| Blunderbuss | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 23, 2012 (2012-04-23) | |||
| Studio | Third Man, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Blues rock | |||
| Length | 41:52 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Jack White | |||
| Jack White chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Blunderbuss | ||||
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Blunderbuss is the debut solo studio album by American musicianJack White. It was released in digital and physical formats beginning April 23, 2012, throughThird Man Records, in association withXL Recordings andColumbia Records. Written almost entirely by White, the album was recorded and produced by him at Third Man Studio inNashville, Tennessee. Various musical styles appear throughout, includingblues rock,folk, andcountry soul.
The album received positive reviews frommusic critics, who praised White's ambitious songwriting and often compared the record favorably to his work forthe White Stripes. It debuted at number one in five countries and reached the top 10 in ten other countries. It was certified platinum in Canada and gold by record industry trade groups internationally. The album was nominated forAlbum of the Year andBest Rock Album at the55th Annual Grammy Awards, while the single "Freedom at 21" was nominated forBest Rock Song. In addition, the single "I'm Shakin'" received a nomination forBest Rock Performance at the56th Annual Grammy Awards.
Thelead single fromBlunderbuss, "Love Interruption", was released on January 30, 2012, via White's website. The single "Sixteen Saltines" was uploaded to White's YouTube channel on March 13, and seven days later, the song was released as the second single via7-inch vinyl with a cover ofU2's "Love Is Blindness" as itsB-side. On April 1, Third Man Records released the album's third single, "Freedom at 21", by attachingflexi disc copies of the song to 1000 helium balloons. A music video for the fourth and final single, a cover ofLittle Willie John's "I'm Shakin'", was released on October 10, and twenty days later, the single was released digitally and via 7-inch vinyl with the B-side "Blues on Two Trees".
Prior to the creation ofBlunderbuss, Jack had been a member of the duothe White Stripes along with drummerMeg White.[1] In 2007, the band went on a tour after releasing their sixth studio albumIcky Thump.[2] In the midst of the tour, the band canceled its United States tour dates, citing Meg's struggle with acute anxiety;[3] shortly afterwards, the White Stripes canceled the remainder of the 2007 tour dates.[4] The duo then went on a hiatus that ended in their breakup in 2011. Jack White worked on various other projects during this period.[2] In 2008,the Raconteurs, of which White was a member, released their second studio album,Consolers of the Lonely.[5] Rocksupergroupthe Dead Weather, another band that included White, released their debut studio albumHorehound in 2009 and its successorSea of Cowards in 2010.[6] In addition, White producedWanda Jackson's thirtieth studio albumThe Party Ain't Over (2011).[7] In June 2011, White and his wifeKaren Elson, who provided backing vocals forBlunderbuss,[8] announced their intention to divorce and subsequently held a divorce party.[9]
Produced at Third Man Studio inNashville, Tennessee,[10]Blunderbuss has its roots in White's recordings with several artists under his record labelThird Man Records, includingTom Jones and Wanda Jackson. During these recordings, White learned to direct groups with as many as 12 people, more than he had directed under any of his previous musical projects. He started recording his own songs as a result ofWu-Tang Clan memberRZA's last-minute cancellation of his attendance of a recording session with White. Reluctant to send away the musicians who had shown up for the session, White decided to use them to record some of his songs. He did not initially intend to create an album, though he found that after recording "six or seven songs it started to click that it was all becoming something".[11]
I've put off making records under my own name for a long time but these songs feel like they could only be presented under my name. These songs were written from scratch, had nothing to do with anyone or anything else but my own expression, my own colors on my own canvas.
