| The White Stripes- written by Lynn |
| X4 |
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Track List
1. Icky Thump
2. You Don't Know
What Love Is (You
Just Do As You're
Told)
3. 300 MPH Torrential
Outpour Blues
4. Conquest
5. Bone Broke
6. Prickly Thorn, but
Sweetly Worn
7. St. Andrew (This
Battle is In the Air)
8. Little Cream Soda
9. Rag and Bone
10. I'm Slowly Turning
Into You
11. A Martyr for My
Love for You
12. Catch Hell Blues
13. Effect and Cause
1. Icky Thump
2. You Don't Know
What Love Is (You
Just Do As You're
Told)
3. 300 MPH Torrential
Outpour Blues
4. Conquest
5. Bone Broke
6. Prickly Thorn, but
Sweetly Worn
7. St. Andrew (This
Battle is In the Air)
8. Little Cream Soda
9. Rag and Bone
10. I'm Slowly Turning
Into You
11. A Martyr for My
Love for You
12. Catch Hell Blues
13. Effect and Cause
When I initially heard the title track on the radio,
the first single off the White Stripes latest release
Icky Thump, my initial thoughts were, literally,
what kind of crap is this? Jack White
has really gone and lost his mind now! He's bypassed
'creative' and entered 'insane'. It was just...
crazy. Weird. And worst of all, I couldn't find any
kind of tempo or rhythm in the song, so the first time
through it sounded like a mishmash of drum beat and
whiny lyrics and a spastic guitar track. I literally
hated the song, and complained loudly to myself
in my car hearing it a couple more times on my way to
and from work, since apparently the idiots at
the FM station that I sometimes listen to had to be
receiving payola to actually play this monstrosity.
I think I used a couple of other creative comparisons
as well over those first few listens to the song...
but for some reason I never actually
changed the station, or put in a CD, so I could save myself from the misery of having to listen again. The best word I can use
right now to describe the song Icky Thump as I sit here now and type this review is that it's a train wreck - I wanted to look
away... but I just couldn't.
That said, it's now a month later, and I am telling everyone I know to take a listen to the CD, that it's an album they don't want
to miss no matter what kind of music they like, it's that good. Hmm. Yeah. Something's definitely amiss here, you say? How
can I go from 'train wreck' to recommendation (and incidentally that changeover happened within my first listen of the entire
CD, which was four days after hearing - and hating - the single) that fast, unless I, too, am off my proverbial rocker? I guess I
don't have the answer to that, except to say that it was curiosity that initially got me listening to the entire CD - curiosity in how
this CD had become so popular, so fast if the rest of it was like Icky Thump - and in this case, curiosity didn't kill anything, but
rather opened my eyes and ears to something really... unique, for lack of a better word. OK, so we already know that The
White Stripes are kinda unique anyway, but this CD I think, epitomizes just how much so they are. In a good way, apparently,
too. The CD debuted at #2 in the UK, and quickly went Gold in the US so... that's one hell of a record. Apparently despite the,
shall we say expressionism of the first single, a lot of other people think it's worth a listen as well. Most
interesting to me though is that once I listened to the entire disc - and liked it - suddenly Icky Thump fit for me, as in, suddenly I
found that rhythm in the song, even if offbeat. That whiny voice didn't get any less whiny, but no other voice would
do. It fit, like that last puzzle piece that you can't find until the weekend when someone moves the couch and locates it, sitting
under a dust bunny, sleeping, yet ready to complete the picture.
On to the rest of the album, yes, I do find it to be an amazing display of talents and creativity, to say the least. Jack and Meg
white have continued on in their typical style of taking simple music, simple beats, simple guitar riffs and turning them into
something much more substantial, and I find it kind of impressive how they have. If you pick a lot of these songs apart there's
really nothing spectacular about them, but the way it all fits together, it just works. Like how it does in Bone Broke, and Rag
and Bone and Catch Hell Blues, which have a sort-of 70's acid-rock feel to them, the latter two reminiscent of an early Led
Zeppelin and Robert Plant, and how A Martyr for My Love is more folk rock (think Tom Petty or Neil Young). Then too, there
are a few more contemporary tracks on the CD, Icky Thump being one of them, combining styles like jazz and rock and just...
sounds coming together to create something new. Most pleasing to me though, being a fan of 'theatrical' music, music with that
extra depth and emotion to it making it seem soundtrack-worthy and multi-layered are the songs Conquest, a Patti Page cover,
with its mariachi/spaghetti-western feel to it and Prickly Thorn, Sweetly Worn, which leads flawlessly into St. Andrew (This
Battle is In the Air) with it's simple, spoken lyrics, violins and bagpipes - a modern Scottish lament tightly held together with
bass drum and cymbal. Apparently both songs (Prickly Thorn and St. Andrew) are odes to Jack White's Scottish heritage, and
are expertly written and played to deliver the feel that they're actually decades-old ballads.
For an album that I initially thought I would dislike, I want to keep going on and on about everything good about Icky Thump,
but I'll discontinue my praises by simply stating that if you are any kind of a music lover at all - no matter what style you
usually listen to - you owe it to yourself to give a listen. OK, maybe two, to get over the initial shock you might feel in first
hearing this eclectic, slightly political, slightly personal, highly creative mix of songs and sounds, but I want to
venture to say that most of you are going to be pleasantly surprised. Icky Thump is a monumental album for The White Stripes,
and I suspect it's going to be a very important and rewarded CD this year, as well as gain them a few new fans who haven't
previously been attuned to the rest of their work, and just how good it is. Sad to say that I was among that population, but Icky
Thump has inspired me to listen to all the rest, and only now do I realize what I have missed in not having listened to The White
Stripes before. You can take a sneak peek at their official website or their myspace.
the first single off the White Stripes latest release
Icky Thump, my initial thoughts were, literally,
what kind of crap is this? Jack White
has really gone and lost his mind now! He's bypassed
'creative' and entered 'insane'. It was just...
crazy. Weird. And worst of all, I couldn't find any
kind of tempo or rhythm in the song, so the first time
through it sounded like a mishmash of drum beat and
whiny lyrics and a spastic guitar track. I literally
hated the song, and complained loudly to myself
in my car hearing it a couple more times on my way to
and from work, since apparently the idiots at
the FM station that I sometimes listen to had to be
receiving payola to actually play this monstrosity.
I think I used a couple of other creative comparisons
as well over those first few listens to the song...
but for some reason I never actually
changed the station, or put in a CD, so I could save myself from the misery of having to listen again. The best word I can use
right now to describe the song Icky Thump as I sit here now and type this review is that it's a train wreck - I wanted to look
away... but I just couldn't.
That said, it's now a month later, and I am telling everyone I know to take a listen to the CD, that it's an album they don't want
to miss no matter what kind of music they like, it's that good. Hmm. Yeah. Something's definitely amiss here, you say? How
can I go from 'train wreck' to recommendation (and incidentally that changeover happened within my first listen of the entire
CD, which was four days after hearing - and hating - the single) that fast, unless I, too, am off my proverbial rocker? I guess I
don't have the answer to that, except to say that it was curiosity that initially got me listening to the entire CD - curiosity in how
this CD had become so popular, so fast if the rest of it was like Icky Thump - and in this case, curiosity didn't kill anything, but
rather opened my eyes and ears to something really... unique, for lack of a better word. OK, so we already know that The
White Stripes are kinda unique anyway, but this CD I think, epitomizes just how much so they are. In a good way, apparently,
too. The CD debuted at #2 in the UK, and quickly went Gold in the US so... that's one hell of a record. Apparently despite the,
shall we say expressionism of the first single, a lot of other people think it's worth a listen as well. Most
interesting to me though is that once I listened to the entire disc - and liked it - suddenly Icky Thump fit for me, as in, suddenly I
found that rhythm in the song, even if offbeat. That whiny voice didn't get any less whiny, but no other voice would
do. It fit, like that last puzzle piece that you can't find until the weekend when someone moves the couch and locates it, sitting
under a dust bunny, sleeping, yet ready to complete the picture.
On to the rest of the album, yes, I do find it to be an amazing display of talents and creativity, to say the least. Jack and Meg
white have continued on in their typical style of taking simple music, simple beats, simple guitar riffs and turning them into
something much more substantial, and I find it kind of impressive how they have. If you pick a lot of these songs apart there's
really nothing spectacular about them, but the way it all fits together, it just works. Like how it does in Bone Broke, and Rag
and Bone and Catch Hell Blues, which have a sort-of 70's acid-rock feel to them, the latter two reminiscent of an early Led
Zeppelin and Robert Plant, and how A Martyr for My Love is more folk rock (think Tom Petty or Neil Young). Then too, there
are a few more contemporary tracks on the CD, Icky Thump being one of them, combining styles like jazz and rock and just...
sounds coming together to create something new. Most pleasing to me though, being a fan of 'theatrical' music, music with that
extra depth and emotion to it making it seem soundtrack-worthy and multi-layered are the songs Conquest, a Patti Page cover,
with its mariachi/spaghetti-western feel to it and Prickly Thorn, Sweetly Worn, which leads flawlessly into St. Andrew (This
Battle is In the Air) with it's simple, spoken lyrics, violins and bagpipes - a modern Scottish lament tightly held together with
bass drum and cymbal. Apparently both songs (Prickly Thorn and St. Andrew) are odes to Jack White's Scottish heritage, and
are expertly written and played to deliver the feel that they're actually decades-old ballads.
For an album that I initially thought I would dislike, I want to keep going on and on about everything good about Icky Thump,
but I'll discontinue my praises by simply stating that if you are any kind of a music lover at all - no matter what style you
usually listen to - you owe it to yourself to give a listen. OK, maybe two, to get over the initial shock you might feel in first
hearing this eclectic, slightly political, slightly personal, highly creative mix of songs and sounds, but I want to
venture to say that most of you are going to be pleasantly surprised. Icky Thump is a monumental album for The White Stripes,
and I suspect it's going to be a very important and rewarded CD this year, as well as gain them a few new fans who haven't
previously been attuned to the rest of their work, and just how good it is. Sad to say that I was among that population, but Icky
Thump has inspired me to listen to all the rest, and only now do I realize what I have missed in not having listened to The White
Stripes before. You can take a sneak peek at their official website or their myspace.
