Photo Credit: Autumn de Wilde

CLASSIC DEBUT ALBUM AVAILABLE ON OPAQUE GREEN VINYL 
ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, AND AT SELECT STORES ON DECEMBER 18

BROKEN BOY SOLDIERS (DELUXE) FEATURING LIVE RECORDINGS OF 2006 IRVING PLAZA SHOW DEBUTS AT ALL DSPS TODAY - LISTEN

PRE-ORDER BROKEN BOY SOLDIERS OPAQUE GREEN VINYL

Third Man Records is celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Raconteurs’ classic debut album, Broken Boy Soldiers, with a new Opaque Green Vinyl variant out on Friday, December 11, and available at select record stores on December 18. Pre-orders are available now. In addition, today sees the digital premiere of Broken Boy Soldiers (Deluxe) featuring the original studio album plus a full-show recording at New York City’s historic Irving Plaza on April 7, 2006 –  the band’s first-ever live performance in the United States. While previously available as a one-time, vinyl-only pressing in a truncated form, this digital reissue of the Raconteurs first-ever show on American soil at Irving Plaza from April 7th, 2006 adds three previously unreleased takes from the encore. Here, the Raconteurs’ barn-burning "Blue Veins" is in elevated company with blistering covers of "It Ain't Easy" as popularized by David Bowie, along with the frenetic "Headin' For The Texas Border" originally by the Flamin' Groovies.

LISTEN TO BROKEN BOY SOLDIERS (DELUXE)
PRE-ORDER BROKEN BOY SOLDIERS OPAQUE GREEN VINYL

Today’s announcement follows The Raconteurs’ surprise reunion during Jack White's concert at Nashville’s The Truth on October 10. The five-song encore, which marked the band’s first live performance in nearly seven years, saw performances of Broken Boy Soldiers favorites “Steady, As She Goes,” “Hands,” “Level,” and “Broken Boy Soldier,” as well as “Carolina Drama” (from 2008’s Consolers of the Lonely).

Subtly introduced to the world as “a new band of old friends,” The Raconteurs burst onto the mid-aughts rock ‘n’ roll landscape with a pedigree and a passion. Jack White was arguably at the zenith of his pop-culture saturation through his iconoclastic work as guitarist, singer, and songsmith for The White Stripes, while Brendan Benson’s impressive resume already included a trio of acclaimed solo albums that earned him a reputation among those in the know as a songwriter nonpareil. Best known as the rhythm section for The Greenhornes, a Cincinnati-based combo equal parts blue-eyed soul and backbone-slipping garage rock, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler had recently served as drummer and bassist for Loretta Lynn’s GRAMMY® Award-winning, Jack White-produced 2004 career milestone, Van Lear Rose.

Released in May 2006, the Raconteurs’ debut album, Broken Boy Soldiers, immediately proved a watershed work for all involved, earning international critical applause and spawning a string of hit singles including “Steady As She Goes,” “Hands,” and “Broken Boy Soldier.” Two decades after its initial impact, the album stands as a shining example of the inherent and undying power of the by-the-book band – four people, four instruments, occasional harmonies, a template solidified and popularized by the Beatles and a touchstone ever since.

Originally released as part of Third Man’s landmark Vault #30 – a specially curated package featuring music from all four of Jack White’s primary musical outlets: The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and his solo work –  Disc 2 (Live at Irving Plaza) of Broken Boy Soldiers (Deluxe) showcases the pure power of The Raconteurs on stage, highlighted by the full tracklist of Broken Boy Soldiers plus two captivating covers: ”A House Is Not A Motel” (written by Arthur Lee and performed by Love in 1968) and the David Bowie classic, “It Ain’t Easy.”

 
BROKEN BOY SOLDIERS (DELUXE)
TRACKLIST:
Digital Disc 1 – Studio Album
 
Steady, As She Goes
Hands
Broken Boy Soldier 
Intimate Secretary
Together
Level
Store Bought Bones
Yellow Sun
Call It A Day
Blue Veins

Digital Disc 2 – Live at Irving Plaza

Level – Live at Irving Plaza
Intimate Secretary – Live at Irving Plaza
Hands – Live at Irving Plaza
Steady, as She Goes – Live at Irving Plaza
Together – Live at Irving Plaza
A House Is Not a Motel (Love cover) – Live at Irving Plaza
Store Bought Bones – Live at Irving Plaza
Call It a Day – Live at Irving Plaza
Yellow Sun – Live at Irving Plaza
Broken Boy Soldier – Live at Irving Plaza
Five on the Five – Live at Irving Plaza
It Ain't Easy (David Bowie cover) – Live at Irving Plaza
Blue Veins – Live at Irving Plaza
Headin’ for the Texas Border (Flamin’ Groovies cover) - Live at Irving Plaza