The White Stripes - Icky Thump
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Free Music Notes for Icky Thump
Free Music Review: Icky Thump - What the Heck?
Hit: 5 Stars
I titled my review "Icky thump- What the Heck?" because when I was searching Google for lyrics from one of the new White Stripes songs "effect and cause" off the Icky Thump CD I learned from Wikipedia that Icky Thump is "derived from "Ecky-Thump", a Lancashire, England colloquialism". That is a smart way of saying it is slang. A little further investigation led me to learn it is loosely translated to mean "what the heck?". They changed the spelling so we Americans would pronounce it properly. There was also something about changing it so they wouldn't get sued. I haven't looked into that one.
But, wait! There's more. I actually bought the CD (on my lunch break on Tuesday this week, the day it was released in true geek form) and listened to it a few times.
So, of course, I love it. I can admit my review may be a bit biased, I LOVE the White Stripes. It sounds familiar and I like that. It wasn't an instant "This is the best album I ever heard" at first listen but the first time I heard "Get behind Me Satan" (and all the others) I felt the same way. Now, I listen to those CD's and I can't even fathom what second that I didn't like.
So, let me give you my first impressions and I later I will probably worship the entire thing (if it is anything like the last 5 albums).
If I didn't mention a track it is only because it didn't make an immediate impression on me. It means that I liked it but it did not stand out. I usually find after I listen to a CD for awhile it's these songs that end up being my favorite. Stay tuned.
* Track 1. "Icky Thump" - you have heard it. You know. It is good. Part of it reminds me of Seven Nation Army (with the stomping bass drums), but that is a good thing. I like Seven Nation Army.
* Track 3 "300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues" gets 5 stars from me just for the title.
* Track 4. "Conquest" - makes me laugh and I like to laugh. It is over the top with a mariachi sound.
* Track 7. "St. Andrew" Scares me. Bag pipes come into play and NOT in a Drop Kick Murphy's kind of way. With all the strangeness and the talking, I am not sure if it can even be classified as a "song". I have been listening to the CD on repeat at work as background noise and I have found after a few times through I am skipping this track. I honestly can't think of any other White Stripes songs that I have to skip. With that being said, it is still better than anything Justin Timberlake (and the likes) has ever put out. I would still rather listen to this song over and over forever instead of listening to "Sexy Back" even once. :)
* Track 8 "Little Crème Soda" One of my favorites. There's nothing left for me to tell you. Oh well, Oh well. (ok, go listen to the song and then re-read this)
* Track 9 "Rag and Bone" I like this song a lot. Maybe my favorite. It has some "spoken word" (if you call it that, you know, he and Meg are talking). The part about "Rich house, Dog House, Cat House, Halfway homes" reminds me of that movie "The Fugitive" when Tommy Lee Jones is directing his men in the woods to find Harrison Ford
* Track 11 "A Martyr for My Love for You" Is a sweet sounding song (if you liked "We're Going to Be Friends" then you will like this one) about a guy you breaks up with a girl he really likes because he knows he will hurt her in the end. "Maybe these ruby shoes are a little cumbersome for you, maybe for you, now".
* Track 13 "Effect & Cause" is probably my favorite song (have I said this before?) Because I like the lyrics and melody. I read someone's review where they said they thought the melody kind of sounds like the Dukes of Hazzard theme song. That sort of annoys me now when I am trying to enjoy the song (because it is not totally off base).
In conclusion, if you like the White Stripes you will like this album. It is different enough and unique enough (bagpipes and mariachi) without straying too far from the White Stripes sound. I remember reading an article once where Jack White said in his music he was "tricking" young rock kids to like the blues. I think he may be trying to trick us into liking bagpipes and mariachi, or maybe just to open our minds to appreciate other types of music.
Really this is a great CD with just a bit of weirdness thrown in and that is what the White Stripes have always been about.
If you are already a fan you will probably like it. If you have never heard any of the other White Stripes CD, I recommend that you fall in love with those first and work your way up to Icky Thump
Go buy the album and tell me what you think.
