The Black Keys Come Up In a Big Way (ISYMIYSMY W/O)
Written: Jun 08 '03 (Updated Jun 08 '03)
Product Rating:
Pros: The blues, down and dirty, with style
Cons: Muddy production and overall simplicity might be offputting to some
The Bottom Line: Fantastic, dirty as hell, and nothing even close to anything I thought I'd like. My highest recommendation to anyone not scared of the blues.
shilmafone's Full Review: The Big Come Up by The Black Keys
So I'm feeling a little guilty.
See, most excellent Mr. Rock 'n Roll MattA75 set up this here writeoff thingy, and it looked like an excellent chance for me to be exposed to something new while exposing someone else to some excellent music. Well, it didn't quite work out that way--I got paired with JennJoy, a writer that I respect very much, and I sent her an album that she didn't get much out of. She, in turn, sent me The Black Keys' The Big Come Up, an album that has pretty much changed my views on what modern music can be. This isn't the first time this has happened--a couple years ago, KidHendrix sent me frigging Pet Sounds, and I sent him Autechre's Amber, an album that he could have done without when all was said and done. I'm starting to think my partners in these writeoffs are getting a raw deal, because I get killer stuff, and they get albums they'd just as soon never have heard.
Ah well. I vow to send a five-star album next time around, OK?
All guilt aside, The Big Come Up is a killer album. I have to admit, when I saw what Ms. Joy sent me, I was a bit skeptical, as I've seen comparisons between the Black Keys and the White Stripes (thanks to the guitars-drums-vocals structure of the band), and I could pretty much do without the White Stripes ("Seven Nation Army" is boring the hell out of me these days). Plus, I've never really been one for the blues, and JennJoy's review of The Big Come Up made no bones about the fact that the blues are all over this album. So much for preconceptions.
If you've ever played the piano, you know about the black keys. You see, when you start playing the piano, you stick pretty exclusively with the white keys. The white keys are the biggest and the easiest to play, and you can play some pretty good songs with only the white keys to play with. After a while, though, you need more. The black keys are those mysterious entities on the keyboard, never touched, the mystifying keys that you just know will lead to new worlds of melody and harmony. There's a certain "cool" about the black keys, just as there's a certain "cool" about The Black Keys. When you listen to The Big Come Up, you can't help but be amazed at how swell it can sound when it's all been done before. Blues riffs on electric guitars, percussion for the sake of percussion, and a vocalist that sounds like he's been there, if you catch me. At the very least, it's a hell of a lot more convincing than the nasal whines of Jack White....but enough with the White Stripes potshots, let's get down to business here.
My tendency with music reviews of late is to give you a track-by-track rundown. On a CD like this, that would be little more than an exercise in redundancy. The whole CD is the blues, the songs are all around two or three minutes long, the production is dirty as hell, and they're all catchy head-noddin' tunes that don't get boring for a second of their short lengths. As such, I'll stick with the highlights, the most noteworthy of which is a cover of The Beatles' "She Said, She Said" that The Black Keys make their own, to the point where I probably wouldn't even have realized it was a Beatles song if I hadn't read JennJoy's review. "Them Eyes" has some of my favorite lyrics of the bunch, combined with some classic blues riffs. Here's a sample:
Hey, can't you see me cryin'
Hey, don't you see me dyin'
When I look into them eyes...
Great stuff, classic blues.
"Do the Rump", besides sporting the best title on the album, is down-and-dirtier than most on the album, and that's an accomplishment in itself. The guitars drown in distortion, but that just adds to the grimy feel that is the trademark of this album. "Countdown" is more cheerful than most, thanks to some more fantastic guitar work. "240 Years Before Your Time" eschews vocals in favor of a narrator talking about things like the origin and age of the earth in front of even more fantastic guitar work. Seeing a pattern yet? Those guitars are the center of the album, the things that everything else here exists to support. They're simply wonderful. Finally, there's a bonus track that's basically more jamming over the beat of "240 Years Before Your Time"--a pretty nifty little something, even if you do have to fast-forward nearly twenty minutes to get to it.
I could get into the groovy beat and seasoned vocals of "Heavy Soul" or the languid pace of "Brooklyn Bound", but I think you've got the idea at this point. If I were you (which, granted I'm not) and I wanted to get a taste of this album (which I definitely would), I'd download "Them Eyes". If you like it, and you will, I'd check out the whole album. I can't believe that The Big Come Up is the Black Keys' debut--they sound like they've been around for 20 years at least! I can't wait to find out what direction they take on their more recent album Thickfreakness.
Thank you JennJoy, you've made me a fan.
To check out other reviews in this nifty-keen writeoff (and don't lie, you know you want to), check out the entries from the following pairings:
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