That’s right, there was a new Black Keys album just last August. NO RAIN, NO FLOWERS was a comparatively complex record with all sorts of co-songwriters. You could have bet that Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney would be up for something simple after this. So now, a little more than half a year later: PEACHES!. The title and cover (designed by Patrick Carney’s brother Michael, who won a Grammy for his layout of the Black Keys album BROTHER) are inspired by roadside stores offering cold Coke and fresh peaches.
Since it’s a cover record, it seems as if the peach sellers have packed a few favorite songs for the Black Keys: soul stuff like “When There’s Some, There’s Fire” by Willi Griffin, blues standards from the second row like “Stop Arguing Over Me” by Paul “Wine” Jones, Neil Young’s “Is It A Dream” or “Tell Me You Love Me” by Frank Zappa, one of his most conventional compositions.
The songs in Auerbach and Carney’s versions run longer than the originals, although the two and their (rather few) guests do not stretch the originals, but rather show great enthusiasm for playing. This becomes clear in “She Does It Right”, written by Brit Wilko Johnson for his pub blues rock band Dr. Feelgood: The Black Keys haven’t been this relaxed in a long time.