Consolers of the Lonely

That's the name of the new album from The Raconteurs. Aside from the news about its early release and the band's decision not to release any preview copies, I haven't heard a single thing about it since it came out. No reviews, no MP3s floating around. Nothin. I meant to pick it up right away -- given how much I adore their first album and the individual work of all of the band's members. But since record stores don't exist around me anymore, it took a while.

So today I finally put it in for a spin. Remember how the first album was a wonderfully lo-fi approach to 70's-inspired rock and blues? Well this is just like that! Except, minus the wonderful or lo-fi parts. Basically, The Raconteurs have released an Aerosmith album. It's overdone, it's unoriginal, and I honestly can't figure out what the hell these guys were thinking. Maybe I should have listened to it more than once before writing about it, but lordy. This album is a real disappointment.