Jack White - Blunderbuss
Critic Score
Based on 41 reviews
2012 Ratings: #41 / 1118
Year End Rank: #14
User Score
Based on 601 ratings
2012 Rank: #234
Liked by 52 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Billboard

Blunderbuss isn’t just (arguably) the best album of the year so far, it opens up a whole new world for him.

100
Pretty Much Amazing

Blunderbuss is outstanding, White’s finest and most consistent work to date.

100
The Guardian
Jack White has always been at his best when he's at his weirdest – and that is very, very much the case here.
100
Mojo

While Blunderbuss appears to be definite off-loading of emotional baggage, it also feels like a move toward rebirth.

100
The Telegraph
From its raucous, raw-edged opening salvo to the softer, weirder, ruminative closing tracks, Blunderbuss crackles with life and energy, hauling roots rock out of the dusty museum and into the dazzling light of the modern day.
90
Rolling Stone

Blunderbuss gets stranger and more fascinating the closer you listen.

90
Spectrum Culture

Blunderbuss is more than just a sum of its diverse musical parts. The record’s distinctive feel, a difficult quality to explain, makes it utterly addictive.

90
The Sydney Morning Herald

On his debut solo album, Blunderbuss, Jack White and a fulsome cast of guests have created a veritable chocolate box of 12 delicious, different aural treats.

90
musicOMH

Lovelorn, honest, poignant and emotional in the best way imaginable.

83
A.V. Club

There are at least five songs on Blunderbuss that match the excellence of The White Stripes’ best, and on the whole the album performs the tricky task of updating White’s musical aesthetic without euthanizing its primal nature.

80
The Observer
Yet another reliably great outing, full of intriguing plot developments, yet in faithful keeping with White's previous output.
80
The Independent

On Blunderbuss, he's stumbled into some nasty business. These are songs of ruthless temptresses and treacherous men, of uncontrollable desire and unbearable guilt.

80
Uncut
It's a surly, spiky piece of work, on which the few shafts of sweetness are soon soured with guilt, recrimination and reproach.
80
Q Magazine
A concentrated shot of charisma, undiluted and intoxicating.
80
Alternative Press

Blunderbuss has a special casualness to it, thanks to White surrounding himself with a coterie of Nashville locals able to take him where he wants to go. The destination in question may very well be back to the early ’70s, where country- and blues-tinged crossover records captivated America’s post-Vietnam psyche.

80
Drowned in Sound

This is a hard, dark, inventive record that strongly suggests that give or take an imaginary sister and some fiddles, Jack White is pretty much the same boy we've always known.

80
Sputnikmusic
It’s his freest record, musically speaking, and in its bloodstained lyrics, which run the gamut from cautionary to vindictive to self-loathing, it opens up a side of White that previously has been impenetrable, wrapped up in his own self-mythologizing persona as he was.
80
DIY
‘Blunderbuss’ is an album for those already long inducted into the church of Jack White.
80
AllMusic
Contradictions are nothing new for Jack White but he's never been as emotionally direct as he is here, nor has he been as musically evasive, and that dichotomy makes Blunderbuss a record that only seems richer with increased exposure.
80
NME

While ‘Blunderbuss’ isn’t that definitive, unarguable document we’ve been seeking, it still feels like his most candid and personal record yet. 

80
SPIN

It's a comfortable shoe of a record, a distillation of everything he's done during the past decade, without the cultivated obstinacy. 

80
Paste

At the end of the day, White’s still an enigma, and so is Blunderbuss, its mysteries unfolding in odd ways when you least expect it.

78
Pitchfork

It's got some of his best pure songwriting yet, but no earth-cracking riffs.

75
Entertainment Weekly

There’s a certain Opryland jam-session charm to it all, but Blunderbuss lacks the electric jolt that made previous outfits the White Stripes and the Dead Weather so exciting.

70
No Ripcord

There is not quite enough confidence, not quite enough honesty to elevate Blunderbuss to the record Jack White wants it to be.

70
Classic Rock

A seventh White Stripes album in all but name, it continues the widening of White’s sonic palate.

70
Slant Magazine
Jack White embarks on tangential excursions that have familiar roots but end up in unexpected places.
70
Consequence of Sound

He’s a little scatterbrained on Blunderbuss, as if he’s still shaking up his past to move forward into the future, and as a result, Jack White represents everything Jack White has already accomplished.

70
Beats Per Minute

Ripe with unchallenged easy listening and devoid of the raw energy that ripped through the Stripes

70
The Fly
Weaknesses are diminished by moments of sheer greatness.
70
American Songwriter
The punchy songs and spontaneous performances are contagious in their jittery energy.
60
NOW Magazine
Thankfully, there are just enough flashes of brilliance to save it, even if much of the album comes across as a really expensive demo.
60
The Needle Drop
On his official solo debut, Jack White treads through familiar territory, but with some added instrumentation to make things feel fresh.
60
Under the Radar

Blunderbuss has all the stomp and sway of his best records, but also the unevenness that plagues him to varying degrees.

60
The Arts Desk
No big change from Detroit's most prolific axeman, just richer and smoother.
60
Record Collector

If you can put the sixth form lyrics and first half aside, Blunderbuss is a great record.

60
PopMatters

In the end, Blunderbuss is a confused little record that wants to be two things at once: a pointed statement about the pains of a breakup and a collection of songs that are both daring and wacky and eccentric all at once.

SnowyFighter
81

These are some solid tracks here Mr. White, I think you will get big some day!!!!

Missing Pieces - 8
Sixteen Saltines - 9.5
Freedom At 21 - 10
Love Interruption - 8.5
Blunderbuss - 8
Hypocritical Kiss - 8.5
Weep Themselves To Sleep - 9
I’m Shakin - 8
Trash Tongue Talker - 9
Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy - 6
Guess I Should Go To Sleep - 6
On And On And On - 8
Take Me With You When You Go - 6.5

JayCrackers
77

Jack White's first major stride into his solo career, Blunderbuss, sees him continue the blues inspired garage rock revival sound and what a great solo debut it is. Filled with the raw, passionate energy found in his Whtie Stripes era alongside a more introspective side of him and his music makes for quite a good combo. The tracklist is a bit dragged out but has some great songs in their with Sixteen Saltines being one of his best solo songs and the guitar playing is obviously great but matches ... read more

TheCarioca
69

Missing Pieces - 4/5
Sixteen Saltines - 3/5
Freedom At 21 - 4/5
Love Interruption - 3/5
Blunderbuss - 3/5
Hypocritical Kiss - 5/5 ❤
Weep Themselves to Sleep - 4/5
I'm Shakin' - 3/5
Trash Tongue Talker - 3/5
Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy - 3/5
I Guess I Should Go to Sleep - 3/5
On and On and On - 3/5
Take Me With You When You Go - 4/5

70

1001 albums before death, day 11

theansweris9
75

As with every Jack White project, there's so many great moments, and yet the albums are consistently held back by their slower songs.

75

I made a joke involving this album once when I was studying abroad and now this album just reminds me of the Venetian Maritime Museum

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Added on: January 30, 2012