El Camino – The Black Keys ★★★

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2011	El Camino	The Black Keys	★★★	66	Rock	Alternative Rock	Blues Rock

El Camino represents The Black Keys at their peak popularity. “Lonely Boy” was an absolute banger of a single that had a lot more energy than what they had offered the album prior, an energy that’s revisited on “Run Right Back” later on the record. “Gold On The Ceiling” and “Money Maker” are harmless old school rockers with catchy choruses. “Little Black Submarine” show’s of the band’s range, using a slow acoustic build to lead into a more electric reprise and bridge. And the band continues to hit on their blues influences throughout, but with more explosive choruses and a bit more aggressive of a sound overall.

However, the problem The Black Keys face is that El Camino and its predecessor, Brothers, both lack what the other album offers too much of.  Where Brothers could have used a pure rocker like “Dead and Gone” or “Stop Stop” to bring the energy with “Howlin’ for You,” El Camino would have been better off with a few more of the slow, blues tracks that ended up blending together on Brothers.

I don’t think any of the songs here are bad, but it sounds a little too generic without that variety, and lacks a little of the rawness that the band was known for earlier in their run.  You probably could pick 5 or 6 songs from both records and make a killer, balanced album, but instead we got two solid works. It’s hard to complain about that.