Review: The Black Keys Return After Only 1 Year With ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ – Another Stellar LP

Perennial B&V favs the Black Keys – Dan Auerbach (guitar/vocals/various other instruments) and Patrick Carney (drums/percussion) – have returned a mere 18 months after last year’s Ohio Players with No Rain, No Flowers. I’ve done nothing but listen to this album on repeat for the last two days because, wow, these guys are just so good. I have to admit, up front, I was prepared to dislike this record. They released five songs in the lead up to the album drop and I never once went out and checked them out. I heard a part of the title track and thought to myself, “They’re going way in the direction of pop and I’m not sure I can follow.” I don’t know if that curbed my curiosity or they’ve just put out so much music the last few years I couldn’t keep up… to my shame! I usually write about a band’s first single on an upcoming album but didn’t even do that here… Geez, for the Cult’s Hidden City I think I wrote about three different songs in the lead up to the album release (“Dark Energy,” “Deeply Ordered Chaos” and “Hinterland”), and yet I didn’t even bother to check out these Black Keys’ tracks? As the character Phil Dunphy used to say on Modern Family, “Get your head in the game, Phil.” I will admit between Springsteen’s new box and the Talking Heads’ latest “Super Deluxe Edition,” I’ve been a little preoccupied.

I think these guys, from a career perspective not sound, are a lot like Tom Petty or Ozzy, in that they are just so consistently great that we start to take it for granted. Some of their albums are better than others but there aren’t any bad ones. I got on the bandwagon on 2004’s Rubber Factory, but must admit these guy’s were hit and miss for me up until 2010’s Brothers. Since I’ve started B&V they’ve just been on a roll: 2011’s El Camino, 2014’s Turn Blue (the only LP from the last decade I didn’t connect with), 2019’s Let’s Rock, 2021’s blues cover LP Delta Kream, 2022’s Dropout Boogie, and then last year’s Ohio Players. That’s a helluva body of work. On last year’s record, Ohio Players they did a few tracks that dabbled in hip hop and those tracks just didn’t work for me. Not that there’s anything wrong with hip hop, I just didn’t feel like it fit the track. Maybe subconsciously I was worried they’d do that again and that’s what kept me from diving in at first. I needn’t have feared, there is none of that on the new album.

Ohio Players boasted collaborations – both in writing and performance – with Beck (who we love around here, the man is overdue for his own LP) and Noel Gallagher from Oasis. This album sees that trend continue in terms of co-writing. They brought in Rick Nowels (who I think wrote songs with Stevie Nicks back in the day), Daniel Tashian and Scott Storch. Hell, Desmond Child who used to write with Aerosmith shows up. All of those folks also play various instruments. These guys aren’t household names like Beck/Gallagher, but they clearly had quite an impact on this album and it’s sound. I was first attracted to the Black Keys because, like the White Stripes, they a were blues rock/blues punk band with very raw visceral recordings. As long time readers know, I love me some blues/blues rock. It’s amazing when I take the time to step back and view their career and realize how far they’ve developed as a band. I went back and listened to Ohio Players yesterday and had forgotten they put out a deluxe version that featured a duet with none other than Alice Cooper (who just reunited with the original band for an album). The Black Keys have come a long way since doing an R.L. Burnside cover like “Busted.” They’ve augmented the two man line up with a bunch of additional players and lots and lots of backup singers. I can’t fault any band for wanting to expand their sound and experiment with new directions, as the Keys do here.

Yes, this is a more pop sound for these guys but I defy you to find a bad song on this album. The backup singers give this an old school soul vibe to me, but maybe I’m crazy. It may be more “poppy” but it’s pop rock. Auerbach’s superb guitar – he’s underrated there – and Carney’s drumming are still the bedrocks of their sound. These songs have more hooks than an old fisherman’s hat. They fired their management last year, so they’ve been through some tumult of late. “No Rain, No Flowers,” the title track, kicks this thing off and reflects a positive attitude about their recent troubles. The whole album has a pervasive upbeat feel and god knows, in these troubled times we need some positivity. Carney’s drums keep us skipping along on “No Rain, No Flowers” until it verges on…well, danceable…and I don’t dance. Well, not where anybody could see me.

“The Night Before” is another uplifting track. This reminds me of old school arena rock. I can imagine standing up with a lighter in my hand. I immediately added it to my Playlist: Songs About Night. It’s amazing how much more polished this production is than their early albums. “Babygirl” starts with some infectious piano. Auerbach’s vocals are fuzzier on the song, like the old days, and I dig it…although he does go falsetto-light in the chorus. “Down To Nothing” is a slow grinder that sounds like it was recorded at Stax. It is certainly a candidate for my favorite song on the album. The lyric, “Behind the clouds, beyond the stars, Above the crowds in some lonely bar, I’ll meet you there, I swear I will, Because I care and I got time to kill,” from that track just grabs me. I love the guitar solo at the end, a slow simmer of a song. Again, I’m getting a soulful vibe on a lot of these tracks.

Carney shines on the track “On Repeat.” It’s another candidate for favorite on the LP. “Man On A Mission” is an old school Keys rocker…fuzzy guitar and insistent drums. Another killer track. “Kiss It” also brings forward the R in R&B. It’s got me thinking about a Songs About Kissing playlist. Love the guitar sound on that one too. There just isn’t a bad moment on this 36-minute, old school length album. Buy the time the final track, the ballad “Neon Moon” comes on, I’m smiling. “Take me home, shine on through, take me home, neon moon.” Damn, that’s some good stuff!

These guys continue to develop and stretch their sound in different directions and I’m here for it. The next time they drop an album I am not going to sleep on it again. This is a must have for fans of great rock n roll. They just consistently deliver! It may not be the garage rock blues of their earlier years but it still scratches an itch! Check this one out and turn it up as loud as our spouse will let you.

Cheers!