''Sea of Cowards'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

the Dead Weather The Dead Weather is an American rock supergroup formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2009. Composed of Alison Mosshart (of the Kills and Discount), Jack White (of the White Stripes and the Raconteurs), Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age ...

. It was first released on May 7 in Ireland, then on May 11, 2010, in the U.S. and May 10 in the United Kingdom. The album was streamed on the band's website, via continuous vinyl playback, for a period of 24 hours from April 30 to May 1. It was subsequently available for streaming on various media streaming websites such as

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and

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

. The album was rated number 11 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s list of the 30 Best Albums of 2010.The 30 Best Albums of 2010
. ''Rolling Stone'' (December 25, 2010). Retrieved (January 18, 2011)]

Background and release

In 2009, the group worked on 15 songs over three days at White's Nashville studio,

Third Man Records Third Man Records is an eclectic, vinyl-focused independent record label founded and owned by Jack White, Ben Blackwell, and Ben Swank. The company operates out of three locations—Nashville, Detroit, and Soho in London—with multiple entitie ...

.Nagy, Evie (May 15, 2010), "Sea of Cowards." ''Billboard''. 122 (19):32 They reconvened at the studio in December, and recorded the album in three weeks. The vinyl LP version was pressed at United Record Pressing in Nashville, Tennessee. On May 3, before the album's release, the band played a special show at White's Third Man Records where ''Sea Of Cowards'' was played in its entirety. The show was streamed on MySpace and subsequently appeared on the band's YouTube channel. The performance was released on 12" vinyl through the Third Man Records' Vault subscription service, recorded live to analog tape and pressed directly to vinyl. This is in contrast to the controversial mastering process of the original album.

Composition

According to ''

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'' magazine, "the grinding blues that drives tracks like 'Hustle and Cuss' and 'Gasoline' take the Dead Weather to a new level of intensity."

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periodical '' mX'' identified the song as "a grimy road trip through voodoo blues,

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...

and even

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

Reception

Critical

''Sea of Cowards'' received generally favorable reviews, ratings with

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

rating of "70." Giving the album a B+, ''Entertainment Weekly'' said it was "35 minutes of furious guitar solos and demonic howls." ''Spin'' magazine gave the work eight out of ten stars, and said that Mosshart and White "harness this icy alpha-dog tension into a distorted call-and-response aggression that's now greater than its parts, a rudely heavy swath of rock'n'roll authority." Pitchfork rated ''Sea of Cowards'' at 7.8 (out of ten), noting that "it's a heavy, snarly, physical rock album, and it feels like the work of people so secure in their ass-kicking abilities that they don't have to sweat the details." Blare magazine remarked that the album "combines the group’s sinister attitude with dreary funk and sex appeal."

Commercial

The album debuted on ''Billboard'' 200 at No. 5, and No. 3 on Top Rock Albums. It has sold 171,000 copies in the US as of September 2015.

Track listing

On CD versions, there is a 36 second instrumental pre-gap track hidden before "Blue Blood Blues". There are also two additional "bonus" songs pressed on the label of ''Sea of Cowards'' vinyl.

Personnel

Alison Mosshart Alison Nicole Mosshart (born November 23, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, artist, and the lead vocalist for the rock bands The Kills and The Dead Weather. She started her musical career in 1995 with the Florida punk rock band Discount ...

: lead vocals, maracas, rhythm guitar, synthesizer *

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

: drums, vocals, guitar *

Dean Fertita Dean Anthony Fertita (born September 6, 1970) is an American rock multi-instrumentalist.Brian McColluMetro Detroit musician Dean Fertita moves to the front lines with the Dead Weatherfreep.com Retrieved: 2009-07-25 He is best known as a keyboard ...

: lead guitar, organ, piano, synthesizer * Jack Lawrence: bass, drums

Appearances in the media

The album's opening song, " Blue Blood Blues", was featured in the final episode of Season Two of the

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comedy '' Eastbound & Down'' in 2010. The album's song "I Can't Hear You" was featured in the movie

Crazy, Stupid, Love ''Crazy, Stupid, Love.'' is a 2011 American romantic comedy film directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, written by Dan Fogelman and starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, John Carroll Lynch, Marisa Tomei and Kev ...

and is a playable song in the guitar-themed video game

Rocksmith ''Rocksmith'' is a music video game produced by Ubisoft, released in October 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms in North America. ''Rocksmith'' was released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 during September 2012 in Australian and Europ ...

. It also played over the 2019

Giorgio Armani Giorgio Armani (; born 11 July 1934) is an Italian fashion designer and a billionaire. He first gained renown working for Cerruti 1881. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, which eventually expanded into music, sport, and luxury hotels. By 200 ...

Acqua di Giò Absolu Instinct men’s fragrance ad.

Charts

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 2010 albums The Dead Weather albums Warner Records albums Albums produced by Jack White Third Man Records albums