YOURZ
I have a confession to make - The White Stripes are my least favourite Jack White band. Yeah, I know it's the band that brought him to prominence and it's not that there's anything wrong with this duo (in fact, watching their recent DVD Under Great White Northern Lights did nothing but increase my respect for them). I just much prefer his work with both The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.
Apart from the accompanying live album to the aforementioned DVD, Elephant is the only White Stripes CD in our collection. And what a kick-arse album it is too. While the singles did very well for them, it's album tracks like Ball And Biscuit, Hypnotize, Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine and Black Math that really rock my socks.
Then there is the beautiful Meg-sung In The Cold, Cold Night, with the simplest of instrumentation, that delights me every time I hear it. I had the pleasure of meeting Meg backstage at a Beck concert a number of years ago. Not only is she more gorgeous in real life than any photo can do justice but she is so cute I wanted to take her home. In fact, Meg, if you're reading this, Mine and YourZ truly have a bed made up and waiting for you.
The reality of listening to this is it has me wanting to hear more of their albums. Any recommendations?
VERDICT: TURN IT UP
MINE
It's quite good. I know, I'm damning with faint praise here but Jack and I just don't really get along. I've spoken before about his propensity for mixing the cymbal sounds right up, and his - um - interesting choices for the levels of some instumentation here had me wincing at times. Not that he doesn't have the right to do that. He's an artist, he's allowed to do what he wants. And I'm sure Meg put her 2 cents' worth in as well.
Of course I really love Seven Nation Army despite that annoying cymbal sound, and this album's chock full of good songs. Although I'm a bit pissed off about Jack getting the words wrong on I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself. As you'd expect.
So generally, this isn't bad, but it's just not my sort of music. Maybe Jack White is my new Dylan - I'll really enjoy the music when someone else does it?
VERDICT:TURN IT DOWN
For more information: http://www.whitestripes.com
In our collection we also have Under Great White Northern Lights
In our collection we also have Under Great White Northern Lights
