The White Stripes, White Stripes - Elephant
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Free Music Notes for Elephant
Free Music Review: Not perfect, but one of there best
Hit: 4 Stars
When I first listened to Elephant, I had no clue who the White Stripes were, or what to expect. Needless to say, I had an open mind. My first thoughts were about the first song, one that I usually skip now because I like the others too much. "Seven Nation Army" is the kind of song that brings people in, catches their attention. It held mine for quite a while, and I still don't mind listening to it, but compared to the others on the album, I find it around par for the course.
"Black Math" is another song that sort of draws in people. Quite simply, it had two layers: the first was the catchy song that drew in more fans, and the seconds was decoding the lyrics. Were they actually literal, or was there something else to it?
The next few songs (the 'softer' ones) I didn't quite like at first, although a few listens through (especially when everything was calm) changed my mind: I loved those songs! While I'm part of the younger generation (so go ahead and criticize me for that) I thought several of the lyrics were pretty creative (if not, dare I say, or-ig-in-al), especially on "You've Got Her In Your Pocket".
I can honestly say I skipped "Ball and Biscuit" the first several times I heard it. 'Seven minutes?!?' My mind kept saying, 'That won't hold your attention!' I matured a bit (it took maybe two years to start fully appreciating music as a whole), and "Ball and Biscuit" became my favorite song. Why so I cannot explain, but there is just something about the simplicity of Meg's drumming mixed with Jack's varying guitar assault, how they turn the action up three times, changing it up just a bit every time. Would you believe they were inspired by a hanging microphone?
The other songs were a bit faster paced, and so I caught on to those more quickly, although "Hypnotize" was an instant favorite, and still is. "The Air Near My Fingers" kind of builds up to "Girl You Have No Faith In Medicine"; I liked the latter much better at first, then "The Air Near My Fingers" grew on me.
As with The White Stripes other albums, it ends on a humorous note with "It's True That We Love One Another", probably the weakest song on the album, although I don't mind it every once in a while. Just because it's the weakest on the album doesn't make it a weak song, if the album is good. In this case, I definitely think so.
By the way, I would like to point out the live performances by The White Stripes, especially the seven minute hurricane of the Son House cover "Death Letter". They take the album version, already changed up a bit from the original, and add on some great on-stage chemistry, along with a few killer guitar solos that might change the mind of those disagreeing with Jack White's position on the Rolling Stone's list.
I'll post it here, although I doubt anyone that doesn't like the Stripes would ever actually watch a seven minute video, yet alone agree that it is pretty good: [...]
That's it! I hope I could help at least one person with their choice. If you can find it for anything less than $[...], buy it! If you like their other albums, buy it anyway!
Free Music Review: White Stripes
Hit: 3 Stars
Not great, but good. There's a few songs on there I'd listen to more than once.Free Music Review: And this passes for talent?
Hit: 1 Stars
OK, while I'm in a good mood, I'll make this polite: Jack White can't hold a tune in a bucket, neither can Meg. A five-year-old could drum better than Meg White. This duo should be mown down with a truck for slaughtering a Bacharach/David classic.
This is one of the worst albums I have ever heard. I'm sticking with The Band until things improve... God help us all.
Free Music Review: Elephant
Hit: 3 Stars
Not as good as I thought it would be, but it has a few good songs! I rate it C-Free Music Review: Elephant.- Good album (2.5 stars)
Hit: 2 Stars
This album is good. If you like simple "three-chord-garage-bands" with good beat and good rhythm, then this album is PERFECT for you, it's as simple as that. DON'T READ THIS REVIEW ANY FURTHER.... BUT! if you want to buy this album and you do not fit the above description 100%, then read on. I am a huge huge fan of music, particularly rock. I own more than 200 cds and I live in a location where you can't find any cd anywhere on the entire country, only on internet, but it costs a month worth of recess money, so I have to make careful decisions on which album to buy. I took my chances and went with this one. Let me tell you why I think this only deserves 2.5 stars and not 5.
I love many many cds, but there are a few that are PERFECT & FLAWLESS, those are: Superunknown by Soundgarden, (What's The Story) Morning Glory by Oasis, Ten by Pearl Jam, Dirt by Alice In Chains, Audioslave by Audioslave and some others. Take these examples of what I think are flawless albums so you get an idea of what my taste is and based on my tastes..THAT'S the way I rated this album.
There are many simple "three-chord-bands" that have albums that are really really good and almost perfect, like Nirvana's IN UTERO and NEVERMIND, so there's no denying that I DO like these kinds of bands, just not 100%.
One of the first reasons in which I didn't give this album more than 2.5 stars is for starters the lack of variety and creativity from the band. I mean, of course there are great songs on this album, like SEVEN NATION ARMY, THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON and BALL & BISCUIT (being my favorite off the album), but there's still other notes, chords, themes, sounds, beats, style and lyrics to discover, so there is a BIG "not" in that area. I've also seen that some of the songs need a proper ending, like SEVEN NATION ARMY, I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF and I WANT TO BE THE BOY THAT WARMS YOUR MOTHER'S HEART. The ending to those songs are really improper and weak, a good song needs an even better ending. Another "not" in the album is the sound, I know it's a garage sound, but the sound doesn't need to sound bad, with a good remaster from a good producer this album will definitely gain more stars, or at least one. Another downside is Jack's voice, his voice is really agrevating, at least for me, I really dislike it because it doesn't fit the potential of the songs. There are really good songs as there are really awful songs, like Hypnotize, Little Acorns, The Air Near My Fingers (which by the way it's a total rip off NIRVANA'S song Rape Me, shame on JACK WHITE) and In The Cold, Cold, Night being the worst. What I also hate is the over-recognition this band and album is getting, they are really overrated, both the band and the album, specially Jack White; I mean come on ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, he can't possibly be the number 17th greatest guitarist ever, and put Van Halen on #70 !! Blasfemy. Anyway, another downside to this record is the duration or length, just 49:47 minutes long, of they have included more solos like the one from BALL & BISCUIT and more songs and greater riffs, the album wouldn't need to be too short and weak, I know better albums that are much shorter, but have more "mojo" and "spunk" than this one, like Franz Ferdinand's debut self-titled album, it lasts 38 minutes and has unbelievable riffs, bass-lines, vocals, lyrics and rhythm.
Anyway, another downside is the price. 14 bucks is too much for this or any White Stripes album, I don't know why we should pay more than 9.99 dollars for this album, there are 10x better albums cheaper, like Alice In Chains' Dirt at almost half the price of this one and The Clash's London Calling. You can get them at this same website. Amazon is the best place to buy these things.
Well there you got it, a couple of reasons why and why not to buy this record, if you have extra cash and want to buy an average interesting album that will not surprise you, but will keep you entertained for 50 minutes, buy this one. But if you are looking for a masterpiece, an album that will blow you away from your prime and at the end you'll feel obligated to applaud and listen to it again, then I suggest any other album mentioned above in this review, specially SUPERUNKNOWN by SOUNDGARDEN, maybe my all time favorite album, and also MORNING GLORY by OASIS.