The Dead Weather

• Horehound [Third Man, 2009] A-
• Sea of Cowards [Third Man/Warner Bros., 2010] B+
• Dodge and Burn [Third Man, 2015] **

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Horehound [Third Man, 2009]
The Kills, Queens of the Stone Age, the Raconteurs, and the White Stripes are all staunchly schematic bands. They put their stamp on the simplistic and the emotive by formalizing them. Here, under the firm hand of Jack White, representatives from each let their ya-yas out, obscuring their minor deficiencies of songcraft in an expressionistic roil of sound. White's drums duke it out with Dean Fertita's guitar, mostly below the belt. Alison Mosshart doffs her s&m drag to suffer and yelp. Jack Lawrence plays bass. Fierce. A-

Sea of Cowards [Third Man/Warner Bros., 2010]
The elemental runs a lot deeper for this Jack White-Dean Fertita vehicle than for their secret sharers Queens of the Stone Age. Just as in the Delta blues they adore, even fewer songs here than on the debut will mean much cut adrift from this particular musical realization. Nevertheless, I heartily recommend "The Difference Between Us" to whoever wants it--the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, mayhap? B+

Dodge and Burn [Third Man, 2015]
How much you need the latest Jack White move depends on how much you've been missing Queens of the Stone Age, which for me was more than I'd thought but, get real, not much. ("Open Up," "Three Dollar Hat") **