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Product Description
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"Bagpipes", a song written as the soundtrack to a Michel Gondry music video, Patti Page's musical shadow, and Jack and Meg co-narrating a scavenger's rummages: it must be time for Icky Thump, the many-flavored riposte to 2006's Get Behind Me Satan. The duo starts big with the title track--Jack's fast-tumbling, falsetto-tinged lyrics jagging on hyper keyboard-sounding segues and Meg's pounding drums. They rarely shy from an idea, invoking acoustic Bob Dylan to frame "300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues", but interjecting a series of distortion-laden guitar paroxysms for good measure. The end of Icky, on "Effect and Cause," is where Jack's trademark vocal warble and spare, quick acoustic strums meet Meg's single-minded beats. Everywhere on Icky giant riffs leap and shout, with Flamenco horns and those eerie bagpipes and rhythmic shifts and Jack's impatient vocal kinetics, marking new territories even as the White Stripes again populate them with vintage ideas. --Andrew Bartlett
Product Description
CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ALBUM FROM THE WHITE STRIPES The white stripes are back!! This time the brother & sister combination deliver a great selection of pure rock 'n' roll that is uber essential
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
All "Icky Thump" initially brought to mind was Graham Chapman telling Terry Jones how to say, "Eee, ecky thump!" into a mike.
But it's also the title of the White Stripes' sixth album, and after the mediocre dry spell of "Get Behind Me Satan," it's nice to hear that the Stripes seem to have regained their creative juices. This time they pack the album with dark seventies-style rock'n'roll and some traditional folk flourishes.
It kicks off with the dark, plodding guitar that blazes up to life every few seconds, and a sinuous synth ripple that slithers through the melody. "Icky thump/Who'da thunk?/Sittin drunk on a wagon to Mexico?" Jack yowls, describing the less pleasant corners of Mexico, and taking a moment to jab at Americans ("Why don't you kick yourself out/You're an immigrant too!").
It softens up a lot for the catchy, bluesier rocker "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)," and the mellow gritty "300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues." Then the album goes through two phases: the first is one of British and Scottish folkiness, and a trumpety rocker that sounds like a B-side from Beirut. Then the last leg of the album slips back to blazing rock'n'roll, full of dark energy and retro organ.
I never quite figured out what was going on in the halfhearted "Get Behind Me Satan," except that every band has their dud. And fortunately "Icky Thump" is everything that album wasn't -- spirited, creative, enthusiastic, and full of those little moments and brilliant instrumentation that bring it alive. Nice to see they haven't run out of juice yet.
Yeah, we have Jack blazing away like a forest fire on his guitars, whether it's softer blues riffs, ringing blasts or hard-rocking swirls. And Meg smashes the drums like no other. But their music is festooned with a colourful array of extra instrumentation -- sweeps of eerie, vintage psychedelic synth, sprightly gypsyish trumpets, and even bagpipes for the mesmerizing "St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)."
Jack seems to have regained his verve as well: he sounds assured and a little sad, and his quirky voice has a new depth and power. But he hasn't lost his melancholy edge, singing of Mexican robberies, stream of consciousness love songs, the rag and bone man, and a man who loves a woman so deeply, he lets her go so he won't make her unhappy.
And Meg gets to display her clear voice a few times -- she gets to talk with Jack in "Rag & Bone," and the eerie Scottishy ballad "St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)" has her murmuring a prayerlike song over a bagpipe/drum melody. ("This battle is in the air/I'm looking upwards/where are the angels?/I'm not in my home!").
"Icky Thump" is both a wonderful return to form, and a foray into new territory for the White Stripes. A glorious experience, and it only gets better with repeated listens. A triumph.
But it's also the title of the White Stripes' sixth album, and after the mediocre dry spell of "Get Behind Me Satan," it's nice to hear that the Stripes seem to have regained their creative juices. This time they pack the album with dark seventies-style rock'n'roll and some traditional folk flourishes.
It kicks off with the dark, plodding guitar that blazes up to life every few seconds, and a sinuous synth ripple that slithers through the melody. "Icky thump/Who'da thunk?/Sittin drunk on a wagon to Mexico?" Jack yowls, describing the less pleasant corners of Mexico, and taking a moment to jab at Americans ("Why don't you kick yourself out/You're an immigrant too!").
It softens up a lot for the catchy, bluesier rocker "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)," and the mellow gritty "300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues." Then the album goes through two phases: the first is one of British and Scottish folkiness, and a trumpety rocker that sounds like a B-side from Beirut. Then the last leg of the album slips back to blazing rock'n'roll, full of dark energy and retro organ.
I never quite figured out what was going on in the halfhearted "Get Behind Me Satan," except that every band has their dud. And fortunately "Icky Thump" is everything that album wasn't -- spirited, creative, enthusiastic, and full of those little moments and brilliant instrumentation that bring it alive. Nice to see they haven't run out of juice yet.
Yeah, we have Jack blazing away like a forest fire on his guitars, whether it's softer blues riffs, ringing blasts or hard-rocking swirls. And Meg smashes the drums like no other. But their music is festooned with a colourful array of extra instrumentation -- sweeps of eerie, vintage psychedelic synth, sprightly gypsyish trumpets, and even bagpipes for the mesmerizing "St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)."
