JACK WHITE: Lazaretto

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Jack White
Lazaretto
Columbia Records
Blind Willie McTellâs 1928 Victor recording âThree Women Bluesâ was pure Piedmont blues with undertones of racial pride in his yellow, black and brown-skinned lovers. In Jack Whiteâs hands, the song sounds like early-â70s arena-level British blues rock revival, while his three women are redheaded, blonde and brunette. (âIt took a digital photograph to pick which one I like.â) Yes, 1920s blues lyrics can be adapted to 21st century technology, but note that White recorded Lazaretto on his own analog equipment.
âThree Womenâ is the CDâs sole song where White shares authorship. Still, when âJust One Drinkâ opens, âYou drink water, I drink gasoline,â we wonder if heâs recycling a bit of Howlinâ Wolfâs âI Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline).â Whiteâs dedication to the blues is clear judging by Third Man Records (which he founded) collaborating with Document Records for reissues of McTell, Charlie Patton and the Mississippi Sheiks as well as, on a grander scale, working with the Revenant label to reissue Paramount Recordsâ 1927-32 catalog.
In terms of arrangements, bizarrely fascinating Lazaretto (Whiteâs second solo CD) is all over the map with moments of folk baroque, Texas blues and a plethora of rock styles. Similarly, God shifts gender from song to song as White digs into his own â and everyoneâs â basic fears, frustrations and neuroses. In âEntitlementâ he concludes, âNot one single person on Godâs golden shore is entitled to one single thing.â Do another songâs characters, Want and Able, borrow at all from Cain and Abel in the Book of Genesis?
The CDâs own genesis involved Whiteâs recently coming upon a series of short stories he wrote in his teens. He used them as the basis for these songs and then destroyed the originals.
As for the end result, the most noted character created by 19th-century logician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll) had a phrase that could well describe Lazaretto. As Alice would say, âCuriouser and curiouser.â
â Bruce Sylvester