The Raconteurs’ ‘Broken Boy Soldiers’ Gets Vaulted

Two decades after the Raconteurs arrived with Broken Boy Soldiers, Third Man Records is opening the vault. The label has announced Vault #70: The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers XX, a 23-track 20th anniversary companion to the band’s 2006 debut. More than 20 of the tracks have never been released, including nine demos and outtakes and a recording of the Jack White-led group’s very first live performance, captured March 20, 2006, at Liverpool’s Carling Academy.

“Over 34 incisive minutes, the Raconteurs — White and his longstanding Detroit compadre Brendan Benson, plus drummer Patrick Keeler and bassist Jack Lawrence from Cincinnati garage rockers the Greenhornes — take a joyous sprint through the parts of their record collections devoted to the late ’60s and early ’70s, referencing the Who circa Tommy, early Led Zeppelin and the English blues rock quartet Free,” SPIN wrote in its original review of Broken Boy Soldiers. “There’s also a dash of the ornate musical form once known as progressive rock, not least in keyboard passages that cry out for cringe-inducing words like arpeggio. 

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The album spawned the favorites “Steady, As She Goes,” “Hands” and the title track, while establishing the Raconteurs as one of the era’s most intriguing supergroups — or, as its members initially put it, “a new band of old friends.”

The new set digs deep into the sessions behind that debut. Among the highlights are a studio demo of “Level,” an early version of “Steady, As She Goes,” the previously unheard “Mech Royal” and an alternate take of “Blue Veins” that stretches past seven minutes.

There’s also a glimpse of the band before the album even existed, as the previously unreleased Liverpool concert runs through the Broken Boy Soldiers track list and adds covers of Love’s “A House Is Not a Motel” and the Flamin’ Groovies’ “Headin’for the Texas Border.” White later recalled the peculiar novelty of playing with the new band, joking that he wasn’t used to being able to take a sip of water in the middle of a song.

The physical package is suitably elaborate. The 23 tracks are spread across three 180-gram colored-vinyl LPs — Metallic Copper, Grand Green and Coke Bottle Clear — housed in two gatefold jackets and a slipcase. The set also includes a film strip from the “Steady, As She Goes” video shoot, featuring individual shots of the band captured on 35mm film, plus one of four collectible cards from Third Man’s Tripppl imprint.

Vault #70 is available exclusively through Third Man Records, with subscriptions open through Oct. 31 at midnight CT.

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