Album review: Jack White, Boarding House Reach

Jack White has released a new album Boarding House Reach

After a lifetime as an electrifying blues man, Jack White has now charged, gats blazing, into his prog rock phase.

There's certainly something to celebrate about White finally casting off his self-imposed shackles to go sonically nuts and cut loose. But self-indulgence is rarely the path to enlightment and on this, his third solo record, he has most assuredly gone completely out of his mind.

It makes for an album full of high-voltage thrills and genuine surprise as White revels in his newfound creative freedom. But it also means putting up with every musical folly he entertained during its making - such as the tedious spoken interludes or when he raps.

But when he's on fire, look out. White yelps and shouts and smashes wild riffs, pulsating synths, ragtime pianos and hip-hop samples into each other with a freewheeling abandon.

Over and Over and Over is a great example of his surplus of ideas coming together. It mashes a blistering riff, Congo drums, diva backing vocals and a blazing solo together. It rocks hard.

Kicking off with a hard hitting, Led Zep beat, Respect Commander quickly descends into pure madness that encompasses frantic slap bass, sampled orchestra hits and one of the most twisted solos White's ever laid down.

The 70s funk rock of Corporation is head-noddingly groovy whereas Get in the Mind Shaft is a suitably buzzy synth-driven funk experiment let down by its tiresome spoken-word intro.

Purists need not worry; White hasn't completely forsaken them. The gospel of Connected by Love, the country of What's Done is Done and the blues of Why Walk a Dog largely shun the experimentation in favour of playing it straight.

Despite White's frantic hyperactivity elsewhere, it's the album closer, the quaint, quiet, Humouresque that steals the show.

White unchained is certainly a wild ride. But a little chain would have gone a long way in reining in the more regrettable decisions that surrounds the great stuff.

The album can barely contain White's gleeful abandon. The question is, can your tolerance?

Jack White, Boarding House Reach
Label: Third Man / Columbia
Verdict: White goes wild with unpredictable results