CD Odyssey Disc 1799: The White Stripes

What I review is randomly selected, which means an album can get reviewed right after I buy it, or many years later. This next album has been kicking around for a long time, but the dice gods finally selected it.

Disc 1799 is…Self-Titled

Artist: The White Stripes

Year of Release: 2002

What’s up with the Cover? “Red and white is our thing”. In 1999 we didn’t know how far they’d ride that aesthetic. Turns out, pretty much the whole way.

How I Came To Know It: I’d like to brag that I was with the White Stripes from the beginning, but the truth is I discovered them along with most other people when they released their third album, “Elephant” in 2003. I immediately dug backward and made up for lost time, finding this record in the process.

How It Stacks Up: I have six White Stripes albums, which is all of them. Of those six I had reserved fifth spot for their eponymous debut, but I liked it too much for that, so I’m bumping Icky Thump out of fourth. This is my last White Stripes review, so as is tradition here on the Odyssey, here’s the full recap:

1. De Stijl: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 753)
2. Elephant: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 251)
3. White Blood Cells: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 126)
4. Self-Titled: 4 stars (reviewed right here)
5. Icky Thump: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1499)
6. Get Behind Me Satan: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 577)

 Ratings: 4 stars

Jack White didn’t save rock and roll, but he did throw a bucket of water on it while it was sleeping, poured three shots of bourbon down its throat, and told it in no uncertain terms, “enough of this resting on your laurels - we’re hitting the bars.” 1999’s eponymous debut of his (and Meg White’s) band the White Stripes is where it all began.

While many artists of this era were trying to make production decisions to make things sound louder, the White Stripes redefined what loud could be. Jack White’s guitar, now universally lauded and emulated (but never duplicated), is a revelation. He doesn’t play the guitar he attacks it like Charles Bukowski attacks a poem – raw and violently, like it’s a heavyweight fight of the bare knuckles variety.

At its core, this record is, like a lot of rock music, a blues album. White even provides a Rosetta Stone to translate for the newly initiated with two blues covers, Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breaking Down” and “St. James Infirmary Blues”. Both turn the crunch and gravel up to 11, supercharging these age-old tunes and making you hear them again for the first time. I have four different versions of “Stop Breaking Down” and with apologies to Lucinda Williams, the Rolling Stones and Mr. Johnson himself, the White Stripes do it best.

“Stop Breaking Down” is the second of a trio of songs (along with “Jimmy the Exploder” and “The Big Three Killed My Baby”) that open the record. That three song attack (for you will feel attacked) is so ferocious it almost killed me as well.

That’s what you can expect in large degree for the whole record. Screeching, yawling guitars chugging forward with a primal but deliberate fury. There are White Stripes albums that I like more (see list above) but I’m not sure there are any that match the visceral oomph of the debut. It feels like Jack has spent his whole life vibrating with the need to shout his truth and then someone put a guitar in his hand and said, “speak with this.”

Most of the songs are White Stripes originals, but in addition to the blues covers they take a turn at Bob Dylan, with a cover of “One More Cup of Coffee”. I can’t say this is better than the original (having Emmylou Harris on backing vocals gives Dylan the unfair advantage) but it is damn good.

I have a bass player friend who hates the White Stripes (they have no bass player, so the hatred is easily traced), but with apologies to bass players everywhere, you don’t miss it here. Jack has it all covered and anything he misses Meg is there to pick up on the drums.

In addition to blues influences, the White Stripes bring punk rock sensibilities to the music, getting on a song, thrashing it out of their system, and moving on, most often in under three minutes. Ordinarily I have a rule that no record should have more than 14 songs. The White Stripes have 17, but the album still clocks in at a restrained 44 minutes, so I mostly forgive the transgression.

I play the album while I’m reviewing it, and when I first started writing this review I found it hard to concentrate. At first I wondered if it might have been the previous night’s rum and cokes, or maybe a lack of coffee, but it was that the record kept demanding my immediate and total attention. I had to turn it down just to get a thought in edgewise.

