Is it any surprise that the last three Black Keys albums have been their most accomplished considering the fact that producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse has had a hand in all three? Even though he only helped with a single track on 2010’s Brothers, “Tighten Up” was an effortless highlight of an already excellent album. Danger Mouse has always had a good taste for collaborators; be they Cee Lo Green (Gnarls Barkley), Beck, Gorillaz, or Jack White (on DM’s Rome). He brings with him an auteur’s aesthetic that had become his aural signature. His penchant for psychedelic soul goes hand in hand with The Black Key’s muscular garage rock sensibilities. This partnership of kindred spirits has yielded El Camino, a peerless album in a year already filled with excellence.
The album’s first single, “Lonely Boy”, leaps straight out of the gate on a strong foot, complete with a goofy retro music video. Even for a band who have a reputation for making catchy-as-hell songs, “Lonely Boy” is in a league of its own. An elastic guitar riff bounces along with a euphoric organ and swinging Merseybeat drums. It is a fantastic distillation of 60s rock into the modern day. Often when an album opens so strongly, you have to wonder how the band intends to carry on that momentum. El Camino, it turns out, is stuffed full of these playful songs. There are literally too many excellent songs to mention. “Gold on the ceiling” sounds like an authentic relic from some 1969 compilation, like the darling sweaty bastard child of The Animals and Canned Heat. You literally cannot go five minutes without encountering an absolute barnstormer. Just try and listen to “Run Right Back” without developing a serious case of shimmy and a shake in your dancing shoes. It rides a guitar line that would make Keith Richards proud as punch. Even the quiet, contemplative numbers like “Little Black Submarines” are heavy in their own way. This does cause a few minor problems though. On any other album “Money Maker” or “Sister” would be considered an excellent song but on El Camino they suffer from being put between two even better songs.
El Camino clocks in at a tasteful 38 minutes; long enough to get your money’s worth, but not so long as to be tedious and full of filler songs. This carefully chosen brevity makes you hungry for more which is the sign of an excellent album. You always want to keep the people coming back for another helping. And who can blame them? I cannot recall the last time I heard an album with so many killer guitar riffs that make you want to get your James Brown on. Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney have hit an exceptional mid-career stride that many would kill for. With rumours of more solo albums to come and even another Blakroc hip-hop album in the works, the future is certainly bright for this endearing pair of jokers.
Rating: A+
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