp-water until now. His part Motown, part Greg Allman voice matches perfectly with an equally crunching tone and Patrick Carney’s drumming kicks in proving that this low-fi two man operation can beat the shit out of anything this side of the delta. Auerbach traveled to Mississippi (that’s blues for Mecca) and studied with the great T-Model Ford (while sleeping on the floor of his roach infested shack.) and on the album pays tribute to another Fat Possum artist/legend, Junior Kimbrough with “Do the Rump.” The group even successfully navigates the incredibly dangerous territory of Beatles covers with the Revolver classic “She Said, She Said.” Tracks are laced together with a sort of 1940’s educational film narrator, mixed in with an almost electronica sound that amazingly never takes away from the “duct tape is holding our instruments together” appeal of the band. Listening to the album I was reminded of Kim Thayil from Soundgarden’s comment some years back about the blues being a dead form of music, and boring. I wonder what Kim’s been doing these days…
Honestly if “The Big Come Up” doesn’t make your foot stomp, and your fingers tap out in rhythm, there’s something wrong with you; consult a physician. Sure the opening track “Busted” has a remarkably similar guitar rhythm as RL Burnside’s “Skinny Woman,” but this is the blues, and swappin’ bits n’ pieces of other folk’s songs into your own is basically a right of passage. There’s something wonderfully timeless about the album and indeed the only proof that this isn’t a lost classic from the late 60’s is the album cover and the fact that no record company would have ever sat on such a treasure-trove for so long.
The Black Keys are the antithesis of bubble gum boy bands (young white guys that don’t require dance routines or fireworks to get you ‘in the mood’) and quickly outclass and outshine the onslaught of impressive counterparts such as the White Stripes, the Hives and the Vines. In a world full of criminally bad music run by thugs like N’sync, American Idol, and Matchbox 20, the citizens have cried no more and the musical equivalent to Batman has emerged to save Gotham.
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