That’s OK if you need to write something, but generally the White Stripes should be played loud. Let it sink into your guts and bones where it belongs.

Best tracks: Jimmy the Exploder, Stop Breaking Down, The Big Three Killed My Baby, Wasting My Time, Astro, Screwdriver, One More Cup of Coffee, I Fought Piranhas

CD Odyssey Disc 1499: The White Stripes

Despite a responsible Sunday evening and good night’s sleep I’m feeling Monday today a bit harder than usual. Fortunately, I have a week of fun ahead to restore my vitality.

Disc 1499 is…. Icky Thump

Artist: The White Stripes

Year of Release: 2007

What’s up with the Cover? This cover is proof-positive the White Stripes went out at the top. Their first album features them in t-shirts. Eight years later (to the day – both their first and last record were released on June 15) they’re rocking some serious beadwork. These glorious outfits look like they weight a ton, with a cost to match.

And if you’re wondering, yes I would wear Meg’s hat and no, I would not be caught dead in Jack’s.

How I Came To Know It: Like most people with ears in the mid-oughts, I loved the White Stripes. I bought this when it came out. I probably heard the title track before I did, and that wouldn’t have hurt.

How It Stacks Up: I have six White Stripes albums, which is all of them. Competition among those records is tough, and brilliant as it is, “Icky Thump” can only manage to land at #4.

Ratings: 4 stars

What can you say about the last album from a band that reinvented rock and roll, that blazed a path for those that would follow that was so hot and furious you’d be crazy to try to imitate them? I’d like to go back in time and beg them to reconsider, but since that’s an impossibility I’ll just applaud in appreciation of a band that accomplishes what few ever do: go out on top.

While many bands this far into their career are already recycling old concepts, the White Stripes were continuing to stretch their already unique brand of rock into new and fascinating ways.

Yes, Jack White’s guitar is still front and centre, knocking out grimy, dirty riffs with equal parts ferocity and perfect timing. White has always been a revelation on guitar with his genius for understanding what makes the blues the blues, but then playing them from a wholly different perspective. You’d be hard pressed to say it is anything other than rock and blues, but it just feels gloriously different when he does it. And all that reverb and under-growl has allowed him to do it all the while with nary a bass in the mix.

The record starts with a classic thumper in the title track. The White Stripes have plenty of these classic grooves in their repertoire, but “Icky Thump” is easily one of the best. It’s got it all: crazy call-and-answer guitar, an irresistible riff and White’s electric vocal performance. Hell, I even enjoyed the thump of Meg’s drums on this one. It is so easy to listen to, it always feels like it ends too early, and it was all I could do to not just go back and play it again immediately.

Fortunately the record has plenty more where that came from, including “You Don’t Know What Love Is”, “Bone Broke” and “Little Cream Soda” all of which grab and shake you by your earholes and make you like it.

Atop this ferocity the band has added a playful light alter ego of sound that gives the album a lot of dynamic range as well as a cool-down vibe for when you need it. My favourite of the bunch is “300 M.P.H. Torrential Downpour Blues” which has an easy-going pick pattern layered with a second easy going pick pattern. Then, right when you’re about to let out a heavy sigh and take a sip of iced tea, you spill your drink all over yourself as Jack fires some crazed feedback-ridden guitar hell at you. It sounds like the blues on bath salts, but he successfully twists it into something dark and beautiful.

The White Stripes often limit themselves to guitar, drum and vocals but on Icky Thump they have a couple of tracks that feature bagpipes. They aren’t my favourite tracks, and Meg White’s banter near the end of “St. Andrew (the Battle is in the Air)” annoyed me, but they still manage to make the experience work, at least to that point. Even the self-indulgent “Rag and Bone” is generally a good time, if for no other reason than the insistent and energized rhythm of the tune. Also, Jack features this time, and he’s notably better at idle banter than Meg.

Because of the furious genius of his guitar work and innovative production, Jack White’s lyrics often get short shrift, but there are plenty of places on Icky Thump where he displays his wry wit and talent for a turn of phrase. My favourite for this is the album’s final track, “Effect and Cause” where White turns the usual concept on its head to remonstrate someone’s spurious logic. It loses something sitting stale on the page, but I encourage you to give the song a listen and revel in the intermingling of metaphor and barroom philosophy.

The record gets a bit too cute for its own good in places, but it always does so in a way that makes you know the White Stripes are in on the joke. Also, they always manage to pull it off at the last second.

Jack White would go on to many more successful projects, including three albums in each of the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather, and as a solo artist. He hadn’t lost his touch with the White Stripes in 2007, he was just ready to move on. Fortunately he left us one hell of a parting gift.

Best tracks: Icky Thump, You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You’re Told), 300 M.P.H. Torrential Downpour Blues, Little Cream Soda, I’m Slowly Turning Into You, A Martyr For My Love For You, Effect and Cause

CD Odyssey Disc 753: White Stripes

Happy Canada Day! A year ago today I was cleaning my house and reviewing a Mae Moore album. Today is the White Stripes and no house cleaning, thank you very much. Instead I am looking forward to a lazy day with Sheila.

Disc 753 is….De Stijl

Artist: The White Stripes

Year of Release: originally 2000 and then re-released in 2002, presumably when people started to realize ‘hey, this band is pretty good!’

What’s up with the Cover? “De Stijl” is a reference to a Dutch art movement from the first half of the 20^th century, and the cover is an example of it. “De Stijl” is the kind of art that is OK in a gallery but that I’d never want in my home.

Meg White’s shoes are also something I would also never want in my home. I have previously guested on Sheila’s fashion blog, picking “shoes my husband hates.” The monstrosities that Meg is wearing would certainly qualify.

How I Came To Know It: No, I was not there from the beginning. I got into the White Stripes with the rest of the crowd in 2003 with the success of “Elephant.” “De Stijl” was just me drilling into their back catalogue.

How It Stacks Up: I have six White Stripes albums and “De Stijl” is one of the best. It is really tied with “Elephant” for first place, but if you make me pick I’m going to go with “De Stijl” at number one.

Ratings: 4 stars but very close to 5

“De Stijl” answers the question “what would happen if a modern rock act skipped over the Rolling Stones and went straight back to thirties blues?”

With this record the White Stripes have rediscovered that dirty, wretched, yet ever-so-tender sound of artists like Robert Johnson and Son House and fused it with modern rock and folk concepts. The softer sides of this album definitely have a Rolling Stones pop quality to them, such as the English schoolboy crush quality of “Sister, Do You Know My Name?” Even on these softer songs the guitar has a tortured cry that screams Great Depression much louder than British Invasion.

That tortured guitar is Jack White’s signature sound. He has always been able to draw magic out of the guitar, but “De Stijl” features some of his best work. On “Death Letter” he pumps power and distortion into the song well beyond anything the Son House original could accomplish, without ever losing the core of the blues in every note.

On “I’m Bound to Pack it Up” White shows his softer side with some soft strumming that would be at home on a sixties folk record. Songs like this one show that the White Stripes are keen music historians, willing to draw from the rich tradition of rock and roll as well as its progenitors.

Slow or fast, folksy reverie or blues assault, “De Stijl” always feels suffused with energy. These songs ride the emotional edge, threatening at every moment to overwhelm the performers and descend into random screaming or sobbing. Instead they hold tenuously close to disaster, like a motorcycle finding the absolute edge of every turn on a mountain highway. You don’t create greatness without riding close to that edge, and the White Stripes show they’re willing to risk it.

The album has thirteen songs but it is all over in less than 40 minutes, leaving you wanting more. My only quibble is the little kid reciting a poem at the front end of “Let’s Build a Home” but it is short lived and followed by a pretty cool track.

“De Stijl” is one of those albums that is going to age well through the decades. The musical concepts Jack White is playing with are timeless, but subtly infused with new ways to approach and interpret them. Just as important, the energy he and Meg dedicate to every song makes it sound fresh every time you hear it.

Best tracks: You’re Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl), Hello Operator, I’m Bound to Pack it Up, Death Letter, Truth Doesn’t Make a Noise, Jumble Jumble, Why Can’t You Be Nicer to Me?, Your Southern Can is Mine

CD Odyssey Disc 577: The White Stripes

Getting ready for Christmas is tiring work.  The shopping is finished right enough, but just clearing my desk to take some time off is a task in and of itself.

As a result, this review was a bit delayed in getting written. I’m getting it done now in the hopes I’ll be able to get one more in over the weekend and before the holidays fully descend.

Disc 577 is…. Get Behind Me Satan

Form of...an apple tree!  Form of...English Zorro!

Artist: The White Stripes

Year of Release: 2005

What’s up with the Cover? The usual red, black and white set up that is the White Stripes’ trademark.  Meg’s dress looks lovely and Jack’s moustache is impeccable.  Note the behind-the-back finger pointing.  Is this finger pointing accusatory in theme with the album title (“He’s Satan!” “No She’s Satan!”), or are they just activating their Wonder Twin powers?

How I Came To Know It:  By 2005 I was firmly a White Stripes fan, so I just bought this record when it came out.

How It Stacks Up:  I have all six White Stripes albums, and they are all amazing.  Sadly, something has to be at or near the bottom, and so it is with this album, which I put fifth or sixth, depending on my mood.

Rating:  3 stars but close to 4

White Stripes albums will always have the advantage of Jack White’s amazing abilities as a producer.

The first track on “Blue Orchid” is brilliant on its own, but with White’s production decisions it becomes a thing of raw beauty.  Jack’s vocals are high but bluesy, like Robert Plant crossed with Robert Johnson.  The guitar riff is simple, but White has turned up the reverb to its highest, crunchiest point.  The guitar never crosses the line into muddy, but listening to it walk right up to the edge of doing so is what gives the song its energy.  At a mere 2:37 “Blue Orchid” is also brilliantly brief, showing that like previous rock pioneers Buddy Holly and Dick Dale, White can wow us quickly and not feel like he has to drag it out after he’s done so.

 “My Doorbell” is another of my favourites.  It is constructed like a classic R&B track, and then infused with so much seventies rock enthusiasm it defies classification.  The melody is delivered partly with guitar chords and partly with piano mimicking the same effect, and both work equally well in getting your groove on.

Some songs like “Little Ghost”and “Nurse” are a bit too cutesy.  They have moments of brilliance and overwrought concepts (lyrically and musically) in equal measure.  Both come out on the positive side of the ledger, and are unlike anything anyone else was doing at the time (or since) so I forgive their excesses, even if I feel duty bound to point them out.

Jack White can write a pretty little melody in his sleep, and for all its crunch, “Get Behind Me Satan” smartly leaves lots of space between the sound to appreciate the song’s construction.  In lesser hands music like this is gets filled with guitar or drum flourishes that bleed into each other to construct the oft-sought “wall of sound,” all at the expense of the tune itself.  “Get Behind Me Satan” is crisp, and each note rings out, controlled and resonant, like a preacher’s voice at the height of a sermon.

Overall, the album is very good at mixing light and whimsical with thick and dirty.

Most tracks on “Get Behind Me Satan” find the perfect alchemical process to mix these two things, but at times it can feel more like a sound experiment than a fully developed song. “White Moon” and “Instinct Blues” both suffer from this, although neither could truly be called bad.

