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 - tastier each listenExcellent record full of creative arrangements & great production. Songs are delightful and dynamic. This well-balanced band ROCKS live and provides a perfect vehicle for J.White's compelling tendencies. I smell a Grammy nomination. Enjoy in abundance! Rating: - It doesn't get much better than this.Simply put, this is one of the best albums I have heard in years. It is excellent the first time you hear it and it gets better everytime after that. Maybe it's Jack White, maybe it's all of them combined, but if you are a fan of good solid music, you will love this. Buy it, you won't be disappointed. Rating: - phenomenalKeeping it simple: This is literally one of my favorite albums I have ever owned. It's amazing. Rating:  - I like it less every listen..First of all I want to say that I love most of what Jack White has released, and also Broken Boy Soldiers is one of my favorite albums in my collection. I've listened to this album in it's entirety about 10-15 times, and I'm done trying to like it, it's just plain boring. It starts out strong and gets worse and worse with every song. It does have some interesting parts, some things musically I have never heard before, and it is all right compared to other music out there right now, but to me it's a failure. The upbeat songs sound like they're trying to rock out, but aren't hard enough to be powerful, they comes off weak and monotonous. The slow songs just drag by. It seems to me Raconteurs (and Jack White's other work as well) sound the worst when they try to do country western, mediocre on the mariachi influenced songs, and best when they do experimental rock/blues. The title track is killer, though.. It also happens to be the only track that sounds like it could have been on Broken Boy Soldiers. B.B.S. blows my away every time I listen to it, I even have to cut myself off from it so I don't get sick of it. Rating:  - Second album from the Raconteurs deliversJack White (or should I say Jack White III, as he is billed on this album) is one busy man, keeping things going between the White Stripes and the Brendan Benson co-lead Raconteurs. After the band's 2006 "Broken Toy Soldiers" poppy-sounding album, the band now returns with this. "Consolers of the Lonely" (14 tracks; 56 min.) starts off with the White Stripes-sounding title track, which I love. But it's immediately clear that when the next track ("Salute Your Solution") plays that the band is after a more expansive musical pallet, and to great effect. That said, I don't get into "The Switch and the Spur" at all, with a trumpet overplay, same with "Many Shades of Black". But "Hold Up" rocks hard! Other highlights for me include "Attention", an all-out rocker, and the closer "Carolina Drama". A great album all around, even if a bit overlong at 56 min. Cut a couple of the weaker tracks and we're talking 4.5 stars. The evolution/departure from "Broker Toy Soldiers" is quite remarkable and impressive. I saw the Raconteurs deliver a blistering set at Bonnaroo a few months ago, and let there be no mistake, this is Jack White's band, sorry Brendan. Can't wait to see how Jack will keep the balancing act going between the White Stripes and the Raconteurs.
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