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Product Description
Review
The Dead Weather's first album offered ammunition aplenty for those disinclined to doff their caps to Jack White's alleged genius. Cobbled together in little more than two weeks on the back of jamming sessions with rock star chums Alison 'The Kills' Mosshart, Queens of the Stone Age's Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence of White's own Raconteurs, Horehound was a largely unlovable affair that shaded White's ever-present Zep-ophilia with hints of voodoo hokum and–gasp–nu-metal. It was, in truth, some of the ugliest music The White Stripes frontman had ever put his name to.
But maybe this gloomiest of supergroups just needed a little longer stewing in the gumbo pot of their southern gothic influences, because Sea of Cowards works hard to dispel those not-unjustified notions of The Dead Weather being Jack White's third-best band. What's even stranger is that they appear to have succeeded, in spite of the fact 80% of the record proceeds from a fairly lumpen blues template which at first glance would seem to suggest a continued dearth of inspiration.
Blue Blood Blues is the first clue that the bar's been raised here. Musically it sounds like a funky twist on the staccato end of the Stripes' songbook, squelchy guitar accents indulging the taste for kitschy sound effects that has crept into White's latter-day output. Lyrically, it finds Detroit's pastiest son spitting devious rhymes as bone-shakingly good as "shake your hips like battleships / all the white girls trip when I sing that Sunday service". The funk influence is even more marked on the Mosshart-sung Hustle and Cuss, a sultry strut that clings like sweaty shirt fabric and sounds a lot like early Funkadelic. Not the most natural of links, perhaps, but one they return to throughout and to great effect.
Die by the Drop is all dark sparks and skulduggery between White and Mosshart; along with the malignant synths of The Difference Between Us it's as close as The Dead Weather comes to pop (read: not that close). I'm Mad rather soberingly suggests Jon Spencer turned evil dentist in an underground lair. Ironic, really, given that Spencer's reanimated blues shtick was supposedly rendered obsolete by White's first band. What exactly are we to make of this? Added to the fact that Sea of Cowards is distinctly one-paced, boorish, and industrious as opposed to bravura, it should add up to one giant backwards step, right? Thing is, when you've got the likes of Jawbreaker and No Horse rocking as hard as Ron Asheton's freshly-dug grave dirt, it feels like anything but. --Alex Denney
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
FUNKY FOLLOW UP DOESN'T DISAPPOINT!!,
By
This review is from: Sea Of Cowards (Audio CD)
In an era where it can take a band sometimes 4 years if not longer to follow up their debut album it comes as a refreshing change that The Dead Weather haven't even waited a year to deliver album number 2 "Sea Of Cowards", yes its just ten short months ago that debut album "horehound" was released. It was originally thought it was just a Jack White and Alison Mosshart(The Kills) collaboration but it soon became clear that Jack Lawerence(The Greenhorns) and Dean Fertita(queens of the stone age) also played a big part in the writing and preforming of Horehound.So here we are with album number 2 with the same line up intact, and with the only concern is would it be as good as Horehound or would it end up being too rushed! Thankfully it doesn't suffer from any of these things and in many ways outshines Horehound! When the first single Die by the drop was released the minute you heard it you knew it was The Dead Weather with their signature organ opening(think Bone House on Horehound), so the next question would be was their any development in their sound or would they be happy to rest on their laurels and play it safe? Well as we know Jack White doesn't believe in playing it safe. Opener "Blue Blood Blues" proves this as it continues in the fashion of Horehounds I Cut Like A Buffalo which always had a funkier feel and Sea Of Cowards has much more of a funkier feel this time compared to Horehound , the Mosshart/White written "The Difference Between Us" see Mosshart taking over vocal duties and also includes that familiar organ sound. The funk rock of "I'm Mad" is one of the highlights of the album and all four members contribute brilliantly on a track that has a rhythm section sounding like "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin before going in a completely different direction half ways through, it works a treat! No Horse starts off with a big sounding riff before the drums and bass drive the song on with the haunting vocals off Mosshart singing over it. Its great to hear White and Mosshart trade