White noted that directing hired musicians rather than working with a band afforded him several advantages; in the latter case he could not "tell other people what to play", whereas in the former case he "could ask people to play something" and then "go somewhere else and work on another part", thus enabling him to write "on the spot ... and for other musicians". Furthermore, the "freedom of having [his] own studio and having people in Nashville who could come at short notice" enabled White to use "100 different production styles" onBlunderbuss.[11] While recording songs for the album, White alternated between all-male and all-female backing bands. He often recorded different versions of individual songs using each band to "see if anything changed".[12] According to White, the sessions forBlunderbuss generated "something like 25 songs", 13 of which were included in the album. Most of the songs on it were written and recorded in the latter half of 2011.[13]: 3
White decided to releaseBlunderbuss throughColumbia Records due to its history as "the first record label" and the label's capacity to expand the album's reach. According to White, friends of his asked him why he did not release it solely through his label, Third Man Records. He believed that doing so might "do [Blunderbuss] a disservice" and stated that he had "nothing to prove about being indie or anything like that".[14] The album was engineered and mixed by Grammy Award-winning sound engineerVance Powell, who had also worked with such names asthe Whigs andKings of Leon.[15] WhileBob Ludwig was working on mastering, he suggested to Powell that they avoid compression and increase the gain, an idea to which White responded enthusiastically. White was pleased with the results, finding thatBlunderbuss "did not get changed by compression, it was just louder".[11] Most songs on the album were recorded to8-track analog tape; no more than 14 tracks were used per song.[11][16] White preferred analog to digital recordings, finding fault in the latter's variety of "options to change the sounds that you are putting down" since it "[took] all the inherent soulful qualities of what is going on". The use of 8-track tape limited the number of tracks White could add to a song, leading him to "focus on better things".[11]
Blunderbuss is ablues rock album that incorporates a variety of musical elements,[17][18] including resemblances toprogressive folk on "Missing Pieces" and "Take Me with You When You Go",[19]hip hop influences on "Freedom at 21",[13]: 4 R&B on White's cover of Little Willie John's "I'm Shakin'",[19] andcountry rock on the song "I Guess I Should Go to Sleep".[20] The final track, "Take Me with You When You Go", begins with "cooljazz breeziness"[18] written in a3
4time signature,[21] then transitions to a "frantic rock" sound.[18] Thecountry soul title track "Blunderbuss" and "Hypocritical Kiss" have been compared by critics to the works ofBob Dylan,[22] andThe Daily Telegraph'sNeil McCormick compared "Weep Themselves to Sleep" to music onDavid Bowie'sAladdin Sane (1973).[19][23]Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal found theBlunderbuss's "early rock,folk, andcountry styles" to resemblethe Beatles'self-titled album (1968).[24]
Rob Sheffield ofRolling Stone noted the presence of "made-in-Nashville flourishes" throughout the album, namely thefiddle, themandolin, and thepedal steel guitar.[19] "Missing Pieces" features a six-note riff played on aRhodes piano,[1] and "Sixteen Saltines" consists of "crunchychords".[25] "Freedom at 21" uses a "clattering drum pattern" that was achieved by placing atape echo on a beat that drummerCarla Azar had played.[8][26] The acoustic guitar and theWurlitzer electric piano are prominent on the song "Love Interruption",[27][28] which features vocals fromRuby Amanfu alongside thebass clarinet, played by Emily Bowland.[1][28] Steve Kandell ofSpin described the song as consisting of "mid-temposoul",[29] andGreg Kot of theChicago Tribune noted the song's "moody atmosphere".[18] "Weep Themselves to Sleep" includes an "itchy and needling" guitar solo–consisting of two guitars playing in different channels[20]—that has the effect of transitioning out of an atmosphere of "orchestrated stateliness".[18]Billboard described "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy" as having a "complex, hopscotching melody and rhythm".[30] The melody and lyrics for the song were conceived in a dream; upon awaking, White "forced [him]self" to record what he had dreamt.[31] "I Guess I Should Go to Sleep" is written in a "jazzy tempo", and it contains a violin solo.[30] "On and On and On" presents a variety of moods and musical elements throughout.[8][18] White occasionally sings infalsetto onBlunderbuss.[8]
Critics noted similarities and differences betweenBlunderbuss and music White had written for other musical projects, including the White Stripes, the Dead Weather, and the Raconteurs. TheToronto Star'sBen Rayner stated that White "doesn't feel much like playing the showboating White Stripes guitar god", though he mentioned "flashes of Stripe-esque fury" on "Sixteen Saltines".[32] Other critics compared "Sixteen Saltines" to the White Stripes' "Blue Orchid" (2005).[1][29] Michael Roffman ofConsequence of Sound noted that "Love Interruption" was not as well-received as "Sixteen Saltines", "probably because with the Wurlitzer and the clarinet, ['Love Interruption'] didn't necessarily relive those feelings of seeing the [White Stripes]".[25]Billboard viewed "I'm Shakin'" and "Trash Tongue Talker" as resembling music onThe Party Ain't Over, which White produced.[30] Dombal describedBlunderbuss as being "closer to earth than [White's] fantastic White Stripes yet further away than the sometimes-pedestrian Raconteurs or Dead Weather".[24] Mark Edwards ofThe Sunday Times remarked that "if [White's] lyrics seem oppressively focused on one subject, his music heads happily all over the place, echoing all the previous aspects of his career and wandering into new areas."[33]
The record deals far more with death; death and the romance of death. That's why I have a vulture on my shoulder on the cover. I’m making friends with the vulture. He’s not waiting for me to die to pick at me, we’re friends, and we’re in this together.
