Jack White - Live On The Garden Bowl Lanes 1999 (2013)

1. Intro. Commercial Snippet
2. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
3. Isis
4. Do
5. The Same Boy You've Always Known
6. Union Forever
7. Now Mary
8. Black Jack Davey
9. I Threw It All Away
10. Ain't It a Shame

Jack White - vocals, guitar
Kevin Peyok - bass
Ben Blackwell - drums
Brendan Benson – guitar

A live LP capturing a 1999 show by short-lived White Stripes-precursors Jack White & the Bricks, who performed on a stage set up over lanes 11 through 14 at Detroit's Garden Bowl bowling alley. Pressed on (what else) "Bowling-Pin-White" vinyl, the record features White singing and playing guitar with his nephew and Dirtbombs member Ben Blackwell on drums, Ken Peyok from Waxwings and the See-See providing bass, and future Raconteurs collaborator Brendan Benson helping out with guitar. --- discogs.com

I’m not here to trounce Jack White and The Bricks; there are still some quality merits that have to be discussed. For one thing, the vinyl presentation is quite striking. The bowling pin white inspired vinyl is dead on. The sticker pressed on the B side also adds to the bowling charade with its duel red stripes. The jacket here properly adds to the theme further with it dead ringer bowling alley font. As for the music, there is nothing egregious here, just restrictive. Like I said, it’s a standard live affair with a lot of the gems being the cover songs. The history of the tracks is very interesting and caught me a bit off guard. “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground”, “The Same Boy You’ve Always Known”, “The Union Forever”, and “Now Mary” are all by the numbers and lack much of White’s signature showmanship and improvisation skills. The wow factor comes from all these tracks being on The White Stripes White Blood Cells (2001) 2 years later. Both Bob Dylan covers, “Isis” and “I Threw It All Away” are fun a delivered with classic Jack White tact mixed with Dylan’s thick singer/songwriter poetic justice waft that encompass all his tracks. A disappointment, is the short length of signature traditionally arranged Dylan ballad “Black Jack Davey”; during the recording process something must not of transferred correctly. During other White performances this track is usually blown out and exaggerated to a very effective degree. A cute addition, final and rocking cover “Ain’t it a Shame” by ? And The Mysterians is dedicated to a girl having surgery-that girl is Meg White.

Maybe I was overly critical, maybe I let high expectations and anticipation get the better of me. I am really happy to have Jack White and The Bricks: Live on the Garden Bowl Lanes exclusively pressed on white wax. This is a record that you get the feeling that they did the best with what they had. In a historical context, being recorded about 13 years ago then being restored and pressed on vinyl is about as cool as you can get. Musically speaking, there are bursts of energy that culminate from live shows but at points on the record the players seem to lack identity. I never thought that we would find a band that could restrict Jack White but sadly The Bricks might just be those guys on this day back in 1999. ---Christopher Tahy, thefirenote.com

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