The Black Keys – Ohio Players Review

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The Black Keys may view themselves as hotshot players, but they cannot sell out arenas. Not anymore. The passage of time is ruthless, and they are caught up in the whirlwind of changing tastes. An indifferent feel could be heard on the singles in the run-up to Ohio Players. Heed the warning. Beautiful People (Stay High) was a middle-of-the-road encounter and so too is Ohio Players. A positive experience for those who need more fodder for their long drives. Opener This is Nowhere serves well in this genre of light alt-rock achievements. The Black Keys has done nothing wrong with this latest release but the quick flashes of pushing for some new, stylish creation are shot down by the relative lameness filtered through most of these tracks. Reheated energies cooling by their peak, Ohio Players is the other side of the peak. Decline begins now. 

Their first few songs sound like nothing more than Sky Go advert fodder. Tracks which are slick, safe and primed for mid-afternoon advertising. It is a bleak future for The Black Keys. Static is the best way to describe the bulk of Ohio Players. Relatively plain stuff which works better with a cold can and the sun beaming down on you. Spirited works like I Forgot To Be Your Lover have tinges of soul influence within them, but it falls short of being the bold and ambitious experience we know The Black Keys is capable of. Please Me (Till I’m Satisfied) gets closer. Punchier and performed with the expected boom The Black Keys are searching for on Ohio Players. They never quite tackle it.  

You can put as much booze in your system and return to Ohio Players, the sound is still the same. Even with the ringing dizziness of a night out, there is little of sobering or extensive thought found on this recent release. It all comes through as plain and fine work. Beck and Juicy J add little to Paper Crown and the self-appointed kings of the genre flounder for too long. Music to play in the early hours of a bar opening, when few customers are in, and background noise is needed. The Black Keys amount to little more than static, a shame since there are a few tracks within worth salvaging. Fever Tree feels like a compartmentalisation of vague and chart-appearing music. An amalgamation of everything which appeared in the Top 40 but is not remembered for its musical particulars.  

The Black Keys host a shocking vagueness in the last few tracks of this album which torpedoes their chances of an interesting release. The likes of Live Til I Die and Read Em and Weep sound as blank as the overwrought titles suggest. Toying with cliché never worked for anyone like The Black Keys. Where their instrumental style is now stuffed with soul their lack of it in the lyrics is worrying. Ohio Players has a constant, surface-level assessment of The Black Keys and their time in the spotlight. A startling shame for those who were hoping for some depth in this recent effort from the pair who seem hellbent on offering up their alternative rock as a plain collection of material. There is no challenge to it. No interest in the overarching message. Just bits of filler from The Black Keys.