The Raconteurs

The Raconteurs

Broken Boy Soldiers (V2/Third Man)

Jack White has gone on till he's blue in the face about how the Raconteurs, his new band with singer-songwriter Brendan Benson and the rhythm section of Cincinnati's Greenhornes, is not a side project. If that's what it takes to get him to pick up the electric guitar again, great. It would be even better if he had a bigger agenda than showing what a huge Zeppelin fan he is, which he already did on the White Stripes' White Blood Cells. The buzzing "Intimate Secretary" is a decent homage to "Four Sticks," "Broken Boy Soldier" replicates the sleepless blues of Led Zeppelin II, and "Store Bought Bones" has some nice motion in its ocean. Lyrically, White revels in his newlywed status, while Benson appears to have just ended a relationship, explaining bitter ballads "Together" and "Call It a Day." In the end, though, Broken Boy Soldiers merely makes you wonder what Meg White has been up to. Still, it's hard to fault Jack, surrounded by women in every aspect of his life, for wanting to be just one of the boys.