This is a Random Album Generator.
One album a day.
From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Blunderbuss

Jack White

2012

Buy At Rough Trade
Blunderbuss
Album Summary

Blunderbuss is the debut solo studio album by American musician Jack White. It was released in digital and physical formats beginning April 23, 2012, through Third Man Records, in association with XL Recordings and Columbia Records. Written almost entirely by White, the album was recorded and produced by him at Third Man Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Various musical styles appear throughout, including blues rock, folk, and country soul. The album received positive reviews from music critics, who praised White's ambitious songwriting and often compared the record favorably to his work for the 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 for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, while the single "Freedom at 21" was nominated for Best Rock Song. In addition, the single "I'm Shakin'" received a nomination for Best Rock Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The lead single from Blunderbuss, "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 via 7-inch vinyl with a cover of U2's "Love Is Blindness" as its B-side. On April 1, Third Man Records released the album's third single, "Freedom at 21", by attaching flexi disc copies of the song to 1000 helium balloons. A music video for the fourth and final single, a cover of Little 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".

Wikipedia

Rating

3.43

Votes

10266
Genres
Rock

Reviews

Like a review? Give it a thumb up to help us display relevant reviews!
Sort by: Top Date
View Author
Thu May 04 2023
5

This is my first time listening to solo Jack White and it's great and it's more White Stripesy music, but it made me realise how important Meg White was for him. It's missing that little piece that made the White Stripes so good. Still great music since Jack White is so talented.

👍
View Author
Mon Aug 07 2023
2

A remember there being buzz for this album back when it was released as the first Jack White solo album. Other than that, it’s not too remarkable. Even then I thought it was just fine. You do not have to listen to this before you die and it does not deserve a place on this list. There are three good songs. I most like the drum and bass line that opens “freedom at 21.” “hip, poor boy“ and “shaken” are nice songs too, but none of them compares to the work Mr. White did with white stripes or any of his other side bands.

👍
View Author
Thu May 04 2023
5

J’ai vraiment aime ca je vais reecoute assure ent, du bon rock blues 5

👍
View Author
Tue Jun 06 2023
5

Easy 5. Great album, easygoing and groovy.

👍
View Author
Tue May 23 2023
5

4.5. Absolutely love this album. Pillar during my last jr high/ early high school days

👍
View Author
Sun Jun 18 2023
5

The beginning of his Blue Period. Every bit as exciting as what he was doing creatively with The White Stripes.

👍
View Author
Mon Jun 26 2023
5

Very cool. Nice piano parts too.

👍
View Author
Fri Jul 07 2023
5

this album is fantastic Jack White kills it

👍
View Author
Tue Aug 08 2023
5

Outstanding. I've never heard this album before yesterday. It really blew me away. It will get repeated listening from me. Road trip music for sure.

👍
View Author
Mon Aug 14 2023
5

If you don't have this on so loud that it is actively giving you tinnitus then you didn't have the volume up high enough.

👍
View Author
Wed Aug 16 2023
5

Cool as hell, really moody stuff at times but has so much depth and variety. Brilliant stuff

👍
View Author
Thu Aug 31 2023
5

I'm starting to think this site is run by Jack White, given the frequency we see his stuff at. Anyway, good stuff as usual from Mr. W. I particularly like the skittering guitar solo (duo?) in Weep Themselves to Sleep

👍
View Author
Fri Sep 15 2023
5

I really like Jack White, but I'm not sure I ever listened to an entire album front to back. I was missing out. This is an impressive debut album where he builds on the new(ish) sound of the White Stripes but also solidifies himself as a solo talent, visionary, and perfectionist. It's really, really good.

👍
View Author
Thu Sep 21 2023
5

I was pleasently surprised with this one. When the iconic Sixteen Saltines came on I thought I was on a ride through a White Stripes album but as it played further I was left with a bunch of really good Folk/Country/Rock songs wotch was a nice switch of pace. Jack White is criminally underated. I might even dare say it's a White Stripes album if Elton John produces it. And that's a compliment. Weep Themselves to Sleep express this feeling the best. The mix of all those different genres are amazing. Truly a record that everybody jeeds to hear at least once.

