El Camino Review

EL CAMINO

The Black Keys

2011

Nonesuch

Prod. by Danger Mouse, The Black Keys

If you’re not familiar with The Black Keys, you probably ought to be. Their retro-garage inspiration almost exposes an alternate rock history; in The Black Keys' lexicon, The Rolling Stones beat The Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival beat Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Doors beat Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin crushed Queen and Black Sabbath, and grunge never really caught on. This alternate history comes across as especially inspiring because The Black Keys’ records are filled with a lot more of the classic raw energy that rock music used to carry. Whether they're mucking up rock tracks on their album Thickfreakness or layering southern ballads with sweet, sticky sweat on Brothers, The Black Keys seem to be filled with the playfulness and unrefined creativity that really allows us to see some absolutely brilliant work.

El Camino is no exception, and that becomes clear extremely quickly. Here, The Black Keys seem to have taken a lot more inspiration from classic punk albums, with inspiration from The Ramones showing bright as day. The album was supposedly inspired by an inability to play some of the slower songs from Brothers on tour; as a result, aside from a couple tracks, El Camino is a largely uptempo album.

The pacing on El Camino is largely better than that of Brothers; El Camino certainly feels like an exercise in all-killer, no-filler, and that makes this new effort eminently listenable. Gone are swampy ballads, instrumentals, and other iconic highlights of Brothers; this is definitely a classic rock album that takes elements of punk to their logical evolutions. Some overproduction happens on a few of the tracks; notably, "Gold on the Ceiling" is an excellent ZZ-Top based blues track that is initially mired by an overly-insistent and shrill synth line. But ultimately, this is an example of smart songwriting, and many tracks are joyful reminders of days of yore. The Black Keys are excellent performers, too, and it shows through; they are simply a tightly-knit act. I quickly found myself singing along to the album’s highlights.

For some, one great track in particular might hit a little too close to their nostalgia. "Little Black Submarines" is a nearly-litigious "homage" to Zeppelin's epic "Stairway to Heaven." I expect it will be the conversational piece of the album, with "Lonely Boy" and "Dead And Gone" being far and away fan favorites. I'm almost positive that The Black Keys expect us to be in on the joke; it fits into the same track slot as "Howlin' For You," a song that prominently features a near-identical drum line to the iconic "Rock & Roll (Part 2)," and the extremes the joke is taken to make the track a great laugh for those willing to go along for the ride. The Black Keys also clearly based "Tighten Up" (the lead single from Brothers) off "Under My Thumb;" what I mean to say is that this is not a new practice. Those who have always found it entertaining will continue to enjoy the joke, while those who never found it to be an "in-joke" will probably be up in arms. As far as I know, however, this has always been the path rock songs have been based upon; surely it's written somewhere that Cream's "Strange Brew" is based upon a Buddy Guy song with the same structure, right?

Ultimately, though, this in-joke attitude does lead to some weaknesses in the album. Similar to their other albums, it becomes difficult often to describe what makes The Black Keys special without making reference to classic rock acts that, ultimately, are still a little bit better than The Black Keys. El Camino still stands out as a great album, but it's certainly no revelation for the genre. And while they have managed to avoid the filler that made its way onto Brothers, none of its songs from El Camino are as strong as the best from its predecessor, and they have still frontloaded El Camino with its best material. While it might be nice to see The Black Keys experiment more or restructure their albums, El Camino is more great work, and its uptempo pace makes it a fun listen top to bottom.

4/5

Highlights: "Lonely Boy", "Dead And Gone", "Little Black Submarines", "Sister"
Missed Opportunities: "Money Maker", "Hell Of A Season", "Stop Stop"

CATALOG CHOICE: Brothers, Thickfreakness

NEXT STOP: The Clash, "London Calling"

AFTER THAT: Led Zeppelin, "Led Zeppelin IV"