Critical reaction El Camino received acclaim from music critics. According to review aggregator website
Metacritic, the album received an average review score of 84/100 based on 37 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim". Critics mainly praised the instrumentation of the songs on the album, as well as the album production.
Spin gave the record an 8/10 rating, calling it "irresistibly gaudy" and "catchier, glitzier, ballsier". The reviewer said the songs contain "classic cock-rock sonic
tchotchkes: handclaps,
talk-box guitar breaks, rainbow keyboards. The overall effect is something akin to
ZZ Top with glitter in their beards." Melissa Maerz of
Entertainment Weekly gave the record an "A−", writing that the group "make a small-room racket that sounds massive enough for a bigger-is-better world". Maerz said that "
El Camino trades the soulful stylings of
Brothers for harder-driving, faster-riffing rock & roll". James Lachno of
The Daily Telegraph rated the album four-stars-out-of-five, praising Danger Mouse for "sharpen[ing] up the sweet, melodic choruses that offset the duo's unholy racket" and give each song a "timeless quality, as suited to a Seventies mid-west saloon as a students' indie disco". Despite what Lachno judged to be "tawdry" lyrics, he said that "the Black Keys are here to rock, not talk. On this evidence, few bands right now do it better." Randall Roberts of the
Los Angeles Times assigned the album a maximum four-star rating, calling it "butt-shaking music" and "an album with lyrics that are both unpretentious and un-dumb". Roberts praised the nostalgic elements of the group's music and said that the album "scratches an itch you didn't even know you had". Michael Hann of
The Guardian gave the record a maximum rating of five stars, writing that it is "dripping with an easy, attractive confidence". Commenting on the various musical influences on the album, Hann said, "they stride fearlessly into areas that might once have been off-limits". His review concluded, "They sound like a band who think they've made the year's best rock'n'roll album, probably because that's exactly what they've done." Rob Harvilla of
Pitchfork scored
El Camino a 7.4/10 and called it "their best and (not coincidentally) goofiest album". Describing the music, he said, "The riffs are glam-nasty, the lyrics sublimely knuckleheaded, the basslines nimble and bombastic, the mood frivolous and fun and unabashedly corny."
Will Hermes of
Rolling Stone rated the album four stars and called it their "grandest pop gesture yet, augmenting dark-hearted fuzz blasts with sleekly sexy choruses and Seventies-glam flair".
AllMusic writer
Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated the album four stars and said, "More than any other Black Keys album,
El Camino is an outright party, playing like a collection of 11 lost
45 singles, each one having a bigger beat or dirtier hook than the previous side."
Kitty Empire of
The Observer was more critical of the album; in a three-star review, Empire commented that it sounded like Danger Mouse "tightened up the Black Keys' act rather than loosened it" and that "
El Camino may be fast and fun, but it is also somewhat undemanding." The reviewer noted that the album had "increased vigour", but that it came at the expense of "the subtleties that made
Brothers such an intriguing ride."
Commercial performance In the US,
El Camino debuted at number two on the
Billboard 200 and sold 206,000 copies in its first week on sale. This marks the highest single-week album sales and, to that point, charting position that the group had achieved in the country. In Canada, the album debuted at number three on the
Canadian Albums Chart and sold 27,000 copies in its first week. In its first two weeks on sale,
El Camino sold nearly 293,000 copies in the US. The album has been certified: quadruple-platinum in Canada and New Zealand;
Accolades El Camino appeared on several end-of-year rankings by music publications and critics. The album was ranked by
Mojo as the sixth-best album of 2012, even though it was released in 2011.
American Songwriter ranked it as the ninth-best album of 2011, while
Rolling Stone ranked it as the 12th-best. The album placed 21st on the "Best Albums" list from
The Village Voices 2011
Pazz & Jop critics' poll.
Paste ranked the record as the 22nd-best of the year before it had been released.
Spin placed it at number 36 on its list of the 50 best albums of the year, writing, "Glam-blooze guitar, poppy melodies, and hockey-rink keyboards fit the Keys like vintage denim." Claire Suddath of
Time magazine and Andrew Leahey of
The Washington Times both named
El Camino one of the Top 10 Albums of 2011, while the staff of AllMusic selected the album as one of their favorites of the year. In end-of-year polls, writers for
Rolling Stone selected "Little Black Submarines" as the 18th-best song of 2011, while the publication's readers voted "Lonely Boy" the year's third-best song. At the
55th Annual Grammy Awards, The Black Keys won the award for
Best Rock Album for
El Camino, and
Best Rock Performance and
Best Rock Song for "Lonely Boy". Auerbach was honored as
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for co-producing
El Camino and producing records by Hacienda and
Dr. John. The Black Keys also received nominations for
Album of the Year for
El Camino and
Record of the Year for "Lonely Boy". ==Tour==