Tour Rehearsal Tapes

Although The Black Keys released this 2012 six-song EP as a digital-only release, it resonates with rich, analog depth—as if they\'d cued up a big old spool of two-inch tape and hit “record.” *Tour Rehearsal Tapes* was recorded live in the studio in December 2011 as preparation for a world tour. The opening take of “Dead and Gone” plays with more muscle and grit than the Danger Mouse–produced rendition included on *El Camino*. Similarly, the following *Gold on the Ceiling* plays like an exaggerated version of British glitter-rock legends Sweet (who actually recorded an incredible cover of the song in their 2012 comeback album *New York Connection*). Compared to the professional mix of “Lonely Boy,” this one cuts through with raunchy garage-rock ooze so thick it could be spread on toast. Where the production of “Next Girl” on 2010’s *Brothers* boasts a hard-buzzing fuzz guitar, here it sounds harder and older, as if singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach had somehow procured the knife-slashed speaker cone that Dave Davies used for “You Really Got Me.”