Monday, May 17, 2010

The Black Keys -- Brothers

I'm conflicted on this one. There's a great, great ten-song album here. Unfortunately, Brothers contains fifteen songs. I like the straightahead blues and garage rock tunes. It's what The Black Keys do best, and this is a nice return to form after the willful detours of the past couple years. I even like the glam moves, a la T. Rex. But the psychedelic flourishes, and the ersatz Tom Jones lounge music of "The Only One" and "Too Afraid to Love You"? What's new pussycat, whoa, whoa, whoa? No, hell no. Take away the missteps and you have a fine, tight album. But as it is, it's a mess.

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