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The Black Keys
Rubber Factory

The Black Keys — Rubber Factory (September 7th, 2004)    The Black Keys — Rubber Factory (September 7th, 2004)
«»♦   Album vyšlo v šestnácti vydáních a sklízí úspěchy. Rubber Factory is the third studio album by American rock duo The Black Keys. It was self–produced by the band and was released on September 7, 2004 on Fat Possum Records. The album was recorded in an abandoned tire–manufacturing factory in the group's hometown of Akron, Ohio. Rubber Factory received positive reviews and was the band's first album to chart on the Billboard 200 in the United States, reaching number 143.
«»♦   Intense Akron, Ohio blues–soaked duo that began by overwhelming indie rock critics and quickly moved to arena audiences. Location: Akron, Ohio
Album release: September 7, 2004
Recorded: January 2004 — May 2004, Sentient Sound, Akron, Ohio
Record Label: Fat Possum / Pias UK
Duration:     41:19
Tracks:
01. When The Lights Go Out      3:24
02. 10 A.M. Automatic      2:59
03. Just Couldn't Tie Me Down      2:57
04. All Hands Against His Own      3:15
05. The Desperate Man      3:53
06. Girl Is On My Mind      3:26
07. The Lengths      4:50
08. Grown So Ugly (Robert Pete Williams)      2:25
09. Stack Shot Billy      3:19
10. Act Nice and Gentle (Ray Davies) 2:42
11. Aeroplane Blues      2:50
12. Keep Me      2:50
13. Till I Get My Way      2:29
℗ 2004 Fat Possum Records
«»♦   All songs written and composed by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney except where noted.
Personnel:
The Black Keys
«»♦   Dan Auerbach — guitars, fiddle, lap steel, vocals, hand claps
«»♦   Patrick Carney — drums, percussion, hand claps
Technical
«»♦   Patrick Carney — recording
«»♦   The Black Keys — production, mixing
«»♦   Greg Calbi — masteringAWARDS:
Billboard Albums
«   2012 Rubber Factory The Billboard 200      #131
»♦   2012 Rubber Factory Top Pop Catalog      #22
«   2011 Rubber Factory Top Pop Catalog      #47
»♦   2004 Rubber Factory The Billboard 200      #143
«   2004 Rubber Factory Top Heatseekers      #5
»♦   2004 Rubber Factory Top Independent Albums      #11
CREDITS
«»♦   Dan Auerbach Composer, Fiddle, Group Member, Guitar, Handclapping, Lap Steel Guitar, Sound Effects, Vocals
«»♦   The Black Keys Audio Production, Mixing, Producer
«»♦   Greg Calbi Mastering
«»♦   Michael Carney Artwork, Design
«»♦   Patrick Carney Audio Engineer, Composer, Drums, Engineer, Group Member, Handclapping, Percussion, Sound Effects
«»♦   Ray Davies Composer
«»♦   Robert Pete Williams ComposerPackaging:
«»♦   The sleeve artwork for Rubber Factory was designed by the group's creative director Michael Carney the brother of Patrick Carney. The artwork is a collage of 'historic' local features, mainly from the desolate east side of Akron — abandoned storefronts, tire piles, the Goodyear blimp, and even the Cathedral of Tomorrow's unfinished tower restaurant depicted as a smoke stack on the front of the album. Studio albums:
»♦  The Big Come Up (2002)
»♦  Thickfreakness (2003)
»♦  Rubber Factory (2004)
»♦  Magic Potion (2006)
»♦  Attack & Release (2008)
»♦  Brothers (2010)
»♦  El Camino (2011)
»♦  Turn Blue (2014)

