Nice Rac'

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LONG time listeners to my honest opinions will know that I really don't understand the stratospheric rise to the top of The White Stripes.

Sure, some of the songs are good, for example Blue Orchid and Fell In Love With A Girl, but for the most part I find them mediocre at best and tone deaf at worst.

However The Raconteurs are not just Jack White, so I approached their sophomore long player with open ears - and I'm glad I did, as said ears are still ringing with monstrous riff after monstrous riff.

Everything here is rooted in the rock and roll hall of fame, and although Jack White's trademark stop-start-stop-start composing is still in evidence, with Brendan Benson's 70s guitar licks filling in the gaps and a full rhythm section backing up you can see what White's songs sound like with meat on their bones.

And therefore the resulting Consoler Of The Lonely, although nothing new, is well worth becoming acquainted with.