Saturday, January 17, 2009

BEST OF '08: THE RACONTEURS' CONSOLERS OF THE LONELY

I loved The Raconteurs' Consolers Of The Lonely when I first heard it, and I love it even more now. I don't know if I prefer it to their debut, Broken Boy Soldiers, or if I prefer them to Jack White's other band, The White Stripes. (I do think that they are better live, though.) I have been writing a lot of these "BEST OF '08" entries, but if I could only pick a short list of favorite albums of the year, this one would probably be in the top 5. I also loved the band's "Old Enough" single, which featured a new bluegrass version of the song with bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs and bluegrass newcomer Ashley Monroe (there's also a guest-less bluegrass version of "Top Yourself," my favorite song from the album). You should really check that out. I'm looking forward to their upcoming collaboration with Adele. And one of my favorite songs of the '08 was Jack's collaboration with Alicia Keys, "Another Way To Die" from the new 007 flick, despite the fact that lots of people HATE it.

I hope The Raconteurs will be an ongoing project for a long time, although I don't think we'll hear much from them in '09: Jack usually switches off between his bands, and The White Stripes are rumored to be co-headlining Coachella. And I've even heard that he wants to start another new project. That should be interesting, but I hope he doesn't overextend himself.

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