In an interview forThe New York Times, White said thatBlunderbuss's central theme is death, a topic he felt "was overwhelming throughout the lyric writing".[34] The vulture resting on White's shoulder on the album cover is a representation of this theme.[13] The album's lyrics explore loss,[24] "collapsing relationships",[8] and "breakup emotions of hurt and love",[24] often depicting "weak-willed" men and focusing on "dishonesty, jealousy, [and] immorality".[1][20] Its songs sometimes depict White "swearing himself off women".[8] Jerry Shiver ofUSA Today calledBlunderbuss "Jack White's divorce album",[35] andAlexis Petridis ofThe Guardian said that the album occasionally characterizes relationships with "lyrics that are completely hysterical in every sense of the phrase".[8] The opening track, "Missing Pieces", depicts the loss of body parts to characterize whatNME's Barry Nicolson described as "the give-and-take of relationships": "When they tell you they just can't live without you/ They ain't lying, they'll take pieces of you/ And they'll stand above you/ And walk away".[1] The narrator of the song "Love Interruption" expresses desires to be subjected to various violent actions by "love".[27] Dombal viewed the song not as "some masochistic fantasy" but as "a form of self discipline", citing the line "I won't let love disrupt, corrupt, or interrupt me anymore".[24] According to White, the narrator in the closing track "Take Me with You When You Go" initially "sound[s] misogynistic", but "is on his knees begging to be taken with the girl at the end".[13]: 4
"Sixteen Saltines" depicts an "emasculated, exasperated" narrator who struggles with the conspicuousness of a former lover.[1] Its lyrics featurehooks and imagery describing high school tropes and abandonment at sea.[25][22] The titular track "Blunderbuss" uses internal rhymes and "images of decadence" as it describes an adulterous episode between the narrator and a married woman.[23][18]Steven Hyden ofThe A.V. Club described "Hypocritical Kiss" as a "duality of recrimination and self-flagellation", and he interpreted the song as depicting an argument between Jack White and his former bandmate Meg White in the midst of the White Stripes' breakup.[22] In the middle of the song, its lyrics shift from the point of view of one speaker in the conversation to the other.[1] When asked if the song "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy" referenced the White Stripes' breakup, White responded that the song is about "white hipster musicianship and authenticity", and that its use of the word "stripes" represents "the [American] flag and the American dream of profiting at any cost".[31]
On January 30, 2012, White announced the albumBlunderbuss with release dates of April 23 and April 24, 2012.[36][37] The same day, afree stream of "Love Interruption" was posted to White's website; the song was made available for purchase on January 31 at 12:00 a.m.Eastern Standard Time. On February 7, a7-inch vinyl version of the song was released along with theB-side "Machine Gun Silhouette".[38] The single peaked at number 13 and 27 on the Billboard USAlternative Songs and USRock Songs charts, respectively.[39][40]
White performed "Love Interruption" and "Sixteen Saltines" on the March 3, 2012 episode ofSaturday Night Live with two different backing bands, one all-female and the other all-male.[41] Five days later, White performed at a celebration of Third Man Records' third anniversary at its headquarters in Nashville. The performance included six songs fromBlunderbuss.[42]
The studio version of "Sixteen Saltines" was released online via White's YouTube channel on March 13, 2012.[43][44] The 7-inch vinyl single, which included a cover ofU2's "Love Is Blindness" (1991) as its B-side, was released March 20.[45] In observance ofRecord Store Day, Third Man Records released a12-inch vinyl edition of the single that contained a playable etching of the record label's logo on the B-side.[46] In addition, a limited edition 12inch vinyl containing blue liquid was released.[47][48] The single peaked at number 129 on theUK Singles Chart and number 12 on the Billboard US Alternative Songs chart.[49][39] A playback of avinyl copy ofBlunderbuss was held atLondon, England atCounty Hall on March 20, 2012. White attended the event, during which he was interviewed by the audience and the Mayor ofLambeth, Councillor Christiana Valcarcel.[50]
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On April 1, 2012, Third Man Records released 1000 helium balloons attached toflexi disc copies of "Freedom at 21". Third Man Records described the stunt as "an experiment exploring non-traditional forms of record distribution and a way to get records in the hands of people who don't visit record shops".[46] A music video for the album's final single, "I'm Shakin'", was released on October 10, 2012. The song was made available for pre-order on October 16, and it was released digitally and on 7-inch vinyl on October 30. The single included the B-side "Blues on Two Trees".[51][52]
