Jack White – "Why Walk a Dog?" (2018)

Why does a dog

Need to be walked?

If you really don't know the answer to that question, here’s a hint: 

*     *     *     *     *

Jack White’s new solo album is titled Boarding House Reach:

Rolling Stone called it “his strangest record” – “a messy, sprawling, daffy, howling set that sounds spiritually hungry, collectively driven and, instructively, a little bit lost” – but also thought it was “thrilling and refreshing.”

Other reviewers were not so kind.  From Pitchfork:

Boarding House Reach is a long, bewildering slog. Deep in the eccentric-hermit stage of his career, with his own successful label and a devoted clutch of fans who will come to see his concerts until their children are in college, White is now free to record and release whatever he pleases. And judging by Boarding House Reach, he wants to noodle to himself in the studio, record spoken-word reminiscences about the first time he played piano . . . and make the kind of Cheeto-dusted funk instrumentals that the Beastie Boys would have left off of The In Sound From Way Out! What he doesn’t want to do: write any songs at all.

The worst part is that he doesn’t even sound like he’s having fun. The few rock songs here . . . are blowsy, water-logged things, devoid of wit or snap or fire.

I’m a diehard Jack White fan, so I’m going to give Boarding House Reach a chance.  Since it’s available at no cost from Freegal – thank you, Montgomery County Public Library! – I’ve got nothing to lose . . . except a few of the rapidly diminishing number of hours left in my life.  

But if I didn’t spend that time listening to this album, I’d just waste it some other way.

Click here to listen to “Why Walk a Dog?”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon: