Jack White’s ‘No Name’: Album Review

With no disrespect to the five fine solo albums Jack White has created in the last dozen years, it’s safe to say that “No Name” — the vinyl-only set he stealth-released on Friday, packaged in a plain white sleeve and given away for free at his Third Man Records stores — is the one fans have been lusting for: a fiery, straight-ahead, just-plug-in-and-let-rip rock and roll album in the vein of his dearly beloved and dearly departed White Stripes, but without seeming retro or leaning too heavily on nostalgia.

We can also say, with as much confidence as two and a half days and multiple plays can offer, it’s the freshest and most exciting rock and roll album to come down the pike in years — and as of right now, it’s only available on rare vinyl, bootleg streams or seemingly-official MP3s: Late Friday, Third Man posted a graphic over an image of the LP on its Instagram Story with the caption “Rip It.” (Awesomely, the MP3 includes some vinyl run-off-groove scratches at the end.)

Fans will know what to expect: 42 minutes and 14 songs of full-throttle, hard-riffing rock, much of it seemingly recorded live in the studio, comprised entirely of White’s testifying vocals and scorching guitar accompanied by a kickass rhythm section (likely his longtime drummer Daru Jones and bassist Dominic Davis), with just the occasional keyboard or backing vocal overdub.  

The songs vary between fast and midtempo, with the musicians expertly mixing up the dynamics, bringing the intensity up and down (sometimes several times in a single song), showing just how much a tight band can do with a relatively simple format. The song titles are still unclear (our download just says “JW_NO_NAME_A_01,” “…_02” etc.), but one of the YouTube streams includes helpful, probably fan-created titles based on the lyrics (listed below). The one that may be called “Underground” is the bluesiest track, and the closer (possibly “You’ve Seen It All”) is the most Led Zeppelinesque song he’s done in years.  

But the rest is blazing rock and roll — the energy doesn’t dip for a second. Sure, some of the riffs sound more than a little familiar (famously, so did many of the White Stripes’) and White drops in a few slightly dated lyrical references to stereos, sticks shifts and dial tones, but it’s so exciting and explosive that it makes you wonder why he, or anyone else, hasn’t made an album like this recently.

For the final track, White brings down the intensity a tick and ends “No Name” on a moody note: The Zeppelin-esque, mid-tempo rocker with a droning, raga-esque riff filled with lyrical contradictions (“How do you feel when you’ve felt it all?” “What’s the point in being free if I’m all alone?”) that closes with the line “How do you see when you’ve seen it all?” and ends as it began — curiously — with the sound of yelping puppies.

“No Name” the kind of album many fans hoped White would make after his electrifying appearance on “Saturday Night Live” in October of 2020 — as a last-minute for that covid-protocol-busting scamp Morgan Wallen — when he, Jones and Davis blasted the cobwebs out of our rock-starved psyches. The spontaneity of that performance suggested that, like Dave Grohl playing drums or Michael Jordan playing basketball, White could just pick up where he left off any time he wanted, even though he’d already been at the top of that game and moved on.

Nearly four years later, here it is, arriving in the most Jack White way possible: as an unmarked collectors’ item, given away for free with every purchase at White’s Third Man Record stores, without any notice or explanation; store employees apparently weren’t even allowed to talk about it. (Those with long memories may recall that White, possibly the world’s greatest vinyl proponent, sent out advance copies of the White Stripes’ epochal “Elephant” album to the media only on vinyl, prompting predictable howls of outrage from critics who, in those pre-revival days, had long since ditched their turntables.)

The motivation, if it weren’t already obvious, was explained at the end of the day on Friday when Third Man posted a photo of the album on Instagram and wrote: “Today you have proven that the quiet rumblings of something mysterious can grow into the beautiful experience of a community sharing the excitement and energy of music & art.”

There have been a lot of surprise-drops since Beyonce set the standard in 2013, and White has served up plenty of innovative and challenging music over the past dozen years — including some smoking rock and roll, particularly on his “Blunderbuss” and “Fear of the Dark” albums. But “No Name,” as an album and an event, actually lives up to those words.