Straighter than a good shot of the brown stuff The Black Keys serve up no surprises with ‘Magic Potion’ except for the first time their barren blues rock sounds a little threadbare and dare we say it; jaded. Sure it’s the same rockin’ blueprint of everything they’ve released prior, Auerbach’s rich vocal and sincere guitar playing in tandem with Carney’s direct drumming are as accomplished as ever, but their dual white boy Ohio din seems initially lethargic. Perhaps it’s the lack of a ’10 Am Automatic’ from the outset or the knowledge that there’s no ‘Girl Is On My Mind’ lying in wait despite it shifting mobile phones these days. It might just be that I’m disappointed that it wasn’t the soundtrack to a Levi’s or Wrigley’s ad but the point remains that this particular ‘Potion’ lacks a key ingredient.
’Just Got To Be’ follows the blueprint with spirit level precision, ‘Your Touch’ attempts to bluster it’s way into ’10 AM’ territory but will probably get lost in corporate convenience whereas ‘Just a Little Heat’ is the first glimpse that Auerbach and Carney haven’t forgotten how to cut loose. Unfortunately it’s an auspiciously tentative beginning that the album struggles to recover from and it’s fleetingly after the Plant-esque echo intro of ’Strange Desire’ that ‘Magic Potion’ soon burns into the snaking, slow jam we’ve become increasingly accustomed to. ‘Modern Times’ is forgettable as is the slow motion lilting of ‘The Flame’ but ‘Goodbye Babylon’; a smouldering 5 minute monster and closer ‘Elevator’ - although dropping the tempo - resuscitate a flagging album.
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The riffs are less ragged, the drumming more restrained and where ’Magic Potion’ lacks the immediacy of its predecessors, there’s still enough evidence to suggest The Black Keys aren’t done yet; even if it’s difficult to see where they’re headed next.
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