WRITE YOUR 1ST LISTEN REVIEW OF THE LAZARETTO ALBUM

[chaptertwentyone]

You lead one charmed life, my friend.

[knoxvle]

1) Aside from "High Ball Stepper" & "Lazaretto" what's your favorite song? Woudl you fight for my love

2) If you had to edit one song out, what would that song be? If I had to maybe Want and Able - why not finish on a strong note?

3) If Blunderbuss was rated a 10 out of 10, what do you rate Lazaretto? 15 - I was disappointed by Blunderblerch. This sounds more like Jack's comfortable and having a bit of fun with what he's doing

Finally got a chance to log back in here read the Lazaretto reviews from the week and I sit in amazement reading the diverse reviews.
Luke, your review is EXACTLY what my review was before I made a last second change. Since we're all geeking out:

The opening verse of Would You Fight For My Love is AMAZING. I favor that clean-crystal-clear vocal delivery in all music–without instrumentations distracting it.
I thought the second verse would go back to that same vocal delivery style, you know, like The Beatles "Let It Be".
But after the chorus part–there's that backing vocal thing going on and his singing style changes.
Still great, but for me, less would have been more in this song. Would have loved for the entire song to have that same delicate/sensitive vocal delivery as the first verse has.
Because of that, I chose "Alone In My Home" as my favorite. The message gets across in this song–in vivid clarity. This song brightens up the album.

If you look at Want & Able as just a track, then I can see where you're coming from since all the songs on the album beat this out in my book.
But if you look at it as "The Closer". It's the PERFECT ending in my book. And Jack is the master of album closers.
Some of his best closers:

Southern Can
I'm Lonely But I Ain't That Lonely Yet
It's True That We Love One Another
Effect & Cause
Carolina Drama
Take Me with You When You Go
Want & Able

Want & Able fits perfectly on that list. So I'll fight you on that LUKE!!!
I gave Lazaretto 13 out of 10
You gave it 15 out of 10

Since we agree so effortlessly, we should deal records together some day.

look who came out of hiding!
Good to see you on here my friend.

[scoliosispony]

Played my vault record today for the first listen. I like it. I think it'll grow on me more. It's a sad album at heart.

[Alabama Woody]

Listening to a record with no compression is a beautiful thing when I crank up the wattage it's like being there !!!

[chaptertwentyone]

Fresh off my first listen through and I love it.
Folky, twangy, heavy, beautiful, tragic, all these words and more.
Oh, and I knew from the second the track listing leaked "That Black Bat Licorice" would be my favorite.

[Alabama Woody]

Love it !

[joeybuckets1]

Does anyone having a problem with first track on side 2, just one drink ? At the first chorus when he sings just one drink it's like a hiccup? Is that because of the 2 different intros?

[scoliosispony]

Does anyone else think the ultra LP aspects are important parts of this as an album? The b-side label track at the end in particular makes me think of this as a sad album about coping with loneliness and self-imposed imprisonment. A lot of it is really sad, and some parts sound like a middle finger to Karen Elson (Lazaretto especially). The blue is a lighter shade and it reminds me of tear drops.

It's like there's this ambivalence from Jack about facing the realities of having had children he loves to death with a person he's now at odds with. Being alone in his mansion with all this career success but then not always having family around is what sticks with me. And the idea that he used a lot of material from age 19 (probably written after a breakup), and here he is at 38 now having lived a big part of his dream but still heartbroken like that 19 year old again.

Playing the album itself, it's like he's begging you to listen to it end to end (and repeatedly) with all the features. He really wants everyone to connect with it on vinyl. That's the constant in his life: always having music you can put on when you're alone, happy music that speaks to your happiness or sad music that speaks to your sadness, and reminds you that you aren't alone in feeling alone and being alone, and lifts you up even if it doesn't heal your wounds. It's like it licks them or tends to them to the best of it's ability, but you're greatful because it's there for you. And from 19 to 38 (or really your whole life) it can always be there for you when you need it in a way that you can't rely on anything else to be there for you.

Listening to it reminded me about what made me fall in love with vinyl. I thought about my second record, Abbey Road. I'd heard it before, but the first time I heard She's So Heavy go swoosh and then cut off after the jammy part at the end, and then I flipped the album over and heard Here Comes the Sun, I realized that was how I was supposed to hear those songs, and it made me feel closer to the music. I've been obsessed with vinyl since then, and I feel like if Jack could've gotten away with only releasing this on vinyl, he would have. He wants people to bond with the album when they're alone, so it'll be something that's there for them, like so many albums have been there for him and so many of us. There's something magic that hits you when you see songs that you love dearly spin under a needle, and when you have a valued artifact that you have to take care of. If you take care of it, it will take care of you. Maybe that's the message he wants to pass on because when we lose things we love it's often because we don't tend to them properly.

[Alabama Woody]

Well said

[woodisgood]

I have to include my 1st listen thoughts with my second and third listen thougths: 1st listen, side one to me was absolute perfection. Side two is more "mellow" but still held my interest until the last three songs, which somehow fell short for me. Definitely not as strong a three-song punch ending as Blunderbuss has.

But now those last three songs are totally growing on me, and damn, what a fantastic album, truly impressive and warrants multiple listens. I said it before and I'll say it again: "Will You Fight for My Love?" is without a doubt one of Jack's greatest songs. I totally turned my opinion around on "HBS" and frankly every song on this side is wonderful—what a kick-ass side!!

>>"Maybe that's the message he wants to pass on because when we lose things we love it's often because we don't tend to them properly."<<

I would amend this with: Maybe when we lose people we love, it's often because we didn't properly tend to each other.

I'm beginning to think this is JW's electric Blood on the Tracks . . .

[anonymousbrunette]

I haven't listened yet. I've skipped over the digital tracks in my queue. I've avoided this thread. I'm plowing through a stack of vinyl and its no closer than three nights away.

I've missed two shows and people keep opining on the "best musical experience of my life!" ITS EATING AT ME

Anyway, NPR has an opinion here http://www.npr.org/2014/06/10/320729401 ... t=20140610. The gist? Isolation.

[Kali Durga]

Ara, you need to set aside that stack of vinyl and make this one a priority. And then you need to get a ticket to the Merriweather Post show and any others you can.

[polkadot]

Lordy Lord. I love this record.

1. Three Women is my current favorite but my favorites tend to change over time.
2. Entitlement
3. 15/10

I really love Alone In My Home but think the version on the 7 inch is better. I like the simplicity of it and even the way the two voices are a bit off time from each other. Sounds so personal and emotional.

What beautiful pictures he can paint with his lyrics.

This record has everything I love about Jack's music... emotion, strong lyrics, variety of musical genres, and killer guitar.

[KNARF]

There's something magic that hits you when you see songs that you love dearly spin under a needle, and when you have a valued artifact that you have to take care of. If you take care of it, it will take care of you. Maybe that's the message he wants to pass on because when we lose things we love it's often because we don't tend to them properly.

WHAT AN AMAZING REVIEW!!!
BRAVO scoliosispony!!!

Since you referenced the greatest band of all time, another way of putting it is:

"The love you take is equal to the love you make"

-The Beatles

[IamFrank007]

I had only heard "High Ball Stepper" and "Lazaretto" on my MacBook. I was waiting to spin the vinyl and crank the shit out of my stereo....
First listen... I fucking hate it... Sounds like that crying twangy old country crap I can't stomach... What has the" South" done to my beloved Jack White?
It's time to head back up "North", get a drummer ,a bass player,and your crappy old Airline and spend a week in a garage getting back to your true "Roots"
I will try to stomach a few more listens, but I don't think my OPINION will change..
That's my review