3rd July - The White Stripes' White Blood Cells

Artist – Album: The White Stripes – White Blood Cells

Released:  3^rd July 2001

Sounds Like: Bloody good

So, another day, another White Stripes album. Today’s White Blood Cells joins Elephant, Get Behind Me Satan and Icky Thump as another of the Detroit duos albums to get the Albumaday... treatment. And you know what? This could be the best of the lot.

It doesn’t take long to be immersed in its rambling rock and roll genius. The swaggering garage rock of ‘Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground’ is followed up terrifically by the bumbling county rock of ‘Hotel Yorba’ in probably the finest opening one-two of their career. With these two being trailed by the sweetly behind the times ‘I’m Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman’ and the frankly peerless indie rock of ‘Fell in Love with a Girl’ (so good not even the foghorn vocalled Joss Stone or my high school band could spoil it), the album sets off on one hell of a roll. Equally impressively, they keep it just as energetic, playful and witty throughout.

And... we're done!

Albumaday... rating:  9/10

1.       Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground – 3:04

2.       Hotel Yorba – 2:10

3.       I’m Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman – 2:54

4.       Fell in Love with a Girl – 1:50

5.       Expecting – 2:03

6.       Little Room – 0:50

7.       The Union Forever – 3:26

8.       The Same Boy You’ve Always Known – 3:09

9.       We’re Going to Be Friends – 2:22

10.   Offend in Every Way – 3:06

11.   I Think I Smell a Rat – 2:04

12.   Aluminium – 2:19

13.   I Can’t Wait – 3:38

14.   Now Mary – 1:47

15.   I Can Learn – 3:31

16.   This Protector – 2:12

Listen to ‘Fell in Love with a Girl’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q27BfBkRHbs

15th June - The White Stripes' Icky Thump

Artist – Album: The White Stripes – Icky Thump

Released:  15^th June 2007

Sounds Like: They’ve gone mental!

Things kick off on Icky Thump, The White Stripes’ sixth and final studio album, with the band not straying too far away from their standard stuff. The Led Zeppelin influences are on full display on the title track, whilst the bluesy garage rock of ‘300 M.P.H Torrential Outpour Blues’ has the vibe of their earlier work but with a slightly more polished feel.

On the fourth song though, things take a turn for the weird. Jack White wails “Connnn-quest!” like a psychotic matador, whilst mariachi trumpeters and flamenco guitars provide a suitably theatrical and exciting backdrop. It’s by far the most enthralling, interesting and, well, insane song on this album, and it’s only once you look at the album’s writing credits that you realise that this centrepiece is not a White Stripes song at all, but a near like-for-like copy of Patti Page’s 1950s dramatic pop. You barely have time to get your breath back during the pleasant but hardly ground breaking ‘Bone Broke’ and ‘Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn’ before you’re thrown back into the crazy with ‘St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Wind’ ), a psychedelic  rocker complete with bagpipes and spoken word verses. Following that is the abrasive and harsh ‘Little Cream Soda’.

Whilst these flights of fancy can be fascinating and original, they’re mostly just baffling. There’s also the inkling that they’re only doing this for the sake of being weird – check out the pearly king and queen outfits on the album cover for exhibit 1, totally unnecessary. Not only do the bizarre bits swing and miss, but when the band decide to go back to basics and rock out they can still occasionally disappoint. Unfortunately, for the first time they sound like they’re no longer making classic rock but just imitating Classic Rock. It’s a decent album, but nowhere near as vital as their earlier output.

Albumaday... rating: 6/10

1.       Icky Thump – 4:17

2.       You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You’re Told) – 3:54

3.       300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues – 5:28

4.       Conquest – 2:48

5.       Bone Broke – 3:14

6.       Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn – 3:05

7.       St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air) – 1:49

8.       Little Cream Soda – 3:45

9.       Rag and Bone – 3:48

10.   I’m Slowly Turning Into You – 4:34

11.   A Martyr for My Love for You – 4:19

12.   Catch Hell Blues – 4:18

13.   Effect and Cause – 3:00

Listen to ‘Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X69EVJCOKWM

Also released on the 15^th June:

1989: Nirvana - Bleach

Also released on the 15^th June:

1999: The White Stripes – The White Stripes

Also released on the 15^th June:

1999: Santana - Supernatural

7th June - The White Stripes' Get Behind Me Satan

Artist – Album: The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan

Released:  7^th 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. 

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 7^th June:

2004: Junior Boys – Last Exit

Also released on the 7^th June:

2004: The Killers – Hot Fuss

1st April - The White Stripes' Elephant

Artist – Album: The White Stripes - Elephant

Released:  1^st April 2003

Sounds Like: Fools Gold

The White Stripes first rose to prominence in 1997, when the Amish ghost couple Meg & Jack Van White finished as runners up in the talent show America’s Got Singing. Despite only finishing second to the irrepressible Aqua, critics and the audience were taken in by their ancient garage blues rock (as well as Jack’s wonderful carpentry performed in between songs).

Naming themselves The White Stripes as they are the duo’s favourite bits of a zebra, they liked the name so much that they also called their first album it. They would have liked to have named all of their albums similarly, but were eventually talked down by their record label. ‘De Stijl’ (in English, ‘the stilt’) and ‘White Blood Cells’ followed, and cemented the groups reputation as one of the finest rock bands around.

Elephant, their fourth album, took the two-piece to another level as songs like ‘Seven Nation Army’ and ‘I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself’ stormed up the charts, and ‘The Hardest Button to Button’ was named influential actor George Takei’s favourite song of the week. The latter is a good example of the themes investigated in the record – set during the Second World War, it’s follows the story of the German scientists who worked to develop the world’s most difficult fastener in a ploy to distract the Allied Forces.

Not really, April Fools!

It’s just an utterly brilliant album, one of the best of the last decade. Go find out.

Albumaday... rating:   10/10

1.       Seven Nation Army – 3:52

2.       Black Math – 3:04

3.       There’s No Home for You Here – 3:44

4.       I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself – 2:46

5.       In the Cold, Cold Night – 2:58

6.       I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother’s Heart – 3:21

7.       You’ve Got Her in Your Pocket – 3:40

8.       Ball and Biscuit – 7:19

9.       The Hardest Button to Button – 3:32

10.   Little Acorns – 4:09

11.   Hypnotize – 1:48

12.   The Air Near My Fingers – 3:40

13.   Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine – 3:18

14.   Well It’s True That We Love One Another – 2:43

Listen to ‘The Air Near My Fingers’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_xbEMC8lHM

Also released on the 1^st April:

1976: Rush – 2112

Also released on the 1^st April:

2008: The Black Keys – Attack & Release