Album Reviews

Seventh Heaven

Michael Fremer  |  Mar 1, 2012

El Camino
The Black Keys
 
Nonesuch 529099 180g LP/CD
Produced by: Danger Mouse and The Black Keys
Engineered by: Kennie Takahashi
Mixed by: Tchad Blake
Mastered by: Brian Lucey
 
MUSIC
SOUND


Does it have to sound this bad fellas? We all love your brand of fist pumping, T-Rex boogie, rhythm guitar riffing rock.

Generations of rockers immediately dug what you guys were doing and hopped on board, but does it have to sound this bad?

Do you really have to squeeze the life out of the music to the point where what's left of it oozes from between the flat smashed plates  of what once must have been some kick-ass rock and roll?

Does it have to sound this bad fellas? We all love your brand of fist pumping, T-Rex boogie, rhythm guitar riffing rock.

Generations of rockers immediately dug what you guys were doing and hopped on board, but does it have to sound this bad?

Do you really have to squeeze the life out of the music to the point where what's left of it oozes from between the flat smashed plates  of what once must have been some kick-ass rock and roll?

This has got to be some of the catchiest rock in years reduced to flat, cardboardy cartoonish sonic dreck that has no dynamic range, narrow band frequency response and greyed out harmonics. 

Whatever The Black Keys are trying to prove with what they've done to the sound they've recorded only proves they are not interested in really  causing a visceral physical reaction.

There's no danger here, mousey but we love you just the same. 

If you buy the vinyl you get the CD free and while the packaging is excellent, you're better off just buying the MP3 edition on iTunes.

If I had the opportunity to play Mr. Mouse a UK Fly copy of Electric Warrior hopefully he'd get just how unhip this album sounds.

Music Direct Buy It Now


COMMENTS
detroitvinylrob's picture
Submitted by detroitvinylrob on Sun, 2012-07-29 07:14

The 45 RPM issue sounded pretty killer to me...

Happy Listener! ;^)>

Smafdy Assmilk's picture
Submitted by Smafdy Assmilk on Mon, 2012-07-30 19:14

Yes, there is a lot of compression on this record, but there was a lot of compression used on the records of the 60s they're trying to emulate, yet nobody complains about them being too compressed.

I think the mixes on this album are crazy, in that cool, rock-n-roll kind of way. Tchad Blake done good (as the kids say). The mixes have excitement and a thickness that you just can't get without such creative uses of compressors.

And the type of compression he used isn't the bad, hard limiting, cheap VCA, transient killing kind of compression we all hate. This is big, gooshy, splashy, pumping kind of compression we've come to love on old recordings.

And this album isn't half as compressed as other records audiophiles go crazy over. Listen to Peter Gabriel's So. Those SSL compressors are being pushed so hard you can hear the music move out of the way whenever Peter sings. That's not only a sign of overcompression, but also a sign of a bad mix. Yet somehow this has never been an issue when discussing that album. Why is compression as a creative tool on this album drawing so much ridicule? Weird.

mauroj's picture
Submitted by mauroj on Fri, 2013-01-25 12:01

You are so right about this album. I was loving all things Black Keys until this album came out. Their previous work was gritty and fun and a pleasure to listen to. However this album is so compressed, it sounds terrible, no matter what form it's in. I do still hold out hope that the next album will redeem them but I am not holding my breath. Thanks for the spot to vent about this.

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