Jack White’s second new album of the year, Entering Heaven Alive, is drastically different from his previous, Fear of the Dawn, released this past April, but it isn’t out of place in his widely varying catalog which explores elements of almost every type of American music. Rather than continuing with Fear of the Dawn’s tone of fast-paced, garage rock experiments, Entering Heaven Alive slows the speed and lowers the volume as keyboards and synthesizers give way to pianos and organs, and White’s signature electric guitar work (mostly) takes a back seat to rhythmic acoustic country, folk, and Americana. These songs were all written and recorded during the pandemic lockdown, but they were grouped onto separate LPs and released just over three months apart, also allowing White’s ongoing tour to change or vary in tone as the year continues to unfold. While some tracks feature members of White’s current backing band, and a few include members of The Raconteurs and other Third Man Records favorites sitting in as well, White himself handles most of the instruments and all of the vocals here.
"A Tip from You to Me" immediately changes the tone from the previous album and sets a new one for the songs to come. It serves well as a palate cleanser, especially if both albums are being played back-to-back. "All Along the Way" is a well-arranged and performed song but isn't very engaging. This particular track is very slow and doesn’t keep listener’s attention as well as most of White’s songs. "Help Me Along" is an ode to White’s daughter, Scarlett, which although very sweet is even slower and less-engaging than “All Along the Way” and seems to be more sentimental and personal than something for the audience. Musically and lyrically, "Help Me Along" recalls parts of Paul McCartney’s “Here, There, and Everywhere” but focuses on the parent-child relationship rather than a one between romantic partners. It is also the album’s longest song which could have been improved with one or two fewer verses.
"Love Is Selfish" is the album’s lead single, released even before Fear of the Dawn, and arguably the strongest track here. One of many songs to feature only Jack White himself with no other musicians present, "Love Is Selfish" stands out for also being the simplest arranged track, giving the listener only White's vocals and sharp acoustic guitar work. Musically, it comes across as a mature variant of the progression in The White Stripes’ “We’re Going to Be Friends” but deals with the very adult themes of internal frustrations and difficulties communicating within and maintaining a romantic relationship rather than the optimistic view of school children excited to run out to recess or walk home from school together. On "I’ve Got You Surrounded," White’s signature electric guitar noodling finally makes an appearance although in a subdued performance compared to most of his louder songs. This one is engaging and built more so around rhythms and repeated lines of music and lyrics that are both less concrete than the album’s previous tracks and maintain the overall tone of the record and flow of the track listing.
Side two is a bit stronger and more adventurous than the first side, so be sure to give these tracks a try even if the first five songs aren’t necessarily as interesting. "Queen of the Bees" was originally released as a B-side of the “Hi-De-Ho” single (from Fear of the Dawn) and is an ode to White’s wife, musician Olivia Jean, whom White married on stage in Detroit on the first night of his 2022 tour (and the day of Fear of the Dawn’s release). This piece stands out partly due to the more comical approach to the lyrics and the uncharacteristic use of xylophone as a primary percussion throughout, giving it a lighter vibe than most of the songs on the album though it is also the shortest track included. "A Tree on Fire from Within" returns to the personal metaphors and introspective commentary that is featured in most of Entering Heaven Alive’s songs. The piano performance and production here connects this track a bit more than most of the others to mid-tempo songs from White’s first two solo LPs, which were not dissimilar in their inclusion of both “louder” and “quieter” songs, but on Blunderbuss and Lazaretto, there were fewer of each and they were mixed together onto one LP instead of separated by tone and presented as two different sets of music. "If I Die Tomorrow" is the album’s 8th track and second single and is even slower and less radio-ready than “Love Is Selfish” but connects directly to lyrics and sentiments from Fear of the Dawn’s rocking “What’s the Trick?” which was that album’s 8th track as well. Where both songs are reflective and introspective, the louder track seems to diagnose how behavioral choices affect others where the quieter song focuses more seriously on the thoughts and requests of someone on their deathbed or maybe who has recently passed, where love and care for family far outweigh lesser-significant mortal worries.
"Please God, Don’t Tell Anyone" is another acoustic/piano song which starts similarly to some of the others but includes clever and relatable lyrics that can be as significant to White as they may be personally interpreted by the listener, recalling tracks like Blunderbuss’ “I Guess I Should Go to Sleep” and Lazaretto’s “Alone in My Home.” The song also builds on the questions and themes of the previous track, moving from communicating with loved ones just before or just after death to engaging in a meeting with God him/her/itself in the afterlife. This kind of narrative lyric has been a part of American folk, Gospel, and country for over 100 years, but White’s own modern twist on it reboots it for the current century (or at least for the current decade). "A Madman from Manhattan" is a gem hidden close to the end of the album which is also its most experimental song with a poetic, hip-hop lyric that could be delivered a cappella in a coffee shop as well as it is presented here with musical accompaniment. Thematically and lyrically dense, “A Madman from Manhattan” seems to avoid obvious ties with the themes of the album’s other songs but may be commenting on some of them from perspectives of other characters, especially with the song’s two-part arrangement where it becomes something different in the final third. "Taking Me Back (Gently)" is the album’s closer is one of its best and most clever moments as White presents a completely different (acoustic/Americana) style arrangement of the song that opens Fear of the Dawn (with a fair amount of electric guitar fury and fuzzy synthesizer by comparison). 70 minutes is a long way to go to get to this particular pay-off, but if both albums are played back to back as one piece, it both allows the music to end where it began with an alternate version of the same song, or better yet, if the albums are presented on a back-to-back loop, “Taking Me Back” plays twice in a row as the song cycle changes back from quiet to loud and starts over again. The detail that went into replicating the many layers of the first version of the song in this second, quiet version is extremely impressive.
Overall, Entering Heaven Alive is as equally well-produced
and performed as any of Jack White’s many other records, but it is a bit underwhelming
coming so soon after a much more engaging and dazzling album and loses even
more interest for being mainly presented in one tone rather than mixing together
the songs from both albums into a great double LP or even two separate but more
balanced albums that featured some of the louder and quieter songs together.
Arguably, White’s decision to separate them is the theme that makes these two
records stand out as unique compared to his previous work, but where that adds
to the strength of the first, it also contributes to the slight weakness of the
second. Ironically, without Fear of the Dawn to compare it to, Entering Heaven
Alive might have received a stronger delivery and reception.
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