The Black Keys – El Camino (10th Anniversary Edition)

The Black Keys come up with the perfect solution for any last minute Christmas shopping for that rocker on your list.

Tis the season of Anniversary Reissues…we’ve had 50^th Anniversaries from The Beatles, The Doors and The Band…40^th Anniversaries from The Rolling Stones…30^th from Nirvana and here we go back a mere decade to revisit The Black Keys’ El Camino.

This was the duo’s seventh album, following their “breakthrough” record, Brothers. It won a bunch of Grammys and (almost) topped the charts (no. 2 in NZ0) going multi-platinum globally.

According to the liner notes written by David Fricke, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney were tuckered out from promoting Brothers and retreated to Nashville where Dan set up his Easy Eye Sound studio. They called their buddy, Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) and proceeded to write and record what would become El Camino.

As you’ll hear from the opening track, Lonely Boy, this is a record built on riffs and rhythm and inspired by rock bands such as The Stones, The Cramps and CCR, although it sounds like none of them.

The selling point of this Anniversary Edition is the accompanying live concert. I’m listening to the 3-disc vinyl version and it sounds warm and wonderful. (There is an expanded 5 disc version, so if you’re feeling generous this Christmas…)

The concert was recorded in Portland, Maine, not exactly a hotbed of rock and roll, and the band…with additional players Gus Seyffert (bass) and John Wood (keyboards)…is on fire.

It feels like a live rock and roll show and in these trying times, that might be just what you need.

Marty Duda