On April 16, 2012, Third Man Records streamedBlunderbuss in its entirety oniTunes for free listening prior to release.[53][54] The album was released via digital download and 7-inch vinyl by Third Man Records, Columbia Records, andXL Recordings.[55][56] The vinyl LP version ofBlunderbuss was pressed atUnited Record Pressing in Nashville.[57] The Japanese edition of the album features "Machine Gun Silhouette" and "Love Is Blindness" asbonus tracks.[58] The latter appears on the U2 tribute recordAHK-toong BAY-bi Covered (2011).[59]
On February 3, 2012, White announced performances atSasquatch! Music Festival andBBC Radio 1'sHackney Weekend via his website.[60] On February 14, he announced additional performance dates as part of a solo tour consisting of concerts inTennessee,Alabama, andOklahoma.[61] The tour began on March 10 with a concert at Track 29 inChattanooga, Tennessee.[61][62] On March 19, White announced additional concerts in North America and Europe.[56][63] The tour also included performances in Australia and concluded at theFuji Rock Festival in Japan.[64][63] During the tour, White alternated between two backing bands, one all-female and one all-male.[65] The tour included supporting actsAlabama Shakes,First Aid Kit, andPokey LaFarge.[66][67][68]
White's April 27 concert atWebster Hall in New York City was streamed online as part ofAmerican Express Unstaged. Directed byGary Oldman, the livestream gave viewers the choice to view the concert from a black-and-white shot, a balcony angle, or the director's cut. Viewers could also submit pictures of themselves as a contribution to a digitalmosaic.[69][53] TheGrand Ole Opry gave White a framedblunderbuss as a gift after he sold out concerts at theRyman Auditorium two nights in a row.[70]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.0/10[71] |
| Metacritic | 83/100[72] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [73] |
| The A.V. Club | B+[22] |
| Chicago Tribune |  [18] |
| The Daily Telegraph | [23] |
| The Guardian | [8] |
| MSN Music (Expert Witness) | A−[74] |
| NME | 8/10[1] |
| Pitchfork | 7.8/10[24] |
| Rolling Stone | [19] |
| Spin | 8/10[29] |
Blunderbuss was met with widespread acclaim frommusic critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has anaverage score of 83 out of 100, based on 44 reviews.[72]
Allison Stewarrt ofThe Washington Post called the album "restless, cranky and great, although weirdly inconsequential: less a statement of artistic purpose than a stellar collection of songs".[75] Kot describedBlunderbuss as "an entertaining rollercoaster of a listen", and he remarked that the album contains "pulse-pounding story-telling".[18] McCormick stated that the album "crackles with life and energy", and he commented that White combines the influences of his previous musical projects "with a spirit of loose invention and the command of a veteran band leader".[23] Hyden wrote that the album contains "at least five songs ... that match the excellence of The White Stripes' best".[22] In a review that calledBlunderbuss "a purposeful success", Dombal said the album has "some of White's best pure songwriting yet, but no earth-cracking riffs".[24]
Kandell remarked that a solo album freed White from restraints present on his other musical projects; he stated, "Blunderbuss is a surprisingly measured and grounded response, given the possibilities", and he called the album "a mid-career stride".[29]AllMusic'sStephen Thomas Erlewine described the album as more "emotionally direct" and "musically evasive" than White's previous work. He commented that this "dichotomy makesBlunderbuss a record that only seems richer with increased exposure".[73]Billboard's Jem Aswad praised the album's "diversity and musical ambition", and he described it as "familiar enough to please the faithful, adventurous enough to forge a new path forward and satisfying enough to make fans realize anew just how much White has been missed".[30] Shriver said that the album "aims wide and often hits home".[35] Sheffield called its songs "brilliant" and described the album as White's "most expansive and masterful record since the White Stripes' 2003 classic,Elephant".[19]
Several critics viewed the album as an unimpressive addition to White's musical catalog.Ben Ratliff ofThe New York Times noted several "great moments" inBlunderbuss, but he found most of the songs on the album to be underwhelming compared to the work of the White Stripes, commenting that the "riffs,chord progressions, and dynamic shifts" onBlunderbuss are "less distinguished" than the forceful lyrics.[20] Rayner called the album "the most conventional record White has made outside of the Raconteurs" and concluded that it "maybe falls just a hair shy of the lofty expectations one might hold for a Jack White solo album".[32]
Blunderbuss drew mixed commentary on what it revealed about White's views toward women. Writing forThe Atlantic, Jessica Misener argued thatBlunderbuss "crystallizes White's longstanding issues with women". She commented that much of White's music depicts him responding with "[v]itriol" to women "threatening his control" and that the lyrics of "Hypocritical Kiss" include "an instance of blatant manipulation". Regarding "Freedom at 21", Misener remarked: "White's dismissal of a 21st-century woman inBlunderbuss' 'Freedom at 21' makes perfect sense. A modern-day woman, with her sexual freedom andiPhone, represents power and choice, things that White embraces in his own life. But she's come by this in a way that's not on his terms, so she's a villain."[76]
The Guardian'sLaura Barton disagreed with Misener's article, viewing White's lyrical focus on women as the result of "proximity rather than gender" while asserting that his musical catalog contains "plenty examples of tenderness to counterbalance any venom". She argued that while "[i]t's undeniable that White's music is fired by the difference between male and female", his lyrics do not "assert that the masculine is superior to the feminine, rather that there are differences to be celebrated."[77] In an article forSlate, Lauren O'Neal also expressed disagreement with Misener's article. Citing White's treatment toward women in his personal life, she remarked that "White seems to be more enlightened than the average man".[78] Both O'Neal and Barton cited examples of White's collaborating with women, for which Barton called him "a great champion of women inrock'n'roll".[77][78]
In an interview forThe Guardian, Petridis asked White about "Freedom at 21", which Petridis described as appearing to be a "protracted moan about feminism, that seems to be suggesting that White's life would have been easier if women just did what he told them to". In response, White asserted that the song is about modern attitudes toward technology: "The early telephones, the telegraph, you had to treat this technology with respect. You can write on the internet for the whole world, you can make comments, but there's no one telling you that's impolite or that's inappropriate."[65] In another interview forThe Guardian with Tim Lewis, White responded to accusations of misogyny: "I don't know where the hell people got that from me because I've done so much work in my life to promote female musicians and artists ... I respect and I'm inspired by them so much."[79]
In 2012, "Sixteen Saltines" was nominated for Best Rock Video at theMTV Video Music Awards and Best Indie/Rock Video – International at theUK Music Video Awards.[80][81][82]Blunderbuss was nominated forAlbum of the Year andBest Rock Album at the55th Annual Grammy Awards in 2013, while "Freedom at 21" received a nomination for theGrammy Award for Best Rock Song.[83] "I'm Shakin'" was nominated for the awards ofBest Rock Performance andBest Music Video at the56th Annual Grammy Awards.[84]
Rolling Stone rankedBlunderbuss number three on its list of the best albums of 2012, saying that "every hypocritical kiss on the record hits like a hammer".[85] The album was later included in the 2014 edition of the book1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[86]
Blunderbuss performed well commercially. It was the first album generated by any of White's musical projects to debut at number one on the USBillboard 200,[87] with first week sales totaling 138,000.[88] The album also debuted at number one in Canada,[89] the United Kingdom,[90] Switzerland,[91] and the Flanders region of Belgium.[92]Blunderbuss sold 33,000 vinyl copies in its first year, becoming the best-selling vinyl album of 2012.[93]
On March 5, 2013,Blunderbuss was certified gold by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA), indicating sales of 500,000 units in the US.[94][95] The album was also certified gold by theAustralian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI), indicating shipments of at least 35,000 and sales of at least 100,000 in Australia and the UK, respectively.[96][97]Music Canada awardedBlunderbuss a platinum certification for selling at least 80,000 units in Canada.[98]
All lyrics are written byJack White, except where noted; all music is composed byJack White, except where noted
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Missing Pieces" | 3:27 | ||
| 2. | "Sixteen Saltines" | 2:37 | ||
| 3. | "Freedom at 21" | 2:51 | ||
| 4. | "Love Interruption" | 2:38 | ||
| 5. | "Blunderbuss" | 3:06 | ||
| 6. | "Hypocritical Kiss" | 2:50 | ||
| 7. | "Weep Themselves to Sleep" | 4:19 | ||
| 8. | "I'm Shakin'" | Rudy Toombs | Rudy Toombs | 3:00 |
| 9. | "Trash Tongue Talker" | 3:20 | ||
| 10. | "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy" | 3:03 | ||
| 11. | "I Guess I Should Go to Sleep" | 2:37 | ||
| 12. | "On and On and On" | 3:55 | ||
| 13. | "Take Me with You When You Go" | 4:10 | ||
| Total length: | 41:52 | |||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14. | "Machine Gun Silhouette" | 2:56 | ||
| 15. | "Love Is Blindness" (U2 cover) | Bono | 3:18 | |
| Total length: | 48:06 | |||
Credits adapted from theBlunderbuss liner notes.[99]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[96] | Gold | 35,000^ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[98] | Platinum | 80,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[97] | Gold | 143,112[128] |
| United States (RIAA)[94] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
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