Lonely together

Reading the reviews accompanying each Raconteurs album, it’s hard not to feel a bit sorry for Brendan Benson. A fairly successful solo artist in his own right, Benson is half of the Raconteurs’ songwriting team. Based on both interviews of the band and a familiarity with its musical family tree (that is, the work of Benson, co-writer Jack White’s White Stripes, as well as rhythm section Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence’s Greenhornes) – it’s clear that his input is essential to the band’s sound. And yet, every Raconteurs album, critics ask: “What does this say about Jack White?”

While it would be fruitless to try to break any given Raconteurs release down into how much came from Benson compared with White, this fixation on White has skewed critics’ perceptions away from what’s actually on the record. As with the Raconteurs’ debut, the line on Consolers has been “it’s the crazy ideas that White couldn’t do with the White Stripes.”

But a comparison of Consolers to the last two Stripes albums shows that this simply isn’t true. Consolers’ “out there” moments – the Ennio Morricone/Led Zeppelin fusion “The Switch and the Spur” and the Southern gothic murder ballad “Carolina Drama” – aren’t nearly as far a break from their sound as, for example, the Stripes’ mariachi-influenced “Conquest” or ill-considered psychedelic bagpipe experiment “St. Andrews (This Battle Is In The Air)” on Icky Thump.

This brings us back to Benson. In his solo career, Benson made a name for himself as a power-pop traditionalist – a craftsman more than an innovator; his albums are more about polished hooks and carefully structured songs than new musical ideas. And this carries over to Consolers, which is more a loving homage to Zeppelin, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Big Star than a bold artistic statement.
But, for what it lacks in originality, Consolers generally makes up for in quality. The band is in top form, White and Benson’s songs are solid; after all, they’re stealing from the very best. The Raconteurs’ album is basically “Guitar Hero” for actual guitar heroes – and it’s hard not to get swept up in the fun.