The Black Keys – ‘Turn Blue’ Review
First of all, it’s not a good sign for any album when the first two times you’ve listened through it you can only remember one song that stands out from the bunch. Clearly this assignment was gonna need more than a few listens. So like a pro I’ve immersed myself in this thing the past few days. I’ve allowed myself to be sucked into the vortex of its abysmal cover (more on that later) and I’ve let it Turn me Blue. And now I’m just confused. It’s a hard one to peg down, this album. Obviously the case for most critics too, who’ve either panned or praised this thing from Indiana to Istanbul and back again. Me? I’m somewhere in-between.
Turn Blue is a fork in the road album for The Black Keys. By which I mean coming after the critical success of Brothers and the commercial success of El Camino, they had a decision to make. Do we continue to be the band that got us here by continuing to experiment with new sounds and genres each record? Or do we consolidate the sound that gave us our long-awaited breakthrough. Well, they’ve kinda done both, but mostly the former. This is a band that started off as a garage-blues-rock duo and has always remained that at heart. But along the way they’ve picked up more new sounds and studio nous with each passing album. From the very rudimentary sounds of their debut through their crunchy blues-rock albums to their more mature collaborations with Danger Mouse which unveiled a softer and a more melodic side to Misters Carney and Auerbach. Brothers was their first true concept album. It was Memphis soul (a la Booker T and the MGs) filtered through their Midwestern white boys take on Junior Kimbrough and Taj Mahal. You could argue Thickfreakness and Rubber Factory were concepts too but it was more them at their stripped down core as a young band. Then El Camino upped the ante to guitar driven glam rock. It was the best T-Rex album since Marc Bolan died.
So what do they do next? Given how firmly these guys have stuck to their authenticity as musicians (beef with Bieber, playing down awards, etc), they weren’t gonna rest on their laurels. But Turn Blue is a hard album to categorise. And it’s really not as big a shift from El Camino as I was expecting.
The album art certainly starts you off on the wrong foot. The cover is the kind of thing’ll have kids foaming at the mouth uncontrollably on the floors of JB Hi-Fi. I mean, Stevie Wonder never had an album cover worse than this. It reminds me of those magic eye pictures that I could never do anyway and therefore hate for all the frustration they’ve caused me squinting at a kaleidoscope of colours on a page waiting for the damn thing to turn into a unicorn leaping over a rainbow or whatever, twisting and turning it in my hands as if that’s gonna make a difference. Screw you, Christopher W. Tyler, ya prick. The idea was probably that the cover art would seem hypnotic. Did not work. But hey, can’t judge an album by its cover.
‘Weight of Love’, the almost 7 minute opener, is one of the strongest songs here. It starts with some silky acoustic guitar, and layers of sonic depth that isn’t really to The Black Keys’ strengths but at least works OK here. Then it drifts into Neil Young’s ‘Down by the River’ territory before Dan Auerbach starts singing the kind of stuff we’re used to hearing him sing. Woman you done me wrong and you’re gonna be sorry someday, etc. The weirdest part is when they use a bass riff in the bridge. They don’t even have a bass player!? Clearly they’re branching out the sound here, more so than they did even with El Camino. It ends with a pretty awesome guitar solo which apparently Danger Mouse and Patty Carney had to convince Dan to go through with because he thought it was ‘self-indulgent’. If you wanna make a glam rock record, and you’re afraid of self-indulgency, maybe you’re playing a few difficulties above your comfort level.
There’s a lot going on in track 2, ‘In Time’. Noises from everywhere. There are only three credited musicians so who knows where all of this is coming from. Mostly the high production values, really. It’s got a great hook but it doesn’t live off the wild drumming like it would have on Brothers. Hit the drums harder, Carney! This is a problem throughout, as they’ve given up a lot of their inyourface-ity to play tricks in the studio chair. Plus despite the quality of the playing, the songs as a whole aren’t nearly as good as their last pair of long players. ‘Turn Blue’ is more of the same only softer and thus more uncomfortable. ‘Fever’ is one of the worst of the lot. ‘Year in Review’ is forgettable too. Not that these songs are hard to listen to or anything. They’re all pretty and subtle and intricately arranged but that’s just not what I love about this band. I preferred the harsh immediacy of their early stuff and the clear visions of their more recent efforts. This album falls in with their early Danger Mouse collaborations, like Magic Potion, as well-intentioned missteps.
Any review questioning this band’s lyrics is missing the point. Same goes for anyone calling them derivative. That’s the whole damn point! They’re taking blues sensibilities and turning them outwards in a modern setting. Led Zeppelin did the same thing. The Rolling Stones too. What each of them did with their stepping stones is a different matter but they filled their buckets from the same well.
Each song here feels covered in gloss. I don’t like it. Let ‘em breathe. ‘Bullet in the Brain’ could be something better without the chugging bass line and screechy guitar warbling. Occasionally here they play around with slide guitars which is awesome because slide guitars easily rank up amongst my favourite sounds. Along with the roar of the Stretford End, the theme tune from Mad Men and, umm… some other things. Midway through ‘It’s Up To You Now’, the song descends into a distorted guitar solo and it is great. There’s the messiness that we expect from this pair. If you’ve seen them live you know what I mean. At their best they feel like they’re walking a tightrope trying to fill out the sound. It’s thrilling.
‘Waiting on Words’ does not sound at all like the Black Keys. But it sounds very good nonetheless. Built upon a grounded acoustic frame, it actually seems real. Unfortunately ‘10 Lovers’ follows all synth-ey and had me bored again. ‘In Our Prime’ is the second to last track, and it kicks off with some tinkling of the ivories. It’s a better example of the layered approach that they were reaching for on other tracks. The studio tricks don’t seem as forced, even when the song swaps between melodies and tempos. If you’re gonna be experimenting, be ambitious about it. This is much stronger than most of the swampy mid-tempo rockers that this album is glued together with.
And then the final track is the best of the lot and by some distance. A Stones-ey riff gives a great kiss-off and leaves me thumping my foot every time I hear it. One of my favourite songs they’ve ever done, which makes me wonder what this record could have been. Or, more optimistically, what the next one could be. It’s super catchy and the slide solo warms my heart. ‘Gotta Get Away’ it’s called, and it should be on your iPod already.
Turn Blue is the Black Keys’ weakest album in a while. Not a bad one, just a very disappointing one given what they’re capable of serving up. Too much gloss, not enough spirit. And, not coincidentally, their least complete vision for a record since Attack & Release. Is it psychedelic? More glam rock? It’s kind of not really anything. Danger Mouse lives up to the first half of his name here with his coatings of synths, echoes and percussion effects having far too much sway on the overall sound. A lot of the songs fail to stand alone amongst each other. Underwhelming but it has its moments.