REVIEW
By Jonathan Zwickel; September 9, 2004;  Score: 8.3
«»♦   Now that The Black Keys have solidified themselves as ranking contenders in the garage–blues tag–team division (a recognized and surprisingly competitive weight class), they've got a whole field of challengers to fend off. I'm thinking primarily of me, the critic, looking to measure their latest effort against its vaunted predecessors, counting the faults, tallying the improvements, making a decision. But the band has garnered a sizable fanbase indifferent to prior allegiances — mud–caked Bonnaroo jam fans, NPR–driven blues boosters, and fist–pumping hard rock loyalists have all been trampled under The Black Keys' roots–chewing corduroy stomp. So really, it makes little difference what I have to say; most of you have already decided these guys are the real deal. Those who haven't, however, can rest assured that, in judging The Black Keys' budding discography, Rubber Factory beats their previous two by TKO.
«»♦   That's because it picks up right where Thickfreakness left off — outside the bar in the gravel parking lot, swinging aggressively with Dan Auerbach's ferocious six–string and Patrick Carney's cymbal–and–snare seizures — and brings the noise one step further. There's more of an album feel to Rubber Factory, a conscious song–by–song progression rather than the visceral, overwhelming vibe that forged their debut, The Big Come Up, into a seething wrecking ball. When Auerbach settles down with a lap steel on "The Lengths", it's no mere diversion — there's true conviction behind his country blues balladry. In its rosy tenderness, "The Lengths" is the biggest departure from the band's studied template. Auerbach sings, “Please yourself/ You don't have to be afraid,” and it seems obvious he's convincing himself that he and Carney have carved out a niche deep enough they can break out of it with confidence to deliver something totally unexpected and achingly sweet.«»♦   "The Lengths" isn't the album's only curveball — The Kinks cover "Act Nice and Gentle" finds The Black Keys tuning into the FM side of the dial. Where Ray Davies' original is twangy, sugary pop, The Black Keys give it a honky–tonk swing, as Auerback plies the slide and Carney's fireworks fade to a gentle sizzle. "Grown So Ugly" is a tragic prison blues penned by Robert Pete Williams and covered in the 1970s by Captain Beefheart. Auerbach tears into the standard with typical grit, but halfway through, pulls back into a short–lived vocal break that merits his position in the Fat Possum pantheon.
«»♦   Those three tunes stand out as impressive tangents that skillfully mediate the rest of the album's oldtime Black Keys thunder. Songs like "Stack Shot Billy" and "Girl Is on My Mind" show the memorable songwriting that made Thickfreakness a standout. "When the Lights Go Out" opens Rubber Factory with a Bonham–esque bass pulse and an ominously pealing guitar, while closer "Till I Get My Way" lays one line of primitive Auerbach distortion over another more genteel melody until the two eventually swim together beneath Carney's splashy cymbal work.
«»♦   And then there's "10 A.M. Automatic", Rubber Factory's first single and easily one of the most radio–ready indie anthems of the year, next to Modest Mouse's "Float On". It's the song most likely to show up in a Guy Ritchie flick next summer, a cool–as–fuck, hormone–laced dose of rock 'n' roll ecstasy. Here, Auerbach's voice attains that archetypal blues fever that induced the birth of rock 50 years ago; melody and rhythm mesh into a primal force that's raw and pure.
«»♦   The Black Keys have consistently sought to keep their distance from modern blues, calling themselves a rock band above anything else. But we all know the blues resides at the core of rock 'n' roll. Rubber Factory sways back and forth almost imperceptibly between the two idioms, revitalizing the essence of both. http://pitchfork.com/AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine;  Score: ****½
«»♦   It's easy to think of the Black Keys as the flip side of the White Stripes. They both hail from the Midwest, they both work a similar garage blues ground and both have color–coded names. If they're not quite kissing cousins, they're certainly kindred spirits, and they're following surprisingly similar career arcs, as the Keys' third album, Rubber Factory, is neatly analogous to the Stripes' third album breakthrough, White Blood Cells. Rubber Factory finds the duo expanding, stretching, and improving, coming into its own as a distinctive, original, thoroughly great rock & roll band. With 2003's Thickfreakness, guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney delivered on the promise of a raw, exciting debut by sharpening their sound and strengthening the songwriting, thereby upping the ante for their next record, and Rubber Factory doesn't disappoint. Instead, it surprises in a number of delightful ways, redefining the duo without losing the essence of the band. For instance, the production has more shades than either The Big Come Up or Thickfreakness — witness the creepy late–night vibe of the opening "When the Lights Go Out" or how the spare, heartbroken, and slide guitar–laden "The Lengths" sounds like it's been rusted over — but it's also harder, nastier, and uglier than those albums, piled with truly brutal, gut–level guitar. Yet through these sheets of noise, vulnerability pokes through, not just on "The Lengths," but in a lazy, loping, terrific version of the Kinks' "Act Nice and Gentle." And, like their cover of the Beatles' "She Said, She Said" on their debut, "Act Nice and Gentle" illustrates that even if the Black Keys have more legit blues credentials than any of their peers, they're nevertheless an indie rock band raised with not just a knowledge of classic rock, but with excellent taste and, most importantly, an instinct for what makes great rock & roll. They know that sound matters, not just how a band plays but how a band is recorded, and that blues sounds better when it's unvarnished, which is why each of their records feels more like a real blues album than anything cut since the '60s. But they're not revivalists, either. They've absorbed the language of classic rock and the sensibility of indie rock — they're turning familiar sounds into something nervy and fresh, music that builds on the past yet lives fearlessly in the moment. On a sheer gut level, they're intoxicating and that alone would be enough to make Rubber Factory a strong listen, but what makes it transcendent is that Auerbach has developed into such a fine songwriter. His songs have enough melodic and lyrical twists to make it seem like he's breaking rules, but his trick is that he's doing this within traditional blues–rock structures. He's not just reinvigorating a familiar form, he's doing it without a lick of pretension; it never seems as if the songs were written, but that they've always existed and have just been discovered, which is true of any great blues song. Carney gives these songs the production they deserve — some tunes are dense and heavy with guitars, others are spacious and haunting — and the result is the most exciting and best rock & roll record of 2004. http://www.allmusic.com/
Website: http://www.theblackkeys.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBlackKeys
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The Black Keys
Rubber Factory

ALBUM COVERS XI.