CoronaVinyl Day 35 (Blue Vinyl): Lazaretto by Jack White

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

We're doing two Third Man Records Vault selections in a row.  After yesterday's collaboration album with Willie Nelson and Friends, today's category is blue vinyl.  I'm going with Jack White's 2014 solo album Lazaretto.  Somehow, I managed to buy this twice on vinyl.  I pre-ordered the regular version, and then I ended up receiving the special edition via the Third Man Vault record club.  The Vault version contains the cool split blue and white vinyl you see in the photo above, as well as a  more textured black and white album cover you see above (rather than the normal color version).

Lazaretto is particularly appropriate for CoronaVinyl because a lazaretto is a building or an anchored ship that is specifically for quarantining maritime travelers to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.  There's also a song on the album called "That Black Bat Licorice," so I'm not saying that Jack White is an all-knowing prescient being, but I'm also not not saying that.

Lazaretto was White's second solo album, after 2012's Blunderbuss, and I personally like it better than Blunderbuss or his third solo album, 2018's Boarding House Reach.  All three hit #1 on the Billboard album charts (and all three debuted at #1).  Lazaretto also reached the Top 10 on the album charts in 13 other countries, including #1 in Canada and Denmark. The vinyl version of the album sold 40,000 copies in the first week, setting the record for most vinyl sales in one week by any album in the Nielsen SoundScan era (which started in 1991).  Overall, 87,000 vinyl copies of the album sold in 2014, making it the best-selling vinyl album in a calendar year in the Nielsen SoundScan era.

Lazaretto is a nice amalgamation of what I love about Jack White and his eclectic talents.  The songs vary from straight rock to country to garage rock to blues, and he does all genres well.

The first side also spins from the inside outward, unlike a normal vinyl record.  Of course, unless you remember this, you put the needle down, and become very confused when it starts playing a hidden, repeating track after "High Ball Stepper," so all you hear is White's fuzzed-out guitar playing the same riff over and over again.  The second side spins the right way, but there is also a hidden repeating track after the last song that sounds like crows cawing -- a not-so-subtle prompt that it is time to lift the needle.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Lazaretto"
The title track is like a funky proto hip hop garage rock song.  That description probably sounds like it makes no sense, but I assure you the song is great.  Whenever I hear this song, in my head I say "Padilla and Travieso."  Yes, I am such a college basketball nerd that when I hear a Jack White sing "Como en madera y eso," I imagine that he's actually saying the last names of the formidable back court from UMass's now-vacated 1996 Final Four team.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "That Black Bat Licorice"
Setting aside that people messing with bats caused this whole pandemic, this is another great song with elements of funk, hip hop, and rock.  The song has a great groove that makes you bob your head, even when you're sitting in sweatpants in your living room for the 35th day in a row.