The Black Keys - thickfreakness

The Black Keys are a guitar/drum duo attempting to revive garage rock. Comparisons to that other duo who is sweeping the nation will hence forth decease. Where the Black Keys separate themselves from the pack is in their soulful roots. They draw much more heavily on blues, and even some jazz, than any throwback band of the last few years. Listening to the album, I am reminded of an old music industry anecdote. When Tom Jones first tried to conquer America he was booking radio station appearances and got called by a very predominantly black radio station. Tom’s agent questioned why they wanted to invite Tom and in response they expressed their desire to meet the soulful singer. His agent kindly quipped, “You know Tom is white right?” The radio station just laughed and said “Yeah right! No white boy can sing like that!” Or so the story goes. Such is the case with The Black Keys, and they know it, tongue-in-cheek or not. The album cover for thickfreakness is a simple picture of a black hand dipping its fingers into a tin of very white cream. The colored hand making itself look white and the tin reading the band and album name. Listening to “Hard Row”, “Have Love Will Travel” and “If You See Me” you would never believe that voice belongs to a white, Jared Leto pretty, white boy. The album reads like a deep-South novel of sound. You can almost see the swamps and the sweat dripping from the guitar player’s forehead as they wail about lost love, the cruelty of life, and the mystery that is the blues. In these days of ProTools and studio magic, you can fake a lot on a record, but you can’t fake soul. There is no dial in the studio next to the treble and the bass that can inject pain and passion into a voice or into a sound. Part blues, part jazz, part rock, but all heartfelt. Theirs isn’t a sound that is going to make them radio stars or platinum artists, but it is the sound the will keep rock alive. The soul to make a guitar sound like it is weeping and make you feel like you just had your heart broken. The Black Keys have put together an enjoyable record that deserves its applause. [www.theblackkeys.com]