Blunderbuss＜完全生産限定盤＞

2012年発売 ジャック・ホワイトのソロ・デビュー・アルバム『Blunderbuss』(アナログ盤)

2012年4月に発売されたジャック・ホワイトのソロ・デビュー・アルバム『Blunderbuss』は、彼がこれまでに制作したアルバムの中でも特にアーティスト性の強い作品。初のビルボード・チャート1位を獲得し、その年アナログ盤は全米で3万3,000枚を売り上げ、トップセラーとなった。アメリカ、オーストラリア、イギリスでゴールドディスク、カナダではプラチナディスク認定を受けた。

Rolling Stone (p.67) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "[It's] his most expansive and masterful record since the White Stripes' 2003 classic, ELEPHANT, full of brilliant songs about how love tears your body and soul to shreds..." Entertainment Weekly (p.109) - "[T]he nostalgia for simpler times works here....He's recruited pedal-steel players, harpists, and violinists for a set so vintage in style -- with nods to '70s country, '60s garage, classic rock, and the blues -- that it's sequenced to play on vinyl." -- Grade: B Uncut (p.66) - "[I]t's a surly, spiky piece of work....Love, clearly, is the brooding heart of the matter here, with protagonists trapped in a co-dependency of dark desire." Billboard (p.28) - "BLUNDERBUSS is 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." Q (Magazine) (p.92) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] concentrated shot of charisma, undiluted and intoxicating." Mojo (Publisher) (p.80) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he musical invention remains consistent throughout and gradually we emerge out of the thorny briar thicket of broken hearts and busted noses."

Jack White leaves such an indelible stamp on any project he touches that a solo album from him almost seems unnecessary: nobody has ever told him what to do. He's a rock & roll auteur, bending other artists to fit his will, leading bands even when he's purportedly no more than a drummer, always enjoying dictating the fashion by placing restrictions on himself. And so it is on Blunderbuss, his first official solo album, arriving five years after the White Stripes' last but seeming much sooner given White's constant flurry of activity with the Raconteurs, Dead Weather, Third Man Records, and countless productions. Here, he's once again placed restrictions on himself but they're not quite as clearly defined as they've been in the past, as when he's gotten great dividends by working with a limited palette. All the restrictions are entirely of a comforting variety: he's abandoned the primitivism of the White Stripes, something that came easily with Meg White bashing away on the drums, and has chosen a quieter, polished route, rotating in different musicians for different tracks. Jack still pulls out some standards from his bag of tricks -- clenched blues explosions, squealing guitars, and a cool breeze of electric piano -- but musicians matter and this bunch of pro players tightens and softens his attack (sometimes to its detriment, as on a clumsy cabaret version of Little Willie John's "I'm Shakin'"). When Blunderbuss gets furious, it's hard not to miss the chaos Meg brought to the Stripes -- with her at the drums, "Sixteen Saltines" would fly off the rails -- but it's a mistake to think of this album as a professionally produced White Stripes record as it relies as heavily on ideas White explored on his handful of old-timey acoustic cuts and the '70s guitar rock of the Raconteurs. If it resembles any Stripes album it's Get Behind Me Satan, the dark, odd 2005 set written in the wake of a breakup and filled with songs of paranoia and recrimination. This too is a divorce album with every song concerning love gone wrong, yet it's easy to ignore all the pain roiling underneath because Blunderbuss plays so sweetly, its melodies easing into memory and its surface warm and pleasant. Contradictions are nothing new for Jack White but he's never been as emotionally direct as he is here, nor has he been as musically evasive, and that dichotomy makes Blunderbuss a record that only seems richer with increased exposure. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

ホワイト・ストライプスの解散から約1年、ジャック・ホワイトが〈フジロック〉出演という吉報と共に初のソロ・アルバムで帰ってきた。そしてこれが痺れるほどの素晴らしさ。時代やジャンルといった壁を蹴散らして、聴く者すべての血を沸騰させるような、熱く肉感的なブルース/ロックンロールがぎっしり詰まっている。エレピやストリングスが導入され、実はエレキ・ギターをあまり弾いていなかったりもするのだが、全編に貫かれた生々しい剥き出しのエモーションが、ラカンターズやデッド・ウェザーはもちろん、ホワイト・ストライプスにも増して、ジャック・ホワイトという稀代のブルースマンの本質を伝えていると思う。早く苗場で“Sixteen Saltines"を爆音で浴びたい。
bounce (C)鈴木宏和