"Let's Rock"

AlbumJun 28 / 201912 songs, 38m 34s
Garage Rock
Popular

Sometimes an album just names itself. “We were in the studio and reading the local news in Nashville,” The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “They executed the first prisoner in 16 years in Nashville the week we were recording. They asked for his final words and he said, ‘Let’s rock.’” There isn’t a lot of overthinking on The Black Keys’ first new record in five years. It’s the sound of the duo kicking out the jams in Nashville. Topics of escape and confusion are seeded in Auerbach’s dueling guitar overlays and propped up by Patrick Carney’s steady hands. Songs recall the joy of traveling up and down a transistor radio dial in the ’70s; there are nods to Stealers Wheel (“Sit Around and Miss You”) and The Amboy Dukes (“Every Little Thing”), as well as dips into glam and Texas boogie-woogie. Carney digs for “When the Levee Breaks” bedrock on “Go.” Then “Lo/Hi,” “Fire Walk With Me,” and “Get Yourself Together” are classic Black Keys, complete with strutting backbeat and Leisa Hans and Ashley Wilcoxson’s backup vocals, which are so key to their chemistry and continuity.

509

7.0 / 10

This is an album by the Black Keys called “Let’s Rock.” That's what it does.

7 / 10

Blues-rock titans are on formidable form on their first LP in five years

The Black Keys return after a five-year break with a record that's spontaneous in approach but lacking in impact

7.2 / 10

Thom Yorke​ - ANIMA

David Fricke reviews the Black Keys' 'Let's Rock' and the Raconteurs' 'Help Us Stranger' albums.

A depressingly unimaginative thing.

If this is genre pastiche, it’s genre pastiche done with skill and savvy

Like many couples embarking on their second decade together, the Black Keys decided they needed to spend some time apart.

8 / 10

The Black Keys return with their first album in five years, "Let's Rock", featuring 40 minutes of slick and simple tunes, and plenty of the...

The Black Keys are the bona fide daddies of rock.

5.0 / 10

The Black Keys have been at the top of the blues rock heap since their debut in 2002, laying down a string of hits and eight studio albums along the way, and a collective body of work that has set the expectation bar high.

5 / 10

With a low-fi high-five feel, The Black Keys appear to gentrify the rock’n’roll rodeo with an album of carefully poised tunes adhering to the

(Easy Eye Sound/Nonesuch)

6 / 10

After five years away - partly enforced by an injury to drummer Patrick carney - The Black Keys reclaim their own down-and-dirty riffery on "Let's Rock".

7 / 10

When

8.0 / 10

Let's Rock by The Black Keys, album review by Leslie Chu. The duo's forthcoming release, comes out on June 28th via Easy Eye Sound/Nonesuch Records

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have remedied their blues via a no-nonsense album packed with crowdpleasing riffs

Album Reviews: The Black Keys – ‘Let’s Rock’

3.8 / 5

The Black Keys - Let's Rock review: Play it loud

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney’s ninth album is a return of-sorts to their earlier material

A surprisingly slick return for the Akron duo. Review by Guy Oddy

7 / 10