One of my favourite deep cuts is “Take Take Take” a song about how fans always feel like they are being respectful with their requests of celebrities, but how often these requests get more and more unreasonable until the star is forced to be rude just to disengage.  In the song, our protagonist sees Rita Hayworth come into his seedy bar.  Hayworth agrees to first an autograph, and then a picture but eventually has had enough, at which point our pushy fan turns on her, portraying her as cruel and uncaring.  It isn’t at the level of Rush’ “Limelight” (the most honest song about star/fan interaction ever written) but it is still insightful.

The album ends with “I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet)” a stripped down song with Jack singing over a single piano about…well…loneliness.  We’ve all been there, and this song captures the feeling pretty well, if from the perspective of someone who feels the pangs a bit more than most.

“Get Behind Me Satan” at times feels unfinished, and at times it takes chances that are equal measures inspired and frustrating, but ultimately the brilliance of Jack White’s writing, production and performance come together to deliver another solid record that is worth your time.

Best tracks:   Blue Orchid, My Doorbell, The Denial Twist, Passive Manipulation, I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet)

CD Odyssey Disc 251: White Stripes

Certain albums in your life get a lot of heavy play when you first buy them. This next review is one of those.

Disc 251 is...Elephant
Artist: White Stripes

Year of Release: 2003

What’s Up With The Cover?: The White Stripes like their covers to be red, white and black, and here's another. I quite like the simplicity of this cover though. Meg looks like she's crying, and Jack looks astonished - or vacant. I can't imagine Jack White as vacant so I'm going to go with astonished. Also, is that a cricket bat he's holding? That's a bit odd...

How I Came To Know It: Like every person with a pulse in 2003, I heard the song "Seven Nation Army" and had to have this album.

How It Stacks Up: I have six White Stripes albums, and with their announced retirement that may be all there will ever be. Of the six, there are three I prefer, and "Elephant" is one of those. I think I'd put it either first or second. I have a hard time ranking White Stripes albums though, as they are all pretty close, so that might change by the time I roll another one of their records.

Rating: 4 stars but a very thin line from 5

Is there an elephant in the room? Yes - and that elephant is that everyone already knows this record. If you don't then I applaud you - living under a rock for the past seven years has probably saved you a considerable amount on rent.

This is also the album that broke the White Stripes into the main stream where schmucks like me would hear them. This happened a little late, as "Elephant" is their fourth studio release. They made some minor waves on their previous record, "White Blood Cells" (reviewed back at Disc 126) but nothing comparable to the success that came with "Elephant".

As a result of the late blooming, the sound of this album is very mature to me. All White Stripes albums have that visceral production and bluesy grit that Jack White is so good at, but "Elephant" is definitely a well formed idea.

That idea begins with one of the great rock songs of our generation, "Seven Nation Army". This is one of those songs that we'll still be hearing on rock radio stations thirty years from now. For all that I've heard it countless times, I still love it. White consistently shows that every great riff was not used up in the seventies - there are still plenty more to discover, and he lends one to this modern day classic.

That said, the album is more than "Seven Nation Army" and "The Hardest Button to Button" (the other hit). These songs form the nucleus of seventies inspired blues rock, but "Elephant" reaches in both directions from here. "Ball and Biscuit" is over seven minutes of the blues, amplified out of all ho for your listening pleasure. Like a good blues song, it never feels like it is dragging, despite playing the same basic riff most of the time.

At the other end we have "In The Cold Cold Night" a tight little song, with Jack showing he can play quietly in the background, and Meg's voice - fragile and real - singing proudly, when so often she sits behind her drum kit, comfortably anonymous.

There are even punk elements on furious tracks like "Hypnotize", although White's natural musical ability and clear ennunciation always make his songs too melodic to fall far into the realm of punk, "Hypnotize" does capture the ferocity of the movement.

The one bad track is the 14th, "Well It's True That We Love One Another" which is a too-cute dialogue between Jack, Meg and guest vocalist Holly Golightly (herself, possessing of a name too-cute all on its own). It is supposed to be lively banter between the characters on the nature of their various relationships. Instead, it sounds like something that was borne from a jam session in the studio, and should have been left on the cutting room floor. Still, with the other 13 tracks as strong as they are, this is a minor quibble.