and work off each other and are so alike at times it's unreal, as she the female version of him or vice versa. The album closes out with "Old Mary" which has White deliver a spoken prayer over the start of the song and closes the album in great fashion! The album clocks in at around the 35 minute mark which is nearly 10 minutes less than "Horehound" and on this album it seems that The Dead Weather are discovering what direction they want to head in which is definitely much more funkier style so album number three should be real interesting, just don't expect it in ten months time as it looks like at the end of the current tour all four members will be returning to their day jobs, Pity that as it sounds like they are only beginning!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Swimming In A Sea Of Cowards...,
By Rhys "Feelin' Fuzzier" (Perth, Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sea Of Cowards (Audio CD)
In banding together to create the Dead Weather, Jack White and Alison Mosshart, of the White Stripes and the Kills fame, have struck gold. Having never heard much of either of thier former bands work, I bought this second offering from rock's biggest supergroup based solely on thier first album 'Horehound' which was never going to be an easy act to follow. But let me tell you, Sea of Cowards easily surpasses it's predecessor by a mile. It grows on the sound they explored in Horehound but cranks the bluesey funk-o-metre up to 11.It's near impossible to pick one single highlight or standout track with each offering a convincing case. Blue Blood Blues is an excellent opener which flows effortlessly into Hustle and Cuss, a track that sounds like Horehounds "Hang You Up From The Heavens" direct descendant. Third track "The Differnece Between Us" is a synth and guitar infused popfest with Mosshart's vocals soaring in a terribly catchy chorus. I'm Mad and Die By The Drop are both intensely haunting and gothic. I Can't Hear You slows the tempo right down but this isn't a bad thing as the bluesy feel keeps you hooked. Gasoline and No Horse are two of my favourite tracks with the former being a short burst of shrieking Mosshart vocals and squealing guitar riffs. Looking at The Invisible Man is a strange track which failed to grow on me which is a shame as for me it is the only low-point of the 35 minute run time. Luckily Jawbreaker is a track made in the same mould as Gasoline and it rocks so hard it might just live up to it's namesake. Lastly Old Mary is a return to some of The Dead Weather's first album with the tempo being slowed right down and the spooky eerie feeling returning. It's an odd way to finish, but it feels like it fits. To sum up this album hits the high notes that Horehound failed to and is definetly my favouraite album this year. It fails to grow old on you and I hope this awesome band continue to rock as hard as this in the future.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Continued Ear-Bending Excellence,
By
This review is from: Sea Of Cowards (Audio CD)
I bought 'Sea of Cowards' through Amazon a few days before seeing The Dead Weather at The Roundhouse in their post-Glastonbury whistle-stop tour, having loved loved loved the first album 'Horehound'. I just had time to start absorbing the tracks before the live versions blew away any notion of listening to any other band for the following 3 weeks! In Alison Mosshart, Jack White has found his Muse, a perfect foil to fence and interchange with his own lyrical genius, blending and soaring with and above the excellent Fertita/Lawrence musicianship. Here is a band unfettered by the whim of self-important producers, unaffected by their own ego or the homogenous mass of same-sounding turpitude ushered in by 'r&b' factories for the less-discerning ears of the Cowell era. They are all excellent musicians who interchange effortlessly on stage, and therefore in the studio. They just love doing what they do! Alison Mosshart's stage presence when in this guise is jaw-dropping, the near-equal of JW himself. A no-nonsence approach to 'hit hard & then hit again' track sequences seen previously on Raconteurs' albums is again applied here. Sea of Cowards was continuously on play in my car, in the home and on my Creative Zen (accept no substitute)for at least 3 weeks, and I mean continuous. I even tried to get into other albums, I just could not do it - everything else (except Horehound) seemed just luke-warm for the best part of a month. Favourite tracks? All of them have been in turn (with the possible exclusion of Old Mary - but I still recognise its genius), however the enduring favourites now are 'Hustle & Cuss', 'The Difference Between Us', 'Gasoline' (both of which show Mosshart at her very best)and 'Jawbreaker'. Oh and play it loud!
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