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Boarding House Reach

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Boarding House Reach
Studio album by
Jack White
ReleasedMarch 23, 2018 (2018-03-23)
Recorded2017
Studio
Genre
Length44:07
Label
ProducerJack White
Jack White chronology
Acoustic Recordings 1998–2016
(2016) 		Boarding House Reach
(2018) 		Fear of the Dawn
(2022)
Singles from Boarding House Reach
  1. "Connected by Love"
    Released: January 10, 2018
  2. "Corporation"
    Released: January 26, 2018
  3. "Over and Over and Over"
    Released: March 1, 2018
  4. "Ice Station Zebra"
    Released: March 21, 2018
Alternate cover art
Third Man Records Vault vinyl edition cover art
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?6.6/10[3]
Metacritic74/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
The A.V. ClubB[6]
The Daily Telegraph[7]
The Guardian[8]
The Independent[9]
NME[10]
Pitchfork4.7/10[11]
Q[12]
Rolling Stone[13]
The Times[14]

Boarding House Reach is the third studio album by American rock musician Jack White. It was released on March 23, 2018, through Third Man Records, Columbia Records, and XL Recordings. The album was written in Nashville and recorded throughout 2017 at Third Man Studio in Nashville, Sear Sound in New York City, and Capitol Studios in Los Angeles.

"Connected by Love" and "Respect Commander" were released together as a double single on January 10. "Corporation", "Over and Over and Over", and "Ice Station Zebra" were released as singles afterward.

Boarding House Reach received generally positive reviews, with its unorthodox production and style noted as a departure from White's previous studio albums and projects. While critics mainly praised the album for its ambition, experimentalism and artistic approach, its criticisms mainly focused on its inconsistency and production. The album performed well commercially, topping the U.S. Billboard 200 upon release, making it White's third number-one album on that chart. Elsewhere, it was a number-one album in Canada and reached number five in Scotland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Recording and production

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In March 2017, in an interview with The New Yorker, White revealed that he was in the process of writing new music. He had set up shop in a small apartment in Nashville, Tennessee, where he recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder which he purchased when he was fourteen. His goal was "to try to write songs where I can't be heard by the next-door neighbor. And I want to write like Michael Jackson would write — instead of writing parts on the instruments or humming melodies, you think of them. To do everything in my head and to do it in silence and use only one room." He spent several hours each day crafting in this space.[15] On July 27, White announced that he was working on his third solo album, with recording sessions taking place in New York City and Los Angeles.[16] In November, during a keynote speech at the Making Vinyl conference in Detroit, he offered an update on the album, saying that it was nearly completed and required only a few more additions for completion. He noted it as a "bizarre" record, saying "I've just got to let it settle. I need to listen to it by myself. I haven't been able to listen to it by myself for awhile."[17]

Boarding House Reach was recorded throughout 2017 at Third Man Studio in Nashville, Sear Sound in New York City, and Capitol Studios in Los Angeles.[18] White produced and co-mixed the album and played guitars, drums, organs, and synthesizers, while also acting as the vocalist. He performed alongside a brand new group of session musicians who had previously worked with several notable musical talents in the past.[19] "Connected by Love" was the first song to be written for the album. It was originally titled "Infected by Love", but White renamed the track after realizing that not everyone would understand the metaphor of the title.[20] The track "Over and Over and Over" was originally written in 2005 as a possible song for the White Stripes, one of White's former bands. It was also nearly recorded in collaboration with American rapper Jay-Z and almost recorded with another one of White's bands, the Raconteurs; the song was ultimately shelved until the recording sessions for Boarding House Reach.[21]

Promotion and release

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On December 12, 2017, White released a teaser video for the album titled "Servings and Portions from My Boarding House Reach". It was a sound collage of tracks from Boarding House Reach, displaying the many sounds and styles the album contained.[22][23] A teaser for the song "Connected by Love" was released on January 9, 2018.[24] The next day, "Connected by Love" was premiered on Zane Lowe's radio show on Beats 1, with a music video for the song also being released on the same day. The album track "Respect Commander" was also released as the b-side to the song.[25] Both songs were also released together on a 7" vinyl single through Third Man Records on the same day. A tri-color version of the single was made available exclusively on January 13 at the Third Man record stores in Detroit and Nashville for that day only.[26] White later released "Corporation" as a promotional single on January 26.[27] "Over and Over and Over" was released as the album's second non-promotional single on March 1.[28]

Boarding House Reach was released on March 23, 2018, through White's own Third Man Records as well as Columbia Records[29] and XL Recordings.[30] A limited edition vinyl version was made available to customers of the Third Man Records Vault service. The package features a different cover art, light-up vinyl record, 7" colored vinyl single of demos for the tracks "Connected by Love" and "Why Walk a Dog?", and photographs taken during the recording sessions of the album.[19] There are nine different pressings of the standard vinyl LP, each of which uses a different spoken word intro for the song "Get in the Mind Shaft." The only visible way to spot them is the number after the catalogue number etched in the runout groove of Side 2; the seventh, TMR-540-B - 2679, starts with, "When I was young I went into an abandoned house...", which was the one used for the CD and the Vault LP.[31]

Commercial performance

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Boarding House Reach debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 124,000 album-equivalent units—121,000 of that figure being pure album sales.[32] It is White's third US number-one album as a solo artist.[32]

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Jack White III, except "Humoresque", music by Antonín Dvořák, lyrics by Howard Johnson, arranged by Jack White III[33]

No.TitleLength
1."Connected by Love"4:37
2."Why Walk a Dog?"2:29
3."Corporation"5:39
4."Abulia and Akrasia"1:28
5."Hypermisophoniac"3:34
6."Ice Station Zebra"3:59
7."Over and Over and Over"3:36
8."Everything You've Ever Learned"2:13
9."Respect Commander"4:33
10."Ezmerelda Steals the Show"1:42
11."Get in the Mind Shaft"4:13
12."What's Done Is Done"2:54
13."Humoresque"3:10
Total length:44:07
Third Man Records Vault edition bonus 7"
No.TitleLength
1."Infected by Love" (demo version of "Connected by Love") 
2."Why Walk a Dog?" (demo) 

Personnel

[edit]

Personnel adapted from album liner notes.[18]

Primary artist

  • Jack White – vocals (except track 4), electric guitar (tracks 2, 3, 5–7, 9, 11, 12), acoustic drums (tracks 3, 6, 8, 9), synthesizer (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8), acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 10, 12), electronic drums (track 6), bass (track 6), piano (track 6), tambourine (track 7), organ (track 10)

Charts

[edit]

References

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  1. ^ Fusilli, Jim (March 21, 2018). "'Boarding House Reach' by Jack White Review: A Bluesman's New Friends". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  2. ^ Steel, Andrew (October 15, 2018). "Gig preview: Jack White at Hull Bonus Arena". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  3. ^ "Boarding House Reach by Jack White reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  4. ^ "Boarding House Reach by Jack White Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  5. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Boarding House Reach – Jack White". AllMusic. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  6. ^ Murray, Noel (March 22, 2018). "Jack White gets weird(er) on Boarding House Reach". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  7. ^ McCormick, Neil (March 23, 2018). "Jack White changes his stripes – Boarding House Reach, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  8. ^ Petridis, Alexis (March 22, 2018). "Jack White: Boarding House Reach review – the rulebook goes out the window". The Guardian. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  9. ^ Gill, Andy (March 22, 2018). "Album reviews: Jack White – Boarding House Reach, Nina Simone – The Colpix Singles, and more". The Independent. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  10. ^ Cooper, Leonie (March 22, 2018). "Jack White – 'Boarding House Reach' review". NME. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  11. ^ Greene, Jayson (March 22, 2018). "Jack White: Boarding House Reach". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  12. ^ Catchpole, Chris (May 2018). "The Nutty Professor". Q (384): 110.
  13. ^ Hermes, Will (March 23, 2018). "Review: Jack White Messes with Identity and Rock History on the Endearingly Weird, Surprisingly Relevant 'Boarding House Reach'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  14. ^ Hodgkinson, Will (March 23, 2018). "Pop review: Jack White: Boarding House Reach". The Times. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  15. ^ Wilkinson, Alec (March 13, 2017). "Jack White's Infinite Imagination". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  16. ^ Connick, Tom (July 31, 2017). "Jack White is recording a new album". NME. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  17. ^ Graff, Gary (November 7, 2017). "10 Highlights From Jack White's Interview at Making Vinyl Conference". Billboard. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  18. ^ a b Boarding House Reach (album liner notes). Jack White. Third Man Records. 2018.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  19. ^ a b "Introducing... Vault Package #35: Jack White Boarding House Reach". Third Man Records. January 12, 2018. Archived from the original on January 12, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  20. ^ Doyle, Patrick (January 10, 2018). "Jack White Releases Two New Songs, Talks 'Getting Into a Character's Head'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  21. ^ Doyle, Patrick (January 26, 2018). "Jack White on Genre-Blending New LP, Lost White Stripes Song, Touring". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  22. ^ Rettig, James (December 12, 2017). "Jack White Shares Sound Collage Of New Music, "Servings And Portions From My Boarding House Reach"". Stereogum. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  23. ^ Gotrich, Lars (December 12, 2017). "Jack White Announces New Album 'Boarding House Reach' With A Psycho-Collage". NPR. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  24. ^ Sodomsky, Sam (January 9, 2018). "Jack White's New Song Is Coming Tomorrow". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
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  27. ^ Reed, Ryan (January 26, 2018). "Hear Jack White's Funky, Experimental New Song 'Corporation'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  28. ^ Daly, Rhian (March 1, 2018). "Listen to Jack White's operatic new song 'Over And Over And Over'". NME. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  29. ^ Russell, Scott (January 12, 2018). "Jack White Details Boarding House Reach". Paste. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
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  33. ^ Boarding House Reach booklet.
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