A to Z
THE BLACK KEYS
El Camino (reissue, 2011) NONESUCH
7/10
10th anniversary reissue, with orchestra of bells and whistles
El Camino, The Black Keys’ seventh album, was a product of exhaustion, made in the time a road-knackered Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney bought themselves time by cancelling a tour they couldn’t face. The strength of the album was that it sounded quite the opposite. Produced and co-written by Danger Mouse, El Camino is a largely upbeat and even joyful album, the sound of musicians reminding themselves why they wanted to make music in the first place. The giddy glam rockabilly of “Gold On The Ceiling” and “Run Right Back” are indeed excellent reasons. El Camino is also, in its way, a resignation to imminent mega-stardom: the songs sound written like they’d be fun to play, a lot, to large crowds. The pick of the bonuses available with this reissue – a previously unreleased concert in Portland, Maine – confirms that this was the case.
Extras: 7/10. Vary with format, but super-deluxe edition also includes liner notes by David Fricke, photo book, poster, lithograph, and “new car scent” air-freshener.
ANDREW MUELLER
COME
Don’tAskDon’tTell (reissue, 1994) FIRE
8/10
Grinding guitar power and redemption on remastered, expanded second
Come’s ’90s rep was for crushingly heavy blues, a bleak beauty admired by sympathetic spirit Kurt Cobain. There’s certainly as much gravitational pull as velocity to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, but it works on a wide emotional canvas, offering balm with its blues. Borrowing its title from the US military’s then policy for gay recruits, its songs are havens for outsiders under unspecified threat. “Yr Reign” has calibrated, tidal intensity, but is followed by the warm, soft interludes of “Poison”. “Let’s Get Lost” nods to wasted Chet Baker, but its suspended, narcotic ecstasy has a reason: “’Cos I love you/...’Cos they’ve found us/’Cos we’re found out”. “German Song”, mysterious and melancholy, offers more refugee promises, before the music rises up, breaking against limits. Thalia Zadek’s husky voice rarely roars, instead offering gravelly comfort. These waves of music wash you clean. A second album’s worth of B-sides and demos that almost equals the original.