I won't wax on (or off) much longer. The truth is, the White Stripes are already a critical darling, and this album is the most precious among their offerings. Consequently, we've all read plenty about it, and I won't be able to add much that hasn't already been said.

I will say that my work took my up to Camosun College yesterday when I had this in my car and while I was there I noted a sign on campus pointed to the Jack White Building. It struck me to the point that I took a picture of the sign.

Of course, this would be an entirely different Jack White, but the moment was nevertheless illustrative; even out of my car and thinking about work, this album had gotten into my head to the point that I was noticing it even when it wasn't present. Or put more simply, it leaves an impression.

Best tracks: Seven Nation Army, There's No Home For You Here, In The Cold Cold Night, Ball and Biscuit, The Hardest Button to Button, Girl You Have No Faith in Medicine

CD Odyssey Disc 126: White Stripes

Well, my last review certainly provoked a 'Stinging rebuke'! I'll leave Chris D. the last word on that one, and move on with the next album offered up by the gods of randomness.

Disc 126 is...White Blood Cells
Artist: The White Stripes

Year of Release: 2002

What’s Up With The Cover?: Jack and Meg White are accosted by five shadows. Jack looks disturbed; Meg looks bemused.

How I Came To Know It: I heard the song "Seven Nation Army" back when "Elephant" came out in 2003. That got me hooked on the White Stripes, but I probably didn't get "White Blood Cells" - the preceding album - until about 2004.

How It Stacks Up: I have six White Stripes albums, which I think is all of them, although I haven't checked in a while. I really like "White Blood Cells" but I'm not sure it's my favourite. I'll say 2nd or 3rd depending on how I'm feeling about "De Stijl" at the time.

Rating: 4 stars

The White Stripes are a band that I find people either really like, or really don't like. Me - I really like them. I'm amazed at the heavy rock sound they get out of principally just two instruments - guitar and drum.

This album starts with a bang, with the tap of drumsticks and the screech of a little feedback before it launches into a Sabbath-like guitar riff. Jack White's vocal cuts in:

"Dead leaves and the dirty ground
when I know you're not around."

As songs that set the mood of an album, "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" is high on my list.

As counterpoint to rock-it-out tracks like "Dead Leaves...", "White Blood Cells" also includes more quietly introspective tracks about childhood like "We're Going To Be Friends." which provide a nice counterpoint to the driving guitar, and keep your ear primed for each new track.

With the rise of single downloads, the art of album construction has suffered a little in recent years. The White Stripes show that it can still be done, and done well.

A big part of this success must also go to Jack White's production. He is truly skilled at getting maximum sound out of the simplest arrangements. He also manages to make the relatively average drum playing of Meg sound good. He adds to this a deliberately sloppy rock guitar and a lasciviously classic rock voice, blending it all together into some of the purest rock and roll to be made in some time.

"White Blood Cells" has sixteen tracks - usually cause enough for me to see red. However, the longest track is only 3:39 (ironically, it is track 12's "I Can't Wait"). The end result is a respectable 40 minutes of playing time. The first five or six tracks are simply awesome. As the album progresses, there are a few weaker songs that make an appearance, but even these are few in number, and are often over in under three minutes.

In fact, one of my favourites on this album, "Little Room" is only fifty seconds long - a short, but thoughtful track about the nature of success, and how hard it is to hold onto what it is that got you there in the first place:

"well you're in your little room
and you're working on something good
but if it's really good
you're gonna need a bigger room
and when you're in a bigger room
you might not know what to do
you might have to think of
how you got started
sitting in your little room."

This song to me, pretty much sums up how the White Stripes approach music. Simple songs, amplified out of all ho, but appealing back to the deepest roots of rock that will always be the wellspring of what makes this genre of music great.

Best tracks: Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, Hotel Yorba, I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman, Expecting, Little Room, Offend In Every Way, This Protector.