Magic Potion (Dig)

The Black Keys | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 12, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000GPIPD8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #911 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #5 in Music > Rock > Oldies & Retro > Garage Bands
  • #5 in Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > Garage Punk
  • #26 in Music > Indie Music > Rock > General

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

All hail the riff king! The Black Keys' guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach has the meanest way with a hook since Jimmy Page. He adds to his arsenal on the band's fourth full-length release, on which each track pounds its way into your skull with fuzzy, swampy fury. Less is very definitely more in Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney's world as the stripped-down guitar/drums attack smolders, burns, and then ignites without shifting into heavy-metal overdrive. But even with the occasional ballad such as "You're the One" slowing the momentum, this is an intoxicating blast of raw, thudding blues power. The duo impressively control the dynamics, raising and lowering the tension in a yin-yang struggle of ominous, greasy, heavy blues-rock that never sounds forced. With the exception of a few subtle but effective overdubs, this is the sound Auerbach and Carney heard in the drummer's basement studio where the music was recorded. Like the best rock and roll, the disc exudes a dark, cramped claustrophobia and foreboding sense of danger, just like wandering through a haunted house, unaware of what is behind the next corner. It's the main ingredient in the band's deceptively simple yet potent formula that creates this addictive, compelling, and often intense album. --Hal Horowitz

Product Description

Magic Potion, the Black Keys' fourth album, is a spectacularly stripped-down set of sneakily melodic blues-besotted rock concocted in the Akron, Ohio basement studio of drummer Patrick Carney. Guitarist-singer Dan Auerbach is possessed of a compelling, hurt-beyond-his-years voice and an approach to lead guitar that is both wildly expressive and utterly succinct. The self-taught Carney, who anchors these tracks, may force writers to return

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Perfectly Blended "Potion", September 14, 2006

By 

Alfonso Mangione "Loves the three Rs: Readin'... (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Magic Potion (Dig) (Audio CD)

It just doesn't get any simpler, or any better, than this.

"Magic Potion" features the same short list of ingredients that made The Black Keys great--only now everything's blended toghether even more perfectly. Two guys--guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Pat Carney. Timeless blues songs about the timeless things: love, lust, desire, duplicity, troubles both simple and insurmountable. Auerbach's perfect blues voice, with just the right amount of weariness and longing. Just the right amount of drumming from Carney. And swirling throughought, Auerbach's great electric guitar crunching through monster blues riffs and spreading out into long lonely arcs of electrified ache.

On paper, the Black Keys sound like something dreamed up by record company executives trying to copy The White Stripes. Two people? Check. From a Rust Belt town? Check. Playing garage-y blues? Check. A name with a color in it? Check.

It sounds like something that's been done before. And it has. And yet the music's so good and simple and timeless and catchy that you can't help but love it anyway--this is the kind of music you hear just once and say, "Wow--who is this?" so you can pick up your own copy at your earliest convenience, if not sooner. The songs are every bit as good, and perhaps even more consistent, than those on 2004's "Rubber Factory." And there's some killer lyrics here, to boot. "I don't wanna go to hell, but if I do, it'll be cause of you," Auerbach growls on "Strange Desire," and it's hard to think of a simpler, fresher, or more authentically blues-y lyric. The band's website says this album's about "getting their signature sound down to a science," and that sounds about right. It's a shame more musicians can make timeless music so effortlessly--there's plenty of bands out there with three times as many people that don't sound half as good.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unadorned rock and roll, October 16, 2006

By 

Timothy G. Niland (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magic Potion (Dig) (Audio CD)

The Black Keys are one of my favorite rock and roll bands with their garage band minimalism tempered by touches of blues and psychedelia. But I was a little surprised when the band signed to the eclectic Nonesuch label and wondered how this would affect their sound. Well, I needn't wonder at all as this album was literally recorded in a band member's basement and keeps the same raw and exciting sound as the bands previous work. Most of the songs are kept short and sweet with blistering blues based guitar and basic drumming giving way to melodic hooks like in "Your Touch" which is very catchy and has elements of pop without compromising their rough and tumble sound.

"You're the One" slows things down to a ballad tempo with a gauzy, slightly trippy love song that plays against the bands stereotype. "Just a Little Heat" and "Give Your Heart Away" find the band hopping back on the boogie train, while the bluesy wail of "Strange Desire" goes back to the bands roots and shows the groups knows its strength and plays to it admirably as they do with the blasting "Modern Times" and the lengthy workout "Goodbye Babylon." Anyone interested in unadorned rock and roll will find much to enjoy here.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magic Potion, September 12, 2006

By 

Rocker n Roller (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magic Potion (Dig) (Audio CD)

This is the best hard rock album of the year (more like the best rock album since "Elephant") that i've heard at least, this is their most solid work since "The Big Come Up" my other favorite BLACK KEYS album, every song rocks hard especially
"Just A Little Heat", "Modern Times", "Goodbye Babylon", "Just Got To Be", "Give Your Heart Away" and "Black Door" this album is ridiculously good!!!!