National Music Review by T-Bone: The Dead Weather

Band: The Dead Weather
Album: Sea of Cowards
Release: May 11th 2010

Jack White is one of those artists who, upon becoming famous, immediately started trying to share the limelight with other, lesser-known artists that he believed in. The beauty of this was, that unlike so many other well-meaning musicians, he didn’t just stick to artists in one genre, or musicians he was already friends with.

Whether it was lending his guitar, production or drumming talents to recordings, letting obscure singers duet on White Stripes albums, or starting multiple super-groups to draw attention to other artists it seemed that Jack White was fighting a one man war to save Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Sea of Cowards definitely counts as a victory in this war, which is shocking since it comes less than a year after their mediocre debut Horehound, which was pretty much one rocking song surrounded by a collection of semi-completed demos.

When you listen to this, you realize why they were in such a hurry to put out a new album. The players seem more comfortable with themselves, and the instrumentals have a life of their own, instead of sounding forced. The songs seem more thought out, and they now sound more like a band than a vanity project. This album has a heavy dose of Zeppelin coursing through it, but manages to balance it with other ideas so that it doesn’t become derivative. There are still some weak points on this album, but overall the killer outweighs the filler.

-T-Bone