👍
View Author
Fri Sep 22 2023
5

Not my kind of music 5stars for it anyway

👍
View Author
Fri Sep 29 2023
5

So, I guess with Meg out of the picture, Jack felt he could experiment more, since their sound had been defined by their two instruments. The opening track, with the Rhodes piano up-front, is great starter. “Sixteen Saltines” with its big guitar is a bit of a return to the rockier White Stripes sound and the more accessible sounds of the next few tracks no doubt led to the album going platinum in Canada and gold other countries. My favourites are the less-played songs that follow the LP’s one cover, “I’m Shaking” (if you’re going to play only one cover, that’s a good choice). They’re more eclectic and borrow from different styles, Progressive Folk, Country Rock with a focus on lyrics, structure, and diverse instruments, reaffirming his departure from The White Stripes sound. This reminds me a bit of Arctic Monkeys singer, Alex Turner going off and forming Last Shadow Puppets to experiment with different styles with positive results. Like Turner, Jack’s song-writing is great, as are the arrangements. He’s one of the great new(ish) talents out there.

👍
View Author
Mon Oct 02 2023
5

He's a bit pretentious, but Jack rocks. Love the variety of styles and instrumentation. This is pretty much a perfect album. Easy 5.

👍
View Author
Tue Oct 17 2023
5

A perfectly executed blues rock album. Up and down blues meets thoughtful composition and expert instrumentation. Loved this despite usually eye rolling at the thought of Jack white

👍
View Author
Tue Oct 24 2023
5

Juvenile lyrics, solid blues!

👍
View Author
Wed Oct 25 2023
5

I love Jack White and this has that classic Jack white feel. I was going to go with 4* but then thought better of it.

👍
View Author
Thu Oct 26 2023
5

No misses, went by very quickly and smoothly, enjoyed it a lot.

👍
View Author
Mon Nov 13 2023
5

It’s Jack White, awesome album!!!

👍
View Author
Tue Nov 14 2023
5

Listened to this stuck at a train station

👍
View Author
Thu Nov 23 2023
5

Great album, honestly don't think there's a bad song on, I don't love all of them, but the overall quality is undeniable, with Jack White's particular sensibilities easily heard all the way through.

👍
View Author
Sat Dec 16 2023
5

I love Jack white and this album is great.

👍
View Author
Mon Dec 18 2023
5

One of my favourite artists, with his solo debut, was always going to score highly. I'm not 100% sure it deserves full marks, but I'm damn sure that's what it is getting. He has such power to create a vision or a world, especially here where he doesn't need to compromise even a little. Some tracks are fairly raw, and great, and others have had a bit more production put into them, and are also great!

👍
View Author
Wed Dec 27 2023
5

Love this album start to finish, already on my full album listening rota. 5/5

👍
View Author
Sun Jan 07 2024
5

This was a really great blues rock album from Jack White. I already had an album from The White Stripes and that was pretty good as well, but I honestly think this was way better. I enjoyed almost every tracks and will definitely listen to it again. I highly recommend this album, especially for fans of rock music! Favorite Song(s): "Missing Pieces", "Sixteen Saltines", "Freedom at 21", "Love Interruption", "Blunderbuss"

👍
View Author
Tue Jan 16 2024
5

Love it when an album I already know shows up. Jack White is the exact right mix of real weird and insanely talented.

👍
View Author
Fri Jan 19 2024
5

I loved this! It made me want to see Jack White live and listen to more of his music. What a talent

👍
View Author
Mon Jan 22 2024
5

I’ve never really delved into Jack White and I don’t know why. He’s really good. This music makes me feel like there’s an army of history and influences behind it.

👍
View Author
Thu Jan 25 2024
5

One of my favorite albums by one of my favorite artists.

👍
View Author
Tue Jan 30 2024
5

Amazing debut solo album. It stands apart from the White Stripes, but had the same flavor. It's only fault it's being outshined by Lazaretto. I haven't really revisited this album since then. It has held up and is still a neat perfect album in my opinion.

👍
View Author
Tue Jan 30 2024
5

Jack has all sorts of projects out there. He keeps rock alive.

👍
View Author
Fri Feb 02 2024
5

Großartig Alternative Rock Album

👍
View Author
Sat Feb 24 2024
5

Great use of Instruments and background voice work

👍
View Author
Mon Feb 26 2024
5

Prime Jack White material. The album that kickstarted my love for what he's doing.

👍
View Author
Tue Feb 27 2024
5

Wow! Wasn't sure what to expect from his solo album. Not a bad song on the entire album! 5/5

👍
View Author
Sun Mar 03 2024
5

For me , this record incites several mixed responses from me . First I was very shocked to learn that this was not pre-1990 since i thought the sound was very synonymous with those eras of rock. In terms of the tracklisting , the record started off very strong fell of in the middle and trying to make something of an end to it. But my biggest contrast was me loving the instrumentation so much but not giving a care about the lyrics. But somehow I liked very much compared to other similar records I've been recommended

