whitestripes.com
The White Stripes are: Jack White - guitar, vocals, piano sometimes; Meg White - drums, vocals sometimes
Skip to album: *Elephant *White Blood Cellsjh: The White Stripes are an interesting band, to say the least. First of all, Jack used to tell everyone that he and Meg are brother and sister when in fact the two are divorced. One would assume he did this to avoid all the annoying reporter questions about their marriage and so on, but of course some one found out the truth. Which, in turn, only added to the media frenzy, because the media as we all know loves to get itself into frenzies. The pop-culture magazines say The White Stripes have rejuvinated or rescued rock music, maybe even music in general... so on and so forth. The fact of the matter is that this band has a simplified sound (just guitar and drums usually; piano sometimes enters the mix). Which is cool but not as much of a big deal as the magazines (who say it's a refreshing change from the music that 2 months ago was supposedly the greatest thing the world had ever seen) make of it.
Elephant - © 2003, V2.
| 1. Seven Nation Army 2. Black Math 3. There's No Home for You Here 4. I Just Don't Know What to do With Myself 5. In The Cold, Cold Night 6. I Want to be the Boy to Warm your Mother's Heart 7. You've Got her in Your Pocket 8. Ball and Biscuit 9. The Hardest Button to Button |
10. Little Acorns 11. Hypnotize 12. The Air Near My Fingers 13. Girl, You Have no Faith in Medicine 14. Well It's True that We Love One Another |
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jh: Elephant seems to hold true to The White Stripes' style -- music that is usually simple but also catchy...poetic lyrics...edgy sound. I can't really decide whether I like this album better than White Blood Cells; although there are definite similarities there are no shortage of differences between the two albums. Elephant has more of a blues/folk sound, which is cool but most days I would prefer White Blood Cells. That said, this is overall a high quality CD: "Seven Nation Army" and "There's No Home for you Here" rock, "I Just Don't Know What to do with Myself" is probably the coolest Burt Baccarach cover ever. I have no idea how to spell that guy's name. Check out Elephant if you like The White Stripes' weirdness or the idea of well blended blues & modern rock.
White Blood Cells - © 2002, V2.
| 1. Dead Leaves And the Dirty Ground 2. Hotel Yorba 3. I'm Finding It Harder to be a Gentleman 4. Fell In Love With A Girl 5. Expecting 6. Little Room 7. The Union Forever 8. The Same Boy You've Always Known 9. We're Going to Be Friends |
10. Offend In Every Way 11. I Think I Smell A Rat 12. Aluminum 13. I Can't Wait 14. Now Mary 15. I Can Learn 16. This Protector |
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jh: A good CD overall, with several tracks that are excellent. White Blood Cells is an example of the garage band in rare form: this album allegedly cost less than $5,000 to make. The sound quality is less than perfect but this works out well with Jack's edgy guitar and singing and Meg's crazy drumming. I bought this CD on advice from to without hearing a single song from it, which is not normal for me. It took several listens to get used to the style (rock and blues?) but now that I know the songs I think it's pretty cool. "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground," "Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman," and "Fell In Love With a Girl" are great songs and there are a few others that are sweet. However, perhaps as a side effect of the whole garage band thing, a couple of the tracks just are not very good. If you like the idea of rock with a basic sound, some crazy blues influences, and lots (and I mean lots) of rough edges then you'll enjoy White Blood Cells. Especially if you are the type of person who pays attention to lyrics, because some of Jack's stuff is near genius.