The Raconteurs
Consolers Of The Lonely
(Third Man/Warner)
Jack WhiteÂ’s made his choice: he wants to be a classic-rock, FM-dial, vocal-wailinÂ’ guitar-gargantuan. With The White StripesÂ’ Icky Thump and this second album from The Raconteurs, heÂ’s given in to his ambition to make music like Led Zeppelin (at its most indulgent) with touches of Kansas and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. On songs such as “You DonÂ’t Understand Me”—and some wonÂ’t—parts are multiple and meandering. On “Old Enough,” White sings: “The only way youÂ’ll ever learn a thing is to admit you know absolutely nothing.” Instead of keeping it simple, as that line suggests, the band, sadly, does the 
opposite.
Sean Flinn
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2008.