👍
View Author
Tue Mar 05 2024
5

I’m generally a fan of most of Jack White’s projects, and it seemed like he held the reins and had most of the creative control with The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather, but that’s even more the case on Blunderbuss. Prior to the release of this album, I wasn’t super impressed by “Sixteen Saltines” (it’s now grown on me more), and I was concerned that White wasn’t going to be able to make something as great as his old stuff without a backing band (even though one of those bands was just one additional person). But I was corrected in multiple ways: the amount of talent on this album is immense, all brought together by White and, yes, under his complete creative control. And the music recorded is all fantastic. It’s like a mix of the amazing songwriting of The White Stripes plus but with crisp production added. I know that not everyone loves that because Jack White became synonymous with garage rock and a sort of lo-fi style of production, but I think the fine engineering on Blunderbuss is for the better. I had the pleasure of seeing Jack White live touring for this album at the inaugural Firefly Festival in 2012; he and his band put on a great show. There were some snags with the sound not working great, but after they sorted it out, everything was perfect. I’ll never forget the end of that night, when all the concertgoers were filtering out of the festival grounds to the tents or parking lot all chanting “Seven Nation Army”.

👍
View Author
Sun Mar 10 2024
5

I’m very familiar with this one. Love it. So creative and loud. He’s a legend, a guitar god.

👍
View Author
Mon Mar 11 2024
5

Overall, this is a great album. To me, it has the perfect mix of keys, guitar, drums along with the unique voice of JW. You can't get bored from track to track. Lyric are interesting and good harmonies and background vocals are included. There are just a few songs I don't need to hear again but 9/13 I love. Not my favorite album of his, but a firm recommendation from me to listen to it. Love that he seems to include some influences from early rock artists The Killer and Elvis in some songs. I see all stars when I see Jack White.

👍
View Author
Tue Mar 12 2024
5

For my money, Jack White is one of the finest songwriters to ever live. Maybe song creator might be a better title than just writer. Acting as the producer and mixer of this album, as well as multi-instrumentalist, his finger prints are all over this album. Pure joyful genius.

👍
View Author
Wed Mar 13 2024
5

I’ve liked all the White Stripes stuff I’ve listened to, so I had high hopes for this album. It did not disappoint. Great!

👍
View Author
Wed Mar 13 2024
5

I know this is weird but Blunderbuss is the album that brought me back to rock music after about 15 years of listening to nothing but showtunes. I'd pretty much missed the White Stripes and didn't really know who Jack White was when I caught a performance of Love Interruption on a talk show and positively swooned at the opening notes of the organ and guitar and the soulful harmonies. White pulls off the throwback sound of the album with ease, like he's channeling music from another time. I think this one's pretty great.

👍
View Author
Wed Mar 13 2024
5

I guess I am a fan of the work of Jack White...at least what this project has made me familiar with.

👍
View Author
Wed Mar 13 2024
5

I enjoyed this quite a bit! A happy surprise!

👍
View Author
Fri Mar 22 2024
5

Absolutely fantastic classic. Wow. Bigger fan of this than any White Stripes. Killer talent demonstrating classic rock/blues sounds.

👍
View Author
Tue Mar 26 2024
5

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite Jack White album. There are many perfect White Stripes albums and he went on the have a cool solo career while also just being a crazy cool dude. No notes.

👍
View Author
Wed Mar 27 2024
5

I feel like Jack White is one of only a handful of artists who are able to play such a wide variety of different rock genres, and genuinely nail every single one in a genuinely ambitious and respectful way Beck would be another great example and I’m not a fan of John Mayer, but he seems to kind of be there? anyway, this album is a 10/10 - loved every song :)

👍
View Author
Sun Apr 23 2023
4

It's more interesting than most blues rock. It's a conundrum... Workingbwith lots of different musicians means this has a far greater sonic pallette than the White Stripes. However, it loses some of that monomaniacal drive that made the White Stripes so good. It's different, and it has both benefits and issues. It is a good album though, maybe two tracks too long

👍
View Author
Fri Apr 28 2023
4

Some surprisingly cool songs on here. Nice!

👍
View Author
Fri May 05 2023
4

Ik vind vooral de stukken waar de dames meezingen leuk. De rest eigenlijk ook.

👍
View Author
Sat May 06 2023
4

This album was great jack white has an awesome voice

👍
View Author
Sun May 07 2023
4

Really good, more than just a one band wonder with White Stripes.

👍
View Author
Sun May 07 2023
4

Actually brilliantly enjoyable album. Not listen to any of his work before but I was on the line to giving this 5. So much variety in the songs but all them hit so well. Great voice great sound

👍
View Author
Tue May 09 2023
4

Much better than white stripes?

👍
View Author
Wed May 10 2023
4

A slicker, beefier, and better White Stripes. Rating: 4/5 Playlist track: Sixteen Saltines Date listened: 09/05/23

👍
View Author
Mon May 15 2023
4

Sorry Meg this is my favorite Jack white project

👍
View Author
Tue May 16 2023
4

"Blunderbluss" is the debut solo album by American musician Jack White. The album was written, recorded and produced by Jack at Third Man Studio in Nashville. He started the songs with musicians who became available at Third Man when RZA's recording was canceled. Jack used various production styles, an all male band and an all female band and recorded different versions of the songs. The musical styles are blues rock, folk, jazz and country soul. Lyrics deal with death, loss and collapsing relationships...lots on relationships. The album was mostly well received by critics. An piano and a jazzy beat starts off "Missing Pieces." Of couse, there's guitar. Interesting lyrics as he compares loss of body parts to the give and take of a relationship. No, we did not go totally away from The White Stripes as Jack crunches those chords in "Sixteen Salines." The struggles of a former lover. Hey, there's a weird drum pattern and Jack rapping in "21 Freedom." He's got kind of a 60's melodic guitar which goes harder. The first single. "Love Interuption" has an acoustic guitar, a wurlitzer electronic piano and great backing vocals. A mid-tempo soulful song. Violent acts of love as a form of self-discipline? Jack kind of lighten things up with his cover of "Shakin.'" He goes R&B and kind of groovy. The album ends with "Take Me With You When You Go." Funky, jazzy. Overlayered rhythm and lead guitars. This is a real good album; it's been a few years since I had listen to this. Probably, the way you want to go solo after a successful band: No garage rock, a lot of songs not guitar led or at least in combo with some other instruments and variety of styles. This is my favorite of his solo albums.

👍
View Author
Thu May 18 2023
4

This album makes me think that maybe Meg tends to rein him in a bit. Great stuff overall. Best track: Love Interruption

👍
View Author
Sat May 20 2023
4

Like his stuff in the white stripes more but still good. Extra star for being from Michigan

👍
View Author
Mon May 22 2023
4

I vaguely remember listening to this when it came out as I didn't mind the white stripes (not my fav band but hey). But I also vaguely remember being bored. Some of it is white stripes goodness, but some of it is artsy-fartsy, indulgent nonsense. I guess I could say it's experimental - Jack White is a fucking talented guy and when he's on, he's really ON. If I ignore the meandering indulgent bits towards the end, it's a pretty damn good album. 4/5.

👍
View Author
Tue May 23 2023
4

listened to again it's impossible to not love jack white, i credit him and annie clark for making the guitar cool again

👍
View Author
Thu May 25 2023
4

This is a COOL album. Jack White I’ve always found to be a little odd but what a cool vibe that put a modern spin on some classic 70s rock.

👍
View Author
Thu May 25 2023
4

What a weird but also surprisingly good album. There was a lot of variety which sometimes turns me off to an album but these songs all seemed to work well together.

👍
View Author
Thu May 25 2023
4

Every Jack White album that's come up, I've enjoyed! Impressive variety that he nails each time despite the range of styles

👍
View Author
Mon May 29 2023
4

Jack's playing and melodies incredible. One of the best musicians ever, and this album does not disappoint.

👍
View Author
Wed May 31 2023
4

Rento ja tyylikäs. Oli uus levytuttavuus. 3,5 tähtee… melkein pakko ylöspäin pyöristää

👍
View Author
Thu Jun 08 2023
4

I did not know this was the white stripes guy! I was super impressed with the guitar sound and the keys were amazing as well. As a piano player I definitely smiled when I heard the keys come in mostly on the second half of the album.

👍
View Author
Mon Jun 12 2023
4

Decent stuff, though it feels a bit behind the curve considering this came out in 2012. 7/10

👍
View Author
Mon Jun 12 2023
4

8/10. Always skeptical when this list throws me a 2010's album from an artist past their peak, but every once in a while they turn out to be pretty good.

👍
View Author
Wed Jun 14 2023
4

An artist I like playing songs of a style I like should be perfect. However, it's not, and I don't know why. It's very good, but not perfect as I was expecting.

👍
View Author
Fri Jun 16 2023
4

Good, although it lacks something that Jack nailed in the White Stripes typically.

👍
View Author
Fri Jun 16 2023
4

Jack White always brings a certain style and swagger that just works for me, and hearing a more free expression of sound compared to White Stripes was nice (even if it did drag a tad by the end).

👍
View Author
Sun Jun 18 2023
4

Strong solo debut. DNA of The White Stripes here of course, but a bit more stripped down. Heard many of the hits but nice to hear the others.

👍
Load more reviews