White Stripes Interview: Meg White interviews her
brother Jack for Amazon.co.uk.
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Review
The third album by this infamous proto-rocker duo from Detroit finds them on the cusp of greatness. All the elements that made the subsequent Elephant such a titanic success are firmly in place: the crunching, insistent simplicity of Meg White’s drumming, which sticks like glue to Jack White’s intense, rhythmic, blues-based riffing; a broad, knowing sense of pop history, and of course their by now well-established red/white branding imagery.
Like its successor, White Blood Cells has a sense of unstoppable momentum, variety and most importantly, plenty of grinding, visceral grooves, none more striking than the opening "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground", which epitomises the singer’s wonderful rock ‘n’ roll whinny and economic way with words. The comparatively throwaway country-flavoured sing-along of ‘’Hotel Yorba’’ was an unexpected hit - one of a brace of acoustic guitar based numbers that leaven the set - but it’s not what The White Stripes do best. That has to the stop/start, soft/loud pounding of songs like ‘’I’m Finding It Hard To Be A Gentleman’’, ‘’Expecting’’ and sonic meltdown of ‘’Aluminium’’ where the singer resorts to treated ‘ahhhhh’ vocals when words will not suffice.
The unlikely combination of such primal musical motifs with more Day-Glo pop references is one of the keys to the breadth of The White Stripes’ appeal. ‘’I Can’t Wait’’ steals (and slows down) the machine gun riff from The Breeders’ ‘’Cannonball’’, while their Anglophile tendencies are obvious on ‘’Fell In Love With A Girl’’, which marries the teenage thrills of early Beatles with elements of The Yardbirds’ ‘’For Your Love’’. And the singer who would later cover Burt Bacharach’s ‘’I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself’’ reveals his soft centre on ‘’The Same Boy You’ve Always Known’’ and the cutesy nursery rhyme idyll of ‘’We’re Going To Be Friends’’.
You’re going to like White Blood Cells. It covers a lot of ground, so seems longer than its ‘classic’ 40-minute LP-style length, and with only a couple of forgettable ditties among its sixteen tracks, it’s a lean and highly engaging set. --Jon Lusk
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By "fatjigger"
Format:Audio CD
This album is the best advance in rock music I have heard yet. They have combined mellow tracks such as "We're Going to be Friends" with great rock in "Expecting" added to a bit of their own bizarre taste with "Little Room". They have taken rock back to its basics and it has worked; this is the best album of the year and must be bought by everyone.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
When I first listened to this album I was instantly struck by something. It was good. It doesn't flow like a well produced, big star CD and this is one its resounding qualities. Every track has something new to offer and pulls on different musical genre. "We're going to friends" is a fantastic track and for me had a Nick Drake feel about it, sweet and poetic. Then at the other end of the scale you have "I think I smell a rat" which has extravagant guitar and vocals which will make you sit up and listen. All in all this is 16 tracks of pure raw pleasure from two talented people in Tennessee. Listen to it, let it grow on you and you won't listen to anything else for weeks.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Adam Cox
Format:Audio CD
Hotel Yorba was the song that got me into the White Stripes, a short but still very catchy song. I got the album after hearing Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground. This album offers much in the way of diversity and showcases the true, pure musical talent that the duo, holds. Opening with the anthemic Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground, an excellent song with loud guitar riffs but still sung in a somewhat sensitive voice by Jack White. The album also includes the unique Fell In Love With A Girl, which is as catchy as it is fast. However all is beaten by the wonderful We're Going To Be Friends. This song stuck in my mind on the first listen. It shows a more sensitive side to the Stripes aside from all the loud thrashier songs and its a sensitive side that I like in the band. The song gives me some great memories of when I first met a girl that I like. The verdict; an excellent album from opener to ending, a great range of styles, inspirational and musically brilliant. Safe to say this album is brilliant in more ways than one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
white blood cells
all around my second favoutie white stripes album behind elephant but it is very close. magnificent album with a huge range of styles
Published 2 months ago by Neil Brannelly
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fell in Love with an album
One of The White Stripes' finest albums...the songs are loud but ear-friendly, and the group make 'big' songs (considering the fact they're a duo). Read more
Published 15 months ago by DPVC
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disgraceful.
I suffer from leukemia, and purchased 17 of these expecting to give myself a few more years. I got nothing other than this third rate CD by some siblings or couple or something. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Owen Retsof
1.0 out of 5 stars
I have been swindled
Gzoop sent me a wrong CD. I contact them and they said "give us back the CD and we refund your money". Read more
Published 19 months ago by Pablo
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nice to hear a rough and ready album get such a high profile
I believe this album was recorded in about a week, with the mixing and mastering being done in one day. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Alexander J. Dunn
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Perfect Place to Start
We all know about The White Stripes, the marvellous two-piece from Detroit. Brilliant imagery, brilliant music, are they siblings? Are they married? Read more
Published on 14 July 2009 by The Mancunian Candidate
4.0 out of 5 stars
Raw energy
More rough and ready than later albums, this is nonetheless a good introduction to the Detroit based brother and sister (or, if you don't believe everything you read, ex-husband... Read more
Published on 4 May 2009 by Captain Pugwash
5.0 out of 5 stars
there is many a man
there is many a man who doesn like the white stripes.
perhaps they are under produced and raw
but they re also
fun
loud
exciting
edgy
jack... Read more
perhaps they are under produced and raw
but they re also
fun
loud
exciting
edgy
jack... Read more
Published on 2 July 2008 by vincent brain
5.0 out of 5 stars
Third time lucky...
Whereas plenty of bands seem to get big before they've even released their debut long-player,(Franz Ferdinand,Bloc Party)the White Stripes weren't embraced by the wide world until... Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2005 by Tone Death Stephens
5.0 out of 5 stars
wow....2 people can do this? Amazing! Really Original!
For a 2 person band....this album is really good. When i first heard of this band I was disuaded by the fact that just Jack and Meg were in it. but, that was me being ignorrant. Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2005 by M. MISER
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