Artist: The Dead Weather
Album: Horehound
Year: 2009
Grade: 3.5 pretzels
Being in a rock band is usually enough for most people, but it’s not enough for Jack White. He has to be in two or three. A few years ago, White announced that he was taking a brief rest from the White Stripes to form the Raconteurs and now, he’s gone and created a third band, the Dead Weather. This time, he’s partnered with Queens Of The Stone Age sideman Dean Fertita on guitar, mercenary bassist Jack Lawrence of the Raconteurs and singer Alison Mosshart of the Kills, leaving White himself handling the drums. Between these four members, the Dead Weather have a lot of hype to live up to.
Unfortunately, Horehound doesn’t fulfill a lot of that potential, at least on the opening tracks. The album begins with the limp blues of “60 Feet Tall”, which doesn’t seem to ever shift out of first gear, meaning that Horehound is losing momentum before it even starts. The following song (and lead single), “Hang You From The Heavens”, is more lively and exciting, but a bit on the repetitive side. The rest of the album’s first half is dedicated to dirty, bluesy hard rock, most of which is sadly aimless and wandering. Fertita’s time in Queens Of The Stone Age has clearly influenced the direction the Dead Weather are going in, with the fuzzy, gritty bass end and repetitive riffing, but they haven’t quite reached the Queens’ mastery of songwriting yet.
However, Horehound gets new life when it reaches the second half, making it the rare mainstream rock album that isn’t horribly frontloaded with the band’s best material. A savage Dylan cover (“New Pony”) leads into another vicious, paint-peeling rocker in the form of “Bone House”. Both of these songs showcase the power of Mosshart’s stellar rock-chick voice and persona, which any fan of the Kills would attest to. Meanwhile, the band cranks out some solid hard rock grooves, with squealing little guitar flourishes added to the mix. Even more interesting is the semi-instrumental “3 Birds”, which is a rolling, bass-driven experimental piece that sounds more complete and compelling than virtually everything else on the record. One last fiery rock song (“No Hassle Night”) and a lengthy, dark, bluesy duet between Mosshart and White (“Will There Be Enough Water?) conclude the album, ending Horehound on a very high note.
The most interesting thing about the Dead Weather for me is the backseat role Jack White takes. He is, by far, the most famous member of this supergroup and it’s his name that will attract most people to the Dead Weather’s music. However, by restraining himself to the roles of drummer, producer and sometimes-songwriter, he’s managed to keep his hands on the reins of power in the band without creating yet another group whose music sounds like rehashed White Stripes songs. Having Mosshart sing the lion’s share of the material on the album gives the Dead Weather a unique voice and there are many songs on the album that don’t credit White as a songwriter at all. Unlike the Raconteurs, Jack White’s presence in the Dead Weather hasn’t turned them into White Stripes 2.0 and, as soon as they can capitalize on the possibilities suggested by Horehound’s second half, they could be quite the awesome rock band.
Unfortunately, Horehound doesn’t fulfill a lot of that potential, at least on the opening tracks. The album begins with the limp blues of “60 Feet Tall”, which doesn’t seem to ever shift out of first gear, meaning that Horehound is losing momentum before it even starts. The following song (and lead single), “Hang You From The Heavens”, is more lively and exciting, but a bit on the repetitive side. The rest of the album’s first half is dedicated to dirty, bluesy hard rock, most of which is sadly aimless and wandering. Fertita’s time in Queens Of The Stone Age has clearly influenced the direction the Dead Weather are going in, with the fuzzy, gritty bass end and repetitive riffing, but they haven’t quite reached the Queens’ mastery of songwriting yet.
However, Horehound gets new life when it reaches the second half, making it the rare mainstream rock album that isn’t horribly frontloaded with the band’s best material. A savage Dylan cover (“New Pony”) leads into another vicious, paint-peeling rocker in the form of “Bone House”. Both of these songs showcase the power of Mosshart’s stellar rock-chick voice and persona, which any fan of the Kills would attest to. Meanwhile, the band cranks out some solid hard rock grooves, with squealing little guitar flourishes added to the mix. Even more interesting is the semi-instrumental “3 Birds”, which is a rolling, bass-driven experimental piece that sounds more complete and compelling than virtually everything else on the record. One last fiery rock song (“No Hassle Night”) and a lengthy, dark, bluesy duet between Mosshart and White (“Will There Be Enough Water?) conclude the album, ending Horehound on a very high note.
The most interesting thing about the Dead Weather for me is the backseat role Jack White takes. He is, by far, the most famous member of this supergroup and it’s his name that will attract most people to the Dead Weather’s music. However, by restraining himself to the roles of drummer, producer and sometimes-songwriter, he’s managed to keep his hands on the reins of power in the band without creating yet another group whose music sounds like rehashed White Stripes songs. Having Mosshart sing the lion’s share of the material on the album gives the Dead Weather a unique voice and there are many songs on the album that don’t credit White as a songwriter at all. Unlike the Raconteurs, Jack White’s presence in the Dead Weather hasn’t turned them into White Stripes 2.0 and, as soon as they can capitalize on the possibilities suggested by Horehound’s second half, they could be quite the awesome rock band.
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