The New Music Express describes ‘Horehound’ as “music of ill-repute”. It is damn marvellous!

Who’s that? What initially caught my eye on iTunes was the chick on the cover of the album. (What can I say?) Even though you can only see the bottom half of her face, I immediately recognized those lips as belonging to the one and only Alison Mosshart.

I had to know more!

You might know some of the members. (If you don’t, you most certainly have been locked away in a religious compound in Texas.) They are Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Jack White (The White Stripes, etc, etc), Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs) and Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age)!

The music? It would make Robert Plant a proud parent of Rock n Roll and the likes of Nickelback cry like the girls that they are. Jack White describes it as “gothic blues”. iTunes says that “the group shuns the tighter structures of their of their other bands for a bluesy, jammy grind.” Whoohoo!

The lyrics? I don’t have the lyrics, because I bought it (legally) on www.7digital.com for £5 and for £5 you don’t get much else than the mp3’s. Alison doesn’t focus on pronunciation either, so I would have to go on what I’ve been reading on the Internet. Rumour has it that they can be locked up for it.

Alison and Jack? Yes, Jack is strange and wonderful and a gifted guitarist, drummer, writer and vocalist, but it is Alison’s voice that seduces, scolds and beckons you to come a little closer to this album. ‘Horehound’ is the couple’s playground and they dance and fight, threaten each other with violence and ultimately (apparently) deliver on that threat. And we get to watch! Or listen, rather.

How much longer? One of the many highlights on the album is the cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘New pony’. The gist of the song is somewhat more hardcore than the original, but I somehow think Uncle Bob would approve. The well known chorus, ‘How much longer?’ that made the song instantly recognizable in 1978, was originally sung by Dylan’s famous female backing singers. The ‘Horehound’ version of the song might also become famous. It is sung by Alison, but the chorus is done by Jack and the boys to great effect.

Horehound? It is a herb.