Rating:   18 Ratings     12345  

The White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan V2/BMG

      The record’s opening track, "Blue Orchid," is a tease on Jack’s part. With it’s "Seven Nation Army" drumming style and raw riff pattern teamed with his sharp-pitched vocals, one would expect the entire album to follow suit. Such is not the case.

      But maybe Elephant (V2/BMG, 2003) spoiled us. That could be a decent argument, but I beg to differ.

      "The Nurse" uses shakers and this ever-so-soft jungle-like sound. A couple of bangs on the drums from Meg and then it’s back to the tiki touch. Let us not forget the few quick jabs on the guitar, too.

      Alas, it’s not the same. The best way to describe Satan’s sound is to think of all the slower songs from previous albums, like "In The Cold, Cold Night," "We’re Going To Be Friends," and "Same Boy You’ve Always Known" and compile them together. Looking back, though, on these so-called slower tracks, they have more to them than the ones on Satan. Something’s just lacking on this one.

      There’s more rampant drum playing on tracks like "My Doorbell," but even stating that is pushing it. It’s just unfortunate, really, that The White Stripes have taken this turn, but with that said, it is still quality music, but not anything like they were two years ago, or even before that, for that matter. Previously the band was focused on guitar and drums, now it seems that the piano has replaced them both. Or could the recent collaborations with Loretta Lynn have exposed Jack to new sounds (bluegrass-filled "Little Ghost"), thus changing his approach?

      The most colourful tracks on the entire album ironically contain colourful titles as well, those being "Blue Orchid" and "Red Rain." These two tracks almost sound like De Stijl (V2/BMG, 2000) throwbacks, having contained a certain profoundness that the earlier album supplied. These two alone have more energy in them than the rest of the album combined, but at least they’re included -- they’re the revival to the album’s shortcoming.

      Whatever reasoning they come up with for this album may just go in one ear and out the other. This is the dividing line for fans: either love it or hate it, but there’s no falling in between. To some it’s the most creative work they have put out to date, to others its a downright disappointment. It’s my hopes and surely in the best of interest that the album is a grower, and will just take time to get adjusted to. But then, of course, who am I kidding, the Devil made them do it.

-Arie Musil 06/11/05