Album Info Hide Show Artist: The Raconteurs Album: Help Us Stranger Released: USA & Europe, 2019 Tracklist: A1 Bored And Razed 3:35 A2 Help Me Stranger 3:36 A3 Only Child 3:41 A4 Don’t Bother Me 2:53 A5 Shine The Light On Me 3:27 A6 Somedays (I Don’t Feel Like Trying) 4:06 B7 Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness) 2:25 B8 Sunday Driver 3:38 B9 Now That You’re Gone 4:00 B10 Live A Lie 2:20 B11 What’s Yours Is Mine 2:49 B12 Thoughts And Prayers 4:42 Info About Buying Vinyl From Our Record Store We are a small independent record store located at 211 High St, Preston in Melbourne, Australia (North of Northcote, between Thornbury & Reservoir) We buy and sell new and used vinyl records – if you have a collection you’d like to sell please click here . We ship Australia wide for a flat rate of $10 for standard shipping or $15 for express post. Free Shipping for orders $150 and over. You can also pick up your order in store, just select Local Pickup at the checkout. We also ship internationally – prices vary depending on weight and location. We ship vinyls in thick, rigid carboard mailers with a crushable zone on either side, and for extra safety we bubble wrap the records. In stock vinyl is usally shipped next business day, please check the availability field at the top of the product page to see whether the record is currently in stock or if it is available from the supplier as well as estimated shipping times. If you order an in stock item together with a pre order or back order (listed as available from supplier rather than in stock) then the order will be shipped together when all items arrive. If you would like the in stock items shipped first please place two separate orders or contact us to arrange shipping items separately. We are strongly committed to customer satisfaction. If you experience any problems with your order contact us so we can rectify the situation. If the record arrives damaged or doesn’t arrive we will cover the cost of replacing or returning the record. If you change your mind you have 30 days to return your record but you must cover the cost of returning it to the store. You can contact our Melbourne record shop at (03) 9939 3807 or at [email protected] Happy Listening! Description Hide Show After an 11 year breather, The Raconteurs came back like they had been sitting on a coiled spring. Help Us Stranger landed on 21 June 2019 via Third Man Records, and it hit number one on the US Billboard 200. Not bad for a band that first roared out of Detroit and Nashville with riffs, harmonies and a rhythm section that stomps like a garage door slamming shut. It is the third studio album from the four lifers at the core of it all: Jack White, Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler. You can hear how well they know each other in the first 30 seconds. Bored and Razed blows the lid off with twin guitars trading jags and curls, Whites feral tone snapping against Bensons melodic glue. It is a mission statement as much as an opener, the kind that makes you turn the amp a notch higher and wonder how these songs will sound onstage with a sweaty crowd pressed against the barrier. Then Help Me Stranger rolls in with a wiry groove and a vocal blend that reminds you this band is a partnership. White might bring the ferocity, but Benson brings sunshine, and when their voices stack just right, the songs feel bigger than the sum. The record was tracked in Nashville at Third Man Studio, and you can hear the room in the mix. Drums thud with air around them, guitars spit, and organs and pianos peek through like old friends shouldering into the frame. That sense of real players in a real space grounds the whole set, whether it is the spry power pop of Only Child, or the head-down charge of Dont Bother Me, which flashes the bands love of lean, nasty rock. Sunday Driver and Now That Youre Gone were the first teasers back in late 2018, and they still feel like the poles of the album: one a snarling hot rod, the other a breakup tune with a big, aching chorus that Benson sings like he means it. There is history baked in here too. Their cover of Donovans Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness) is a clever nod, tipping a cap to a 60s cut and then scuffing it with fuzz until it feels like a Raconteurs original. Shine the Light on Me is the curveball, with piano and a near gospel lift that catches you off guard in the best way. Keeler drives the dynamic shifts, and Lawrences bass playing never grandstands, it just locks the whole chassis. By the time Somedays (I Dont Feel Like Trying) rolls around, the album has earned a breather, and the lyric Im here right now, Im not dead yet lands like a half smile and a shrug after a rough day. They close with Thoughts and Prayers, a tune that starts tender and grows teeth, as if they could not resist one more snarl before the lights come up. Part of why Help Us Stranger works is that it feels lived in. The band is not chasing trends, they are sharpening their own tools. Whites guitar sounds switch from scorched-earth to glassy chime song to song. Bensons melodic sense gives the set its heart. You can trace the lineage back to their earlier records, but this one breathes easier. It is also a tactile listen, the kind of album that makes sense to own physically. The Help Us Stranger vinyl editions on Third Man were done with care, and they suit a band that sweats the details. If you collect The Raconteurs vinyl, this sits nicely next to Broken Boy Soldiers and Consolers of the Lonely without feeling like a retread. Hunting it down is part of the fun. You could walk into a Melbourne record store on a Saturday and find a clean copy in the new arrivals, then spend the arvo letting side A make your speakers earn their keep. Or, if you are nowhere near town, it is easy to buy The Raconteurs records online, and most decent shops that specialise in vinyl records Australia will have it. Fans chasing The Raconteurs albums on vinyl know this one gets heavy rotation, and if you are building a shelf by feel rather than by algorithm, this is a top shelf pick. Help Us Stranger is a reminder that rock bands can still sound urgent without sounding desperate. No frills, no filler, just four players with good songs and a studio that knows how to capture them. Put the needle down, turn it up, and let it rattle the windows a bit. Product Reviews Hide Show Write a Review