The White Stripes “White Blood Cells” (2001)
For some reason I’ve always kicked against the White Stripes. I think
in part it was that they were so hyped when they first came over here,
like some kind of ‘second coming of rock’. Partly too it
was this vibe I got that Jack White was trying just a bit too hard to be
this “back to basics no frills rock dude who eschews bass (how dare he)
to have his two-piece rock band”. The cynical 90s teen in me balked
at these things.
On reflection though, and setting aside all of that, they are just a
good band. White’s high strong voice is distinctive and the music
(though borrowing very heavily from blues and 70s garage rock) is catchy
yet punchy.
The album is a nice concise 40-odd minutes despite being 16 tracks
long. That’s also something that I usually like, an album that doesn’t
muck around and with songs that don’t overstay their welcome, so again it
was a bit foolish of me to cut off my nose to spite my ears (so to
speak). Opener “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground”
is propelled by Meg’s simple but effective drumming in a nice slow lope
which is contrasted with the following track “Hotel Yorba” with its
speedy acoustic guitar and