Sunday, April 3, 2022

The Black Keys - "Hot Spares"




The Black Keys have issued 10 albums (plus a collaborative album), and are about to release their 11th album next month. So this seemed to me to be a good time to collect all of their single B-sides, non-album singles, soundtrack cuts and bonus tracks onto one album.

  1. Ohio - non-album single
  2. Chop and Change - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack
  3. Keep My Name Outta Your Mouth - Brothers deluxe
  4. Black Mud Part II - Brothers deluxe
  5. Her Eyes are a Blue Million Miles - Covered, a Revolution of Sound: Warner Bros. Records (Captain Beefheart cover)
  6. The Way I Feel When I'm with You - B-side of "Your the One" single
  7. Can't Find My Mind - Never Give Up Your Hallucinations compilation and He Put the Bomp compilation (Cramps cover)
  8. Something on Your Mind - B-side of "Strange Times" (Dino Valenti) (Karen Dalton cover)
  9. The Wicked Messenger - I'm Not There soundtrack (Bob Dylan cover)
  10. If You Ever Slip - The Hottest State soundtrack
  11. Stay All Night - Waxploitation Presents: Causes 1 compilation (Junior Kimbrough cover)
  12. Flash of Silver - B-side of "'Till I Get My Way"/"Girl is on My Mind" single
  13. Evil - B-side of "Set You Free" single
  14. Summertime Blues - B-side "10am Automatic" single (Eddie Cochran cover)
  15. No Fun - B-side of "The Moan" single and on vinyl version of The Big Come Up album (Stooges cover)
  16. The Moan - non-album single
  17. The Baddest Man Alive (with KZA) - The Man with the Iron Fists soundtrack

I kicked off the set with "Ohio," a non-album single and homage to their home state that seemed like a good song to start things off. The album is heavy with cover tunes - seven in total -- and range from Captain Beefheart to Eddie Cochran and Cramps to Bob Dylan. There are four tunes from soundtrack albums, including "The Baddest Man Alive," recorded with KZA and used here to end the album.

The result is a nice 17-track compilation album that features both originals and cover tunes. I didn't include remixes, alternate versions and live tracks that have appeared in various formats as I just didn't think they were essential. 

For cover artwork, I took inspiration in that the Black Keys are from Dayton, Ohio, once a big tire manufacturing town, and used a photo of a big tire fire. And continuing with the theme, I thought Hot Spares made a good title.