Artist – Album: The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan
Released: 7th
June 2005
Sounds Like: The White Stripes start getting behind
Since bursting out of the pub scene in Detroit Michigan with
their 1999 self titled debut album, the White Stripes followed a seemingly
unstoppable upward trajectory, receiving widespread critical acclaim for their
second album De Stijl, third album White Blood Cells and the power punk classic
single ‘Fell in Love With a Girl’. Taking
up the blues rock mantle that had remained mostly untouched since the early 70’s,
the group were critics darlings and had garnered a considerable audience,
despite their generally cult-ish leanings (try the fact that the divorcees pretended to be siblings early in their career). In 2003, they absolutely
exploded, releasing the incredible album Elephant - subject of 1 April's blog and recipient of a rare-ish ten out of ten, check it out!) and the ubiquitous ‘Seven Nation Army’ (now heard worldwide
in sports stadiums, in what most be one of the most unimaginative and annoying
chants ever. Aaaaaaah Robin Van Persieeeee). Not long after, Jack White married a British model and wrote the
theme tune to a James Bond film so, you know, things were going pretty well.
With their 2005 release Get Behind Me Satan though, things felt like they had
kind of plateaued.
As commendable as the change of style to electro-rock on
lead single ‘Blue Orchid’ was, The White
Stripes have always been masters of simple blues songs, and this feels stilted
and edgy. In fact, slight changes to the group’s signature sound is one of the main points of focus here and, while nothing’s offensive to say the least, it’s the
tunes that are effectively more of the same that work best. The spindly marimba
sound of ‘The Nurse’ is interesting and the poppy ‘My
Doorbell’ is a real highlight, but otherwise its the same old same olds such as 'The Denial Twist', 'I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet) and 'Little Ghost' that are the stand
outs.
For me, this is a good record but, following the brilliant ascent of the band from their humble beginnings, it contains just a whiff of stagnation.
For me, this is a good record but, following the brilliant ascent of the band from their humble beginnings, it contains just a whiff of stagnation.
Albumaday... rating:
7/10
1. Blue
Orchid – 2:37
2. The
Nurse – 3:47
3. My
Doorbell – 4:01
4. Forever
for Her (Is Over for Me) – 3:15
5. Little
Ghost – 2:18
6. The
Denial Twist – 2:35
7. White
Moon – 4:01
8. Instinct
Blues – 4:16
9. Passive
Manipulation – 0:35
10. Take,
Take, Take – 4:22
11. As
Ugly as I Seem – 4:10
12. Red
Rain – 3:52
13. I’m
Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet) – 4:19
Listen to ‘My Doorbell’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlcMRq3gb1s
Also released on the 7th June:
2004: Junior Boys – Last Exit
|
Also released on the 7th June:
2004: The Killers – Hot Fuss
|
No comments:
Post a Comment