Brothers

This is an an album by The Black Keys. The rating for the album is 3 stars.

Don't get it twisted I actually quite like The Black Keys, but this album is basically Blues for people who are afraid of black people. It's far too bloated and repetitive. I'd throw it on in the background but let's be honest it's music for a FIFA soundtrack. El Camino is a much more interesting and record so go listen to that instead. But even then... do The Black Keys really belong on this list at all?

When does consistency become tedium? When does authenticity become dogmatism? When does a signature become an irritant? Can an album soar if it raises these questions in the listener? Is it a bad sign that I'm asking myself these questions? The Black Keys are Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, a duo from glamorous Akron, Ohio, a city famous for Devo and its oatmeal. Usually lumped in with the garage rock revival of the 2000s, the Black Keys most resemble a non-quasi-incestuous White Stripes, basing their sound on the electric blues of Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf. Which leads to the most straightforward question: why not just listen to Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf? Do the Black Keys surpass the legendary electric bluesmen, or at least put some air between themselves and the legendary electric bluesmen? Of course they don't. That doesn't make the album bad, but as an ambition it's both lofty and meagre, that of emulating great artists because you have little faith in your own creative spleen. So yeah, record rollection rock. And, frustratingly, the Black Keys have a great song. More exactly and frustratingly, they have exactly one great song that they repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and (I'll stop now). Always the same fuzz guitar, the same overamplified vocals, the same bitter love lyrics. These are the ingredients for one great song, not all 15 on an album. And I should point out what everyone knows: that one great song is Lonely Boy, which isn't on this album. I occasionally wonder what bands would have worked better as one-hit wonders, usually choosing Green Day with Basket Case. The Black Keys have usurped them as my go-to answer to that question. Of course this album is enjoyable in the moment, but it leaves you feeling so hollow, so unsatiated. It smacks heavily of that persistent American tendency where acts falsely assume that strict obedience towards a genre's tropes demonstrates loyalty and not a deficient imagination. Why just impersonate Hank Williams, Bo Diddley, the Ramones, Tupac or Britney? Their records haven't gone out of print. An inessential album, in the most fundamental sense of that word. Still, 3 stars because it sounds alright.

I decided to renew my effort, and listened to most of it. I felt like half the songs were meant to be played with James Bond holding an assault rifle over his shoulder as he walks towards the camera and an explosion goes off behind him in slow motion. This is music for car commercials and ordering a Micheloeb Lite at the bar before going over to challenge the hot girl at a game of pool. The other half were fillers.

INTRODUCING THE ALL NEW FORD MUSTANG [Camera shows car on a highway with almost no traffic] ZERO PERCENT FINANCING [Camera shows timelapse of the Milky Way galaxy] (A song from this album is playing in the background the entire time) Some songs sounded like Imagine Dragons which instantly activated my fight-or-flight response.

Could've gone without hearing this before meeting my maker

I can’t get past the falseness of this: attitudes, ideas and styles borrowed but not understood. It’s grating, repetitive, and empty. An idiot’s idea of what a modern blues record would sound like. They really kind of exposed themselves with that cover of “Never Gonna Give You Up.” It’s so utterly inessential, so offensively soulless, it’s an absolute train wreck. They made it so easy to compare them to the real thing though. You just switch over to Jerry Butler’s version to hear what the song would sound like if it meant anything. Then you could listen to Eddie Floyd’s cover to see how an artist could actually reinterpret it without ruining it—that is if they had any inkling of how to feel music. That was my breaking point. I only had one song left but I couldn’t bear to listen to any more. Goodbye forever Black Keys.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Black Keys. They have some killer singles but I just don't know that they have a single album that holds together as a "great" piece of work. It all ends up being kind of derivative and overlong in the end. I feel like sometime this list mistakes "you must listen to this ALBUM before you die" with "Hey this was popular during 20xx, or had a couple hits on it" with importance. Overall, yeah it's got some pretty good stuff, but would I tell someone they HAVE TO HEAR THIS IMPORTANT PIECE OF WORK? absolutely not. Its a specific genre and vibe, and The Black Keys do it well, but I think others have done it better.

One of my favorite albums, by one of my favorite bands. It's not as rough and raw as Thickfreakness, nor is it as polished and dreamy as Turn Blue. This album is perfectly in the middle, and perfectly situated the Black Keys as one of the best rock bands in a generation.

Brothers sees Black Keys evolve and are aided superbly again by the exceptional Danger Mouse, Brothers sees The Black Keys toddle away from their mother blues into slightly different territory. The music is thinker with the use of more instrumentation and more layered sound. Stand-out tracks Everlasting Light and You're The Only One see Auerbach employing a great falsetto to his repertoire. Howlin For You sees wonderful glam drumming with only the obligatory "Hey" at the end of each bar missing. Though still heavily soaked in delta blues, this album is heavy on glam-rock licks and rhythm and is a pure joy to listen to. Its easy to criticise a band for trying to evolve and Black Keys succeed and pull it off, much to the chagrin of their obstructionist die hard fan base but so be it, they won't be missed. There's plenty on this album for those who feel Black Keys don't need to stray too far from their formula with I'm Not The One and Too Afraid To Love You both waving the Delta flag. I was a huge fan of the Black Keys before Brothers feeling that Attack And Release could not be topped (this after feeling the same about Rubber Factory). What's also great is that the US vinyl version of this record on nonesuch comes with a full cd promo of the album just like Attack And Release did. MP3 codes are good, but this is the real thing - add to this a massive fold out lyrics poster and the package is very good value. I can't recommend this version enough.

How do you say shite in spanish me no hablo

No didn't like that. It's exactly the sort of unimaginative indie/garage rock that winds me up...

The formula here seems to be to distill blues rock down to it's most basic elements, drown the individual instruments in a thick film of sonic distortion and scuzz, and then remove any actual blues feel. Maybe that last part is accidental, I don't know. This music puzzles me. There are no real melodies, the tunes are mostly one chord wonders with riffs so prehistoric that Led Zep or Black Sabbath would have turned down their noses at them, and there are no real solos to speak of. Okay, on Black Mud, guitarist Dan Aurebach just unleashed a solo and it turns out that he can barely play. His bending skills are non-existent and he probably couldn't play a diatonic blues scale from the top of the frets to the bottom without losing the thread multiple times. Okay, I don't get it. What's the appeal? This is blues rock filed down to the nub, with no blues feel, played without discernable skill. It's blues rock for people who hate blues rock, a real head scratcher.

I enjoyed this a lot, but I couldn't shake the feeling it was just a bit to engineered.

And i thought AM was as arctic monkeys at a karaoke as you could get 😃 astonishingly bland Interesting things that happened while listening to this album: getting chased down by a dog for being a skater which was a pleasant reprise for my soul

Yeah so this type of pretentious indie rock shit is what I would've maybe been into in high school, but now that I'm older I think this music is so so boring and overdone. Besides maybe a riff here and there that's kind of catchy/interesting, the vast majority of this album felt like a waste of my time.

Who knew blues rock could get even more boring.

Really enjoyed it. Didn't know I liked the black keys

Great album, very consistent all throughout, no noticable duds. I absolutely love The Black Keys' style. Immediatelly added this one to my collection. Saying all that I'm not 100% sure about my rating, it gets 5 stars as I imagine I'll only like it more with more listenings.

When other bands were moving to synthpop, The Black Keys and Cage the Elephant made the way for a second wave of garage revival just as bluesy and rambunctious as The Strokes and The White Stripes. It's my favorite of their albums with the fewest duds and a consistent cool simple sound to rock to. First half consists of their hits, with the second half demonstrating their versatility. The production sounds great, and it's amazing how Auerbach is doing pretty much everything but the drums, and yet it sounds seamless. I know "Everlasting Light" is a fan favorite, but it's always bothered me how it's nearly identical to one of my favorite T Rex songs "Mambo Sun" (which was also the opener to their breakthrough album). You can tell they were huge T Rex songs, with many other glam rock tracks like "The Only One" sounding like they're straight out of Electric Warrior. I think the alternating arpeggios of "Unknown Brother" also remind me of some T Rex songs. Favorites: Tighten Up, Too Afraid to Love You, Ten Cent Pistol, I'm Not the One, Unknown Brother, Never Gonna Give You Up

Have never listened to these. Or The Black Crowes. Or Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I have listened to Black Sabbath. Anyway, yeah, this was alright! Kind of forgettable first listen though. But enjoyable enough. Tighten Up sounds like a million other things that were out around then and can't say I like that sound. Fake old, with modern production just fucks me off. Ahaha, the next song is that Glitter Stomp one that was the Heardle the other day I didn't get because I guessed Gary Glitter over and over because that's what it was. The longer this album goes on I can tell I'm not going to take it seriously because it's not my thing. Next song sounds like late 90s Lenny Kravitz. I think I'm out, there's nothing interesting for me here, kinda average 6music fodder, fine but that's it.

Great with depicting things they may have not experienced through the eyes of someone else and possibly all the feelings that come with those experiences. Listened to half the album in the shower and it seemed as though no matter how much soap I had lathered on me I could not wash away the grime and leather smell that was waving through my ear canal.

One of my all time favorite albums. Love the songs and the dynamics of the vocals. The guitar and drum sounds are quintessential bad ass Black Keys. The sleeper on this album is how well they incorporate the keys.

The is really a fabulous album. The gritty blues rock is so well done... every song seems to find a groove and warrants a repeat listen. Having a hard time deciding between a 4 and a 5, but I think it shines well enough for the 5. Awesome.

One of those bands whose every song is at least a three-star to my ears and each one is rather unique. Definitely enough 5-stars in here for me to rate the entire thing a 5.

The Black Keys to me feel like Imagine Dragons with more indie rocker cred. But like more offensive because Imagine Dragons doesn't carry the pretense of presenting themselves as a good band. This was somehow both inoffensive and genuinely painful, I felt like I was listening to an hour worth of primetime TV spots. The soundtrack to the death of mainstream guitar music.

new rock and roll terrible track three has whistling terrible what is this noah and the whale horrible frankly also "killed a guy in the first degree"? you nerds dont think about killing people? horrible. ah i see now from the lyrics to 'im not the one' you guys are actually solid w o w x ai uses arctic monkeys production to make the most boring cliched soulless drag ever this record made me feel hungry and tired (but then this happens a lot)

I know these guys and I know I don’t like these guys. Doin a lot of stuff I dislike here so I say I dislike this

Everything I want out of a garage rock album. Just solid crunchy guitar, bluesy licks, and ridiculously catchy hooks. This is the kind of album I'd have a CD of in the care and just vibe to every time I'm driving.

Wanted to give this album a 4.5/5, but I’ll give it a 5 because it kicks ass

Enjoyed the album a lot, I had heard a few black keys singles but I wasn’t very familiar with them.

i love this album so much and i'm not even a dude who went through breakup

This album was super mainstream but I low key love it, maybe one song I’d skip on the whole thing.

One of my favourite albums

Ugh, this is a great album! The blues, the backing tracks, the lyrics and vocals. Fantastic!

A+ album!

love the sound, interesting yet consistent rock style

Great album. Love every track.

Still love this album. This time around gave me the opportunity to listen to it in its entirety from start to finish at least 5 times. So wonderful.

I gotta say, that was pretty awesome. One of the best albums i've heard from this century, hands down.

Good but so bloated it's unreal

Listened to this album while riding a bike through town. Perfect album for such a day!

Eh

Ok, nothing I would save

No. 99/1001 Everlasting Light 4/5 Next Girl 3/5 Tighten Up 4/5 Howlin' for You 3/5 She's Long Gone 3/5 Black Mud 3/5 The Only One 3/5 Top Afraid To Love You 3/5 Ten Cent Pistol 3/5 Sinister Kid 3/5 The Go Getter 3/5 I'm Not The One 4/5 Unknown Brother 3/5 Never Gonna Give You Up 4/5 These Days 4/4 Average: 3,33 No bad song on here, but also only a few things that really stood out for me.

Sounds like something that would play as background music in grey's anatomy when two characters who obviously want each other make intense eye contact and then start making out (ofc). I mean this in a neutral way. I liked it :)

A front loaded album. Distored vocals and bluesy grooves. You'll know all the singles and that's probably all you really need to know. The White Stripes are much, much better. There. I said what everyone was thinking. Best Tracks: Everlasting Light; Tighten' Up; Howlin' For You

Faux rock.

74 / 1069 Never listened to this all the way through as I assumed it’d be a boring run through, I was right. Don’t bother, Tighten Up is worth a listen though if you have somehow not heard it.

Tämä levy ei juurikaan herättänyt tunteita. Pakko kyllä tunnustaa, että tämä meni aikalailla taustamusiikkina kokkaillessa, mutta eipä tästä olisi varmaan hirveästi mieleen jäänyt muutenkaan. Ehkä menisi jossain loungessa taustamusiikkina?

Tylsähköä perusrokkia. Ei jäänyt oikein erityisempää mitään mieleen.

I know it's kinda cool to hate on the Black Keys now and I get it... yes, they sold out... yes they are a knockoff White Stripes... yes they do make blues music for people afraid of black people but fuck it. It is an important album to me. My very first concert was Black Keys, and this album helped to really get me into music in general. 10/10 though admittedly biased.

Already one of my favorite bands. I think this is their masterpiece so far. Blends the two eras of the band perfectly. The old raw and dirty with the newer polished raw and dirty. I love it. Their music always goes straight into my body and gets me moving.

Excellent rock blues album. My eldest nephew reminded me I got him into this band, and that's a nice feeling as an aunt. Great listen.

Chimbita, me gustó

A great recording. I was never into the Black Keys although I have had heard of them. I wasn't aware that this album was their breakthrough. All of the songs are good and "Everlasting Light" "Tighten Up" are stand outs.

Solid album from start to front.

bopppps all around!! Felt perfect for opening up the jazz building too! Will definitely listen again

Love the Black Keys. Raw, banging and rock solid.

I always loved the Black Keys and their songs on the radio but never listened to a full album The Go Getter was not my favorite but that was about it. Beyond the hits it was still great. Ten Cent Pistol, Everlasting Light, Howlin for you all great. I also liked I'm Not the One, it just had a dark gritty sound that was great. Unknown Brothers was good, had a loving vibe (maybe it was the jingle bells) that just feels heartwarming in a rock way. These Days was beautiful, touching, emotion filled and brings a tear to my eye. Their sound is just so uniquely them. Spotify calls it blues, rock, and it is but also more. The voice, the synthesizers, use of drums, and everything just makes these sound that is so deep, raw and something worth listening to again and again.

Great album

This album rocks!!

I liked this one a lot. Reminded me a lot of Alabama Shakes. The backstory of recording in the original Muscle Shoals Studio makes it even cooler. Rating: 4.8

2010. Blues rock, garage rock

DISCAZO

Maybe a little too glossy for a blues record, but this gets 5 stars for being purely nostalgic. Lots of great songs, covers, productions and just rocking. Surprised this is on the list but a good surprise

I have always heard this is a good album but never gave it a list. Love this!

Black keys are definitely a great reintroduction to blues rock, and by association. They've reintroduced me to a lot of other new artists that I really like. How can you go wrong with piano , guitar, and vocals.

One of my favourite albums of all time. 10/10

Love it. I used to listen to this album on repeat.

Transporting. “The perfect album doesn’t exi—” Sinister Kid gtfo what further proof do you need that they made that crossroads deal.

Oikein oiva, entuudestaan tuttu.

It's an instant classic. Every song is instantly recognizable and brings back great memories.

Amazing blues album. I thought the 55 minute length would not hold, but Black Keys makes every song interesting. Love the drum work same with the guitar work

Solid album, love The Black Keys Too Afraid to Love You is my never-heard standout

I was 15 when the album came out and I fell in love with it, it really helped me discover a whole world of music. If possible I’d give a 4.5 as a couple of songs could have been left off the record. But my 15 year old self wouldn’t forgive me if I gave it a 4 so has to be a 5.

This is a fantastic album. I can't really label it a particular style or genre, there were many different influences. If I had to name it I would call it blues-rock-funk. I don't think there were any weak tracks. It flowed so well. I listened to it twice initially and will be delving into the artists catalogue.

A great fuzzy rock album. Will listen again

Album 510 of 1001 The Black Keys - Brothers Rating : 4.5 / 5 Awesome album that makes me want more. I may be going a little high here but I really like what I hear.

Sonorità ruvide e viscerali, cattiveria e scarsa igiene personale. Che Album meraviglioso.

Great stuff from these guys. Not sure what the “deluxe” album is that this directs you to because it’s track for track and the same length as normal🤷

Awesome

Love this album! Knew this album from before and I think this listen I enjoyed it even more and should have had it in the regular playlist. Great Album!

I enjoy the album. It isn't perfect but it is pretty dang good.

Love the bluesy feel to many of these tracks :)

It just sounds fantastic.

Great album

Jeder Song funky und macht Spaß

Foi o álbum que conheci o Black Keys. Não sei dizer ao certo se já era uma banda estourada ou pelo menos bem reconhecida no cenário indie, mas posso afirmar que depois desse álbum era impossível alguém que gostasse minimamente de outras bandas indie não conhece-los. Com esse álbum a dupla se consolidou no cenário musical da época definiu a sonoridade característica de suas músicas: um indie com muita inspiração no rock clássico, bastante distorção "Lo-Fi" nas guitarras e acompanhada por uma bateria simples, porém bem marcada e precisa. A organização do álbum diz muito sobre o que eles queriam apresentar para o público. Na primeira metade estão os sucessos que a banda emplacou. São as músicas mais manjadas, com mais reproduções e que tem videoclipe. O início da segunda metade, pra mim, se dá com "Black Mud", uma música instrumental mais morna mas ainda assim muito boa, que funciona como interlúdio para o restante do álbum. A outra metade foi uma descoberta pra mim, mas foi uma surpresa bem agradável. Descobri outras músicas menos manjadas, com riffs menos "chiclete" mas que tem a mesma qualidade que fez com que gostasse do Black Keys na época.

Love it! I can't listen to disc 2 (not available on Spotify) but it's fine since it's live versions of some songs from disc 1

Great sound

4.6

Ну это мой любимый альбом моих любимых исполнителей

Classic

Might be nostalgia but it’s got such a bluesy feel to it. Love it!

Great album with so many good songs including Next Girl, Tighten up and The Only one. Good variety of vocals with an instrumental track

9 / 10 Durante un tiempo fueron uno de mis grupos favoritos. Sus primeros discos con un sonido más "crudo" son todos muy buenos. Este Brothers y sobretodo El Camino son una pasada. Después han empezado a comercializar su sonido y a perder mi interés.

absolute banger of an album. no notes.

Un disco excelente de principio a fin. Después publicaron otro igual de bueno (me gusta menos), el premiado El Camino, pero aquí fue donde desplegaron todos sus recursos y dieron con la fórmula mágica que luego no fueron capaces de continuar. Suena a Muscle Shoals (que por fin volvió a registrar un disco muchos años después, aunque en realidad fuera un edificio vacío). Repite producción con Danger Mouse (en realidad solo en Tighten Up) y este logra un refinado cóctel de garage rock pantanoso pero con buenas melodías y estupendo sonido. El sonido es básico (destacan bajo y batería-bombo), rudo, pero muy simple y eso facilita el lucimiento de las excelentes melodías. Funciona perfectamente. La portada y diseño está perfectamente estudiada y cuidada (con guiños a Howlin' Wolf y la tipografía de Muscle Shoals). La apertura con Everlasting Light marca la pauta de todo el disco, seguida por la tirada de éxitazos Next Girl (la primera en ser grabada), Tighten Up, Howlin' for You. Tres canciones que suenan radiantes. La triada I´m not the one, Unknown brother y Never gona give you up (versión del clásico de Jerry Butler) es una maravilla. Ten cent pistol y The only one son otras dos joyas, aunque cualquier tema tiene un nivel muy alto. Lo escuchas del tirón y quieres repetir. Otros discos de 2010: Best Coast- Crazy for you, Joanna Newson- Have one on me, Twin Shadow- Forget, Tracey Thorn- Love and its opposite, Caribou- Swim, Vampire weekend- Contra, Crystal Castles- Crystal Castles, Sufjan Stevens- The age of Adz, Kanye West- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, The National - High Violet, Delorean - Subiza, LCD Soundsystem -This Is Happening, The Drums - The Drums, Arcade Fire -The Suburbs, Janelle Monáe - The Archandroid, Deerhunter -Halcyon Digest, Beach House - Teen Dream, Radio Dept. -Clinging to a Scheme, Belle and Sebastian- Write about love, Lana del rey- Lana del rey, Sade- Soldier of love, MGMT - Congratulations, Band of horses- Infinite arms, Superchunk- Majesty Shredding, Elton John and Leon Russell- The union...

This is right up my alley