"The last thing Jack White should do right now is start a new band" was a statement floating around 2006 and while specific quote attribution is long lost to the sands of time, whomever felt that enough to say it would soon bear witness to the collaborative juggernaut of the Raconteurs. Subtly introduced to the world as “a new band of old friends” the Raconteurs burst onto the early-Aughts rock and roll landscape with a pedigree and a passion. Brendan Benson’s impressive resume already included a foundational deal/album with Virgin, shoulder brushes touring with the Wallflowers and jammed-on by Foo Fighters all building a reputation amongst those in the know as a songwriter nonpareil.
Benson had befriended Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler, best known as the rhythm section for the Greenhornes, a Cincinnati-based combo equal parts blue-eyed soul and back-bone slipping garage rock. Keeler and Lawrence had served as the drummer and bassist for 2004’s critical behemoth Van Lear Rose, the Grammy-award winning late-career shot-in-the-arm for American treasure Loretta Lynn.
That album was produced by Jack White, arguably at the zenith of his pop culture saturation through his iconoclastic work as guitarist, singer and songsmith for the White Stripes. Twenty years since its release, the Raconteurs debut album Broken Boy Soldiers stands as a shining example of the inherent and undying power of the by-the-books band, four people, four instruments, occasional harmonies…a template solidified and popularized by the Beatles and a touchstone ever since. As the 70th (!) entry in Third Man Records illustrious subscription series The Vault, Broken Boy Soldiers XX serves as the much-needed 20th anniversary companion to the landmark album.
Recorded entirely at Benson’s Le Grand Studios in the attic of his then-home at 419 East Grand Boulevard in Detroit, the sweaty, unplanned sessions found little time for anything outside the focus of music. While the album ably served as a platform to appropriately showcase the talents of all band members, two decades on there are still ample extras and nuggets to sink one’s archival teeth into.
The revelatory studio demo of “Level” and the previously-released early take of “Steady, As She Goes” both pair solidly with the unheard, unreleased, unknown song “Mech Royal” all Benson / White efforts pre-dating Soldiers proper yet serving as foundational to it. These are the overlooked gems the Vault was explicitly created to highlight.
From the full-band sessions, the jewel of an alternate unheard take of “Blue Veins” is beyond exceptional, raw, bare, absent in-the-mix trickery and extending to a seven-minute runtime, while insightful iterations of “Bedridden Blues (aka The Bane Rendition)” and “Store Bought Bones” delight in their derivations. Just see if you can find the full-band punch-in overdub hiding in the grooves.
To further illuminate the anniversary matter is the previously unreleased recording of the Raconteurs first-ever live performance from Liverpool on March 20th, 2006. With the trusty Hutch behind the mixing board, this debut public outing is brimming with excitement and energy, highlighted by the full retinue of Soldiers tracks and two electrifying covers…”A House Is Not A Motel” written by Arthur Lee and performed by his outfit Love in 1968 and “Headin’ For The Texas Border” the propulsive Flamin’ Groovies tune dating to 1970. Said White of the Liverpool performance at the time “I’m not used to being able to take a sip of water in the middle of a song.”
Twenty-three tracks (twenty-two of which are previously unreleased) pressed across three LPs of brilliant metallic copper, grand green and coke bottle clear ….packed in two gatefold jackets and housed in a sumptuous slip case to hold it all. And still, there’s more. The “Steady, As She Goes” video shoot film strip is a tasty trinket. Printed on proper PhotoKem FILM (transparent) and highlighting individual shots of each band member pulled from the original, Jim Jarmusch-directed clip for “Steady” this novel piece stands as a testament to the analog approach that was utilized for recording the album and filming the video.
As a continuation of the wildly celebrated introduction of the line earlier this year, Third Man’s Tripppl imprint is ecstatic to unveil onto the fans the next four cards in the collectible series. With each one highlighting a treasured Broken Boy Soldiers-era instrument from Brendan, Jack, Jack and Patrick, you better believe autographs and foils will be randomly dropped into packages.
Sign up by midnight central time October 31st to lock in your copy of Broken Boy Soldiers XX.
Sign up by midnight central time October 31st to lock in your copy of Broken Boy Soldiers XX.
TRACKLIST:
LIVE IN LIVERPOOL MARCH 20TH, 2006
Level
Intimate Secretary
Hands
Steady, As She Goes
Together
A House Is Not A Motel
Store Bought Bones
Call It A Day
Yellow Sun
Broken Boy Soldier
Five On The Five
Blue Veins
Headin’ For The Texas Border
DEMOS / OUTTAKES
Steady, As She Goes (studio demo) (previously released as TMR-198)
Mech Royal (studio demo)
Level (studio demo)
Blue Veins (alternate studio take)
Steady, As She Goes (alternate studio take, no vocals)
Yellow Sun (alternate studio take, rough guide vocals)
Store Bought Bones (alternate studio take, no vocals)
Bedridden Blues aka The Bane Rendition (alternate studio take)
Hands (partial studio fragment)