Jack seems to have regained his verve as well: he sounds assured and a little sad, and his quirky voice has a new depth and power. But he hasn't lost his melancholy edge, singing of Mexican robberies, stream of consciousness love songs, the rag and bone man, and a man who loves a woman so deeply, he lets her go so he won't make her unhappy.
And Meg gets to display her clear voice a few times -- she gets to talk with Jack in "Rag & Bone," and the eerie Scottishy ballad "St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)" has her murmuring a prayerlike song over a bagpipe/drum melody. ("This battle is in the air/I'm looking upwards/where are the angels?/I'm not in my home!").
"Icky Thump" is both a wonderful return to form, and a foray into new territory for the White Stripes. A glorious experience, and it only gets better with repeated listens. A triumph.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This new album is quite spectacular. It has in some ways gone back to the root of The White Stripes were all about, a guitar, drums and vocals. In other ways this album has pushed further the boundaries of the little box Jack White confines himself to; they have ditched the Marimba, taken on some bagpipes, some horns and added a synthesiser that sounds like it belongs in an Irish jig. This leaves us with a very diverse sounding album. The title track and lead single Icky thump is just plain weird at first, but the jerkiness and blasts of synthesiser soon grow on you. Moving swiftly onwards we get a bit country with You Don't Know What Love Is, it's brilliantly catchy. 300 MPH...... doesn't sound like the name implies until the distortion pedal kicks in around the two and a half minute mark and erupts, but it settles down. Conquest uses the horns to great effect, the song is not swamped by the songs but they act rather as a motif to the fact that it is a cover of an old song, for ten seconds somewhere in the middle of this song is sounds like new rave but that's just my opinion. Bone broke next is a classic White Stripes song, guitar drums and vocals, simple yet effective. Now comes the strange part, Prickly Thorn and St. Andrew tie in with one another, the first of these is pretty much a folk song, the second a psychedelic meltdown of backwards bagpipes and drums with some eerie spoken works by Meg White. Little Cream Soda is back to the three elements of The White Stripes, but it is quite heavy. In my opinion it is the last five songs on the album that are the best, Rag & Bone is a comical spoken word piece, I'm Slowly Turning Into You is epic with the effect on the guitar here not disimilar to that on Blue Orchid. Matyr is both slow and emotional yet thumps along in the chorus driven by stabs of organ and trundling bass heavy guitar. Catch Hell Blues is The White Stripes in their barest form with this track recorded in one take. Effect and cause is an acoustic country song yet the highlight of this song has to be the lyrics.
A quick note must be made about the sound quality of the CD version, everything seems to have compression on it and so this makes the CD version sound a little muddy at times, buy the vinyl if this concerns any audiophiles out there but it isn't really too much of a problem, I think it adds a fuller sound when compared to their older albums.
A quick note must be made about the sound quality of the CD version, everything seems to have compression on it and so this makes the CD version sound a little muddy at times, buy the vinyl if this concerns any audiophiles out there but it isn't really too much of a problem, I think it adds a fuller sound when compared to their older albums.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This album oozes with contrasting styles and sounds and all held together with a tremendous drumming backbeat. Like others I cannot quite get into the opening title track but it's a treat from thereon in.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Best thing on the market
This is the best album I have ever owned! Extremely good songs! I think one of their best albums to date! I am going to listen to this over and over. I totally recommend it!
Published 23 days ago by Clare
great....
The item arrived fast and in perfect condition, the packaging was more than enough to keep the record safe, my boyfriend loved it
Published 9 months ago by H. Cutts
Great album
Great album, any stripes fan will love it and must buy.
A few of the tracks are a bit iffy but the remaining ones are outstanding! Read more
A few of the tracks are a bit iffy but the remaining ones are outstanding! Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. T. R. Duncan
A breath of fresh air...
I was totally bemused when I first listened to this. 'Experimental' is undersaying it somewhat. Bagpipes and Scottish themed songs with Meg mouthing an obscure poem over a... Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2009 by Krupskaya
Discovering The White Stripes
I have set myself the task of discovering the whole back catalogue of The White Stripes. Whilst more varied in it's musical styles than Elephant, I did not find that Icky Thump was... Read more
Published on 1 Sep 2009 by D. Antrobus
so innovative
These dudes are so innovative, and what do you get for all their hard work and creative input? A fab album that has a realness about it, I guess from the way they recorded it. Read more
Published on 16 April 2009 by Verve
Pleasing addition to the White Stripes' catalogue
This is a damned fine album. I mean, notwithstanding the fact that it's 'Ecky and not Icky Thump, added to the fact that I am slightly bored with the concept of The White Stripes... Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2008 by A. Sweeney
luv it
this album has got mixed reviews because of the "experimentation". but its still good white stripes music with a mad twist icky thump the single is class any man alive who doesent... Read more
Published on 15 Dec 2007 by SwordSwingin
The White Stripes at their best
This album has a wide and diverse mix which makes for interesting listening.
You've got your trademark White Stripes rock tunes such as 'Icky Thump' and 'Little Cream... Read more
You've got your trademark White Stripes rock tunes such as 'Icky Thump' and 'Little Cream... Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2007 by Hugh Finnegan
What? They've gone Scottish?
The white stripes have become slightly more experimental in terms of the instruments they play, (Well Jack has, Meg's still playing the same drumbeat , don't panic) If '... Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2007 by Jimbo Jilotti
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