Jack White has a lot to live up to on his first solo album. Granted, this isn’t an album that is going to please all the fans. If you’re looking for a series of White Stripes’ like tunes, or Raconteurs material, than you might as well walk away or change your expectations. If you were looking for more Dead Weather material you’d be wrong as well, instead, White puts forth the best representation of himself possible on record. A representation that is ultimately scatterbrained, blues heavy, and underwhelming at times.

White’s musical exploits over the last four years have been as spotty as his first solo release,  Blunderbuss. From his last album with the Raconteurs, to two with Dead Weather, and the subsequent break up of the White Stripes, White has been all over the musical and emotional spectrum. How can you not expect that to affect his music, and boy does it. But this album lives in the vein of blues, if only a modern take on it, and in similar fashion; it hearkens back to a time when blues musicians just recorded song after song after song, but never had the concept of what an album was, primarily because they didn’t exist.

Flash forward to now, or more specifically 2011. White’s original plan was to work with Wu-Tang Clan member RZA, but that session fell through. From there, he just said fuck it and went to town recording tracks for this release in a fashion that can only be described as pent up rage, coupled with multiple ideas all at once. Ideas that have translated to marketing as well as music. Many may remember a couple of weeks ago that Third Man Records released 1,000 balloons with a 45 of the track “Forever at 21” tied to them. Prior to that the only other promotion used was an appearance on Saturday Night Live, and the release of the less than stellar single “Love Interruption.”

The first track to kick off the album, “Missing Pieces” sets the listener up for what’s to come. The track opens with a piano that takes off into a slick groove. It then becomes a White Stripes style track that turns into the ultimate “what if” scenario involving the White Stripes and additional instrumentation. The song also features a guitar solo that starts in stereo and then kicks into mono, like it was a mistake that was never fixed. The track’s final lyrics sum of the song perfectly: “walk away, and take a part of you with them.”

“Forever at 21” is a bit redeeming, the anthemic stalker track that has a really catchy guitar part and driving drum rhythm. “Love Interruption” could have been a great track had it not been done on an acoustic guitar. The lyrics are creepy, and remind of that new Say Anything album, Anarchy, My Dear. The self-titled track is a bit of a change up, hitting a country note with a pedal steel guitar, but with a nice fusion of piano, an uncommon tool in the genre. He revisits the pedal steel again toward the end of the album on the track “On and on and on” which is as self reflective as “Blunderbuss” is. White’s interpretation of country is a bit slower, but caries the signature Jack White staples.

Of the tracks that underwhelm, “Trash Talk Boogie” feels too Stones-ish and hinders a song from becoming a really great track. “I’m Shakin'” is held back for White, but despite that riff that just doesn’t fit, he rocks it as best he can. “Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy” is a great song that deserves to be on a different album, bolstering an identity crisis, which is White’s real problem here.

What is a Jack White record? His struggle to find that out has lead to some interesting results, more hit than miss for sure. The non cohesive nature of the record isn’t a complete turn off; it’s nice to see White experimenting with new sounds that he’s never had the chance to explore. If this is the record that shows us what Jack White can do, than the next record should be this is how Jack White completely blew us away.

Album Rating: Stream It or Digitally Download It (Legally of Course)

Listening Co-efficient: Active Listen

“Sixteen Saltines” Review: http://teamhellions.com/2012/04/06/single-review-sixteen-saltines-by-jack-white/

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