Lazaretto
When *Lazaretto* roars to action with the sweltering, Hammond-driven rocker “Three Women,” Jack White is on familiar terrain, unleashing a supercharged, garagey blues riff that’s as archetypal as the theme. But when the “red, blonde, and brunette” ladies in question appear in a “digital photograph,” the anachronism is a striking reminder of White’s gift for recasting classic musical elements in arrestingly modern contexts. There are plenty of such moments on *Lazaretto*, like when the title track’s heavy bass rumble is augmented with a squall of 8-bit Atari noise *and* a vaguely Appalachian fiddle solo. Throughout, White’s brand of heated, high-powered blues-rock dominates, but he mixes things up with breezy, country-inflected charmers (“Temporary Ground”, “Entitlement”) and eerie, would-be spaghetti western themes (“Would You Fight for My Love?” “I Think I Found the Culprit”). The album’s best tracks, like “Alone in My Home” and “Just One Drink,” combine all of the above in a heady, hot-blooded, hook-oriented package.
Since the White Stripes split, Jack White's work has become fuller, but his idiosyncrasies have dimmed a bit, too. Lazaretto, then, makes all of his other projects sound a bit scrawny by comparison. It’s the densest, fullest, craziest, and most indulgent that White has sounded with or without Meg.
Jack White’s best songs, presented in whatever incarnation currently strikes him, have always shared a sense of confident desperation—he’s a bad motherfucker and he knows it, but he’s never done proving it to the rest of the world. That’s part of the reason every record he’s been a part of—from The White Stripes’…
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Like "blunderbuss," a "lazaretto" is an ancient reference that means little in the modern world, a fact that does not escape Jack White, a musician who specializes in blurring lines between past and present.
Jack White's latest is chock full of bluesy soul and steps right into that blurry territory between Detroit rocker and Nashville troubadour that White has staked out as his own.
Album review: Jack White - Lazaretto. An emotionally potent and passionate second solo LP...
Eighteen months in the making, Jack White's second solo album is a riot of sounds and moods, writes <strong>Killian Fox</strong>
Lazaretto is full of brash, forceful songs, further indulging the intense id formerly balanced by the White Stripes’ sweet-and-salty duality.
<strong>Alexis Petridis</strong>: Jack White has said he's sorry for being mean to people – but anger's not in short supply on his sturdy new solo album
Inventive, intense and unexpectedly fun, Lazaretto is one of the best break-up albums of recent years, says James Hall