Free Music Review: Incredibly enough, they just keep getting better!
Hit: 5 Stars
Although I have to admit I've had trouble accepting the title of the new White Stripes album, I loved the song from the very first time I heard it after it became available on iTunes last spring. And when the album came out I couldn't wait to savor the rest of it. "Conquest" was the song that became my instant favorite. Later I became more enthralled with "Rag And Bone", then "Effect And Cause", then "Catch Hell Blues" and then "I'm Slowly Turning Into You". The songs that I had the most difficulty getting into over the summer were "You Don't Know What Love Is", "300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues", "Bone Broke" and "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn". Jack's evocative lyrics won me over to "You Don't Know..." (and "A Martyr For My Love For You" as well) and it's safe to say at this moment that the 3 songs I'm playing the most off of ICKY THUMP are "...Torrential Outpour Blues", "Prickly Thorn" and "Bone Broke". If I'm able to live with any White Stripes tune for awhile, it will begin to get stuck in my head (if not the chorus, then at least the guitar riff) and soon I'm wanting to hear again and again a song that I wasn't that crazy about to begin with. I guess herein lies the beauty of the music of The White Stripes. So many other artists can come up with catchy melodies and memorable lyrics that you like immediately but as time goes on you want to hear them less and less. With most of the songs on ICKY THUMP, as it was on GET BEHIND ME, SATAN, you have to give yourself time to absorb the beauty and passion of it's lyric, and familiarize yourself with the different time signatures of each section of the song. Once you do, it seems that you never want to let the songs go.
And speaking of lyrics, as usual, the songs abound in wordplay that is clever and memorable without ever sounding trite or pretentious: "You can't be a pimp and a prostitute too", "If you're headed to the grave, you don't blame the hearse", "It kind of struck a little bell, in fact; I like to keep my little shell intact", "In some respects I suspect you've got a respectable side", "If you're testing God and lying to His face, you're gonna catch hell".
After listening to ICKY THUMP for 5 months off and on, I can say with confidence that I love every single track on the disc and while I never could see how they could improve over such incredible masterworks as ELEPHANT and GET BEHIND ME SATAN, this is, in my opinion the absolute most solid, most satisfying, and best album they've made to date.
As far as the reviews here by Stripes fans who don't like ICKY THUMP, all I can say is that I'm baffled. Maybe you've been beaten down with Daughtry and Nickelback too much to appreciate music that is on such a grand scale. I could see some Stripes fans being put off by GET BEHIND ME SATAN, with it's piano and marimba and the somber tone of songs like "The Nurse" and "White Moon", but I would think the high energy set of tracks on ICKY THUMP would cause them to rejoice. How can you listen to the chorus of "Effect And Cause", the opening riff of "Rag And Bone" or the scorching guitar solos on "Catch Hell Blues" and come away saying you don't like this album?? How can you listen to "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn" and not hear "singing li de li de li oh oh" in your head for the rest of the day?
I remember how it took a little time for me to get used to the structure of some of the songs on GET BEHIND ME SATAN. But today, when I hear "The Nurse" or "Red Rain" or "White Moon" I'm transported back a few years to when those songs first started to become familiar to me and I already have some great memories associated with them -- memories of where I was and who I was with while those songs played during those first few months after that album came out.
On Thanksgiving day, 2 days ago, I was driving near my home and watching the snow come down and marveling at how it had been 84 degrees forty-eight hours earlier! I was listening to "Prickly Thorn..." and that song is bound to remind me of that pleasant morning every time I hear it for the rest of my life.
If you've been a fan of The White Stripes in the past and have been put off by ICKY THUMP, I ask that you get it out and give it another spin. You might find out that you judged it unfairly the first time around. And if you're opinion doesn't change, then I guess it's back to Bon Jovi for you.
Free Music Review: Another stellar album from rock and roll's greatest duo
Hit: 5 Stars
I will admit that I have been really nervous the past couple of years. With the success of the Raconteurs and Jack and Meg moving to completely different parts of the country I was afraid that the beginning of the end of the White Stripes had commenced. And who knows, perhaps it has. But Jack's new band commitments and their new places of residence certainly hasn't impacted the quality of their work together. My fear was that Jack might keep some of his "A" material for his new band and that the overall quality of ICKY THUMP might suffer as a result. But it is clear from this album that Jack either has an awful lot of "A" material or that he is giving the Raconteurs his "B" material. ICKY THUMP is simply a brilliant album, definitely as good or better than GET BEHIND ME SATAN and at spots as good as anything before that (though ELEPHANT remains my favorite White Stripes album).
Although I like this album more than GET BEHIND ME SATAN, they are definitely kindred affairs. Both have the same kind of eclecticism and almost any song on the one album could have been fit onto the other. I personally find Jack White to be one of the wonders of music. While I confess to nursing a sizable crush on Meg White, hers is a supporting role to Jack. I find him to be one of the most innovative guitarists in rock, with a seemingly endless supply of new and interesting musical ideas. His guitar toolkit is a bit larger than those of most other guitarists. The same can be said for his song writing as well.
If there is a criticism that can be made of the album, it is that the first half is stronger than the second half. Though perhaps that should be amended to say that the first two-thirds is better than the final third. This distinction allows me to include the absolutely delightful "Rag and Bone" and the hard-driving "Little Cream Soda" with the best part of the album. But none of the final songs are actually bad or even below average. "A Martyr for My Love for You" is a good enough song, with some fairly pedestrian hooks, but the point is that it isn't quite up there with the earlier songs. The album starts off with a vengeance, with the superb title track followed by "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told), which is in turn followed by the marvelously long winded "300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues." Then follows the lone song on the album not written by White, the country classic "Conquest," which under his reinterpretation is certainly no longer country.
All in all, this is one of the most enjoyable albums of the year. I know that some White Stripes fans tend to specialize in either early or late albums; they prefer either the rock purity of DE STIJL or the eclecticism of GET BEHIND ME SATAN or the sheer power of ELEPHANT. Well, forgive me if I like it all. I don't get people who want performers to never evolve or change. I've been delighted with the White Stripes because they have never stayed stuck in one place. They've continued to grow and evolve. I can't wait until their next album. Let's just hope that their changing personal lives and professional obligations don't prevent a "next." But as great as Jack White is, he is never as good when he and his "sister" Meg crank it.
Finally, Jack and Meg have always been interesting to look at on stage. They've always worn interesting outfits, but their psychedelic suits on the front cover of the CD is the most bracing that I've seen worn since the days of the Flying Burrito Brothers GILDED PALACE OF SIN.
Free Music Review: 4.5; one of the best rock releases this year
Hit: 5 Stars
The White Stripes originally were a band that I kind of liked but not really. I always saw them as the better band in that "The" garage rock scene from the Vines to the Hives but at times many of the songs on album releases were more about them rocking out but not really delivering anything in terms of melody. Sure it's fun to just play but it would be nice if we caught that energy too. After the difficult-to-get-into album Get Behind Me Satan, the White Stripes make a return with a record that's as accessible as anything they've done.
The album starts out with Icky Thump which follows the tradition that Seven Nation Army and Blue Orchid set which is led by a catchy rock riff, particularly the "chorus". Jack sings lyrics concerning an encounter with a Mexican prostitute and while I'm not a fan of the solo at the end, it's still a great opener. The next song is another enjoyable one with You Don't Know What Love is. Big loud blues-y rocker, it's just a fun song to listen and it even has a chorus you can sing along to. What was probably meant to be the Ball and Biscuit of the album (a more blues-improv number where Jack can let his guitar flag fly), 300 M.P.H Torrential Outpour Blues just kind of meanders.
A strange contender for the best song on the album, Conquest has Mexican horns, charging guitars and probably Jack's better vocals in awhile, this sounds like the theme to a Mexican shootout. The album stumbles greatly on St. Andrew which feels more like an experiment than a song. It follows the weirdly-likable bagpipe-driven Prickly Thorn but Sweetly Thorn but St. Andrew is just ugh. Things perk up with another best song contender in Little Cream Soda which has a rocking main riff and a Spaghetti Western-tinged verse riff. Rag and Bone is also a great blues number and it just sounds so...fun. The rest of the album is fine but they might not have the immediacy of some songs but at least it ends on the country-esque Effect and Cause.
Like a lot of White Stripes songs, some of them are just so obviously good they kind of overshadow the rest, similar to how Hardest Button to Button and Seven Nation Army became immediate standouts. Icky Thump has similar problems in that a song like Bone Broke which is not bad or something like Catch Hell Blues and that these songs are fine to listen but don't really have staying power. Meg's minimilast drumming is still there and while he's great at creating gotta-learn-it guitar riffs, his solos seem sometimes like random notes than creating any sense of melody or structure. Put it this way: if you like White Stripes before, you'll still like them. If not, you just have to learn to love their weirdness.
Most rock records lately have either been same ol' same ol' (Linkin Park), directionless (Queens of the Stone Age...I'm gonna get it for that one) or good-but-overproduced (Maroon 5). With its lo-fi production, odd lyrics and quirky music, it's still one of the better rock releases so far.
Free Music Review: Don't forget me
Hit: 5 Stars
All "Icky Thump" initially brought to mind was Graham Chapman telling Terry Jones how to say, "Eee, ecky thump!" into a mike.
But it's also the title of the White Stripes' sixth album, and after the mediocre dry spell of "Get Behind Me Satan," it's nice to hear that the Stripes seem to have regained their creative juices. This time they pack the album with dark seventies-style rock'n'roll and some traditional folk flourishes.
It kicks off with the dark, plodding guitar that blazes up to life every few seconds, and a sinuous synth ripple that slithers through the melody. "Icky thump/Who'da thunk?/Sittin drunk on a wagon to Mexico?" Jack yowls, describing the less pleasant corners of Mexico, and taking a moment to jab at Americans ("Why don't you kick yourself out/You're an immigrant too!").
It softens up a lot for the catchy, bluesier rocker "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)," and the mellow gritty "300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues." Then the album goes through two phases: the first is one of British and Scottish folkiness, and a trumpety rocker that sounds like a B-side from Beirut. Then the last leg of the album slips back to blazing rock'n'roll, full of dark energy and retro organ.
I never quite figured out what was going on in the halfhearted "Get Behind Me Satan," except that every band has their dud. And fortunately "Icky Thump" is everything that album wasn't -- spirited, creative, enthusiastic, and full of those little moments and brilliant instrumentation that bring it alive. Nice to see they haven't run out of juice yet.
Yeah, we have Jack blazing away like a forest fire on his guitars, whether it's softer blues riffs, ringing blasts or hard-rocking swirls. And Meg smashes the drums like no other. But their music is festooned with a colourful array of extra instrumentation -- sweeps of eerie, vintage psychedelic synth, sprightly gypsyish trumpets, and even bagpipes for the mesmerizing "St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)."
Jack seems to have regained his verve as well: he sounds assured and a little sad, and his quirky voice has a new depth and power. But he hasn't lost his melancholy edge, singing of Mexican robberies, stream of consciousness love songs, the rag and bone man, and a man who loves a woman so deeply, he lets her go so he won't make her unhappy.
And Meg gets to display her clear voice a few times -- she gets to talk with Jack in "Rag & Bone," and the eerie Scottishy ballad "St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)" has her murmuring a prayerlike song over a bagpipe/drum melody. ("This battle is in the air/I'm looking upwards/where are the angels?/I'm not in my home!").
"Icky Thump" is both a wonderful return to form, and a foray into new territory for the White Stripes. A glorious experience, and it only gets better with repeated listens. A triumph.