Third Man Records marks 20 years of a Raconteurs album made in a Detroit attic

Twenty years ago, a rock record came together fast in the attic of a house on Detroit's East Grand Boulevard. Now Third Man Records is bringing it back in a big way.

The label has announced Vault Package #70, a three-LP set called Broken Boy Soldiers XX that marks the 20th anniversary of the Raconteurs' debut album. Third Man calls it the "much-needed 20th anniversary companion to the landmark album."

Broken Boy Soldiers was recorded entirely at Brendan Benson's Le Grand Studios, in the attic of his then-home at 419 East Grand Boulevard in Detroit. Third Man calls them the "sweaty, unplanned" sessions, and says the band found little time for anything outside the focus of music.

The Raconteurs paired Benson with Jack White. Rounding out the lineup were Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler, best known as the rhythm section for the Greenhornes.

The set is pressed across three LPs in metallic copper, grand green, and coke bottle clear. The records come packed in two gatefold jackets and housed in a slip case.

There's a collector's extra too. A film strip from the "Steady, As She Goes" video shoot comes printed on transparent PhotoKem film, pulled from the original clip that Jim Jarmusch directed.

The Vault is Third Man's long-running subscription series, and this is its 70th entry. To get this one, you have to sign up before the window closes. "Sign up by midnight central time October 31st to lock in your copy of Broken Boy Soldiers XX," the label wrote.

Twenty years on, the debut album still stands as a shining example of what came out of that attic. For Detroit, that's a reminder that a landmark rock record came together on the Boulevard, in a working musician's attic. Full details are on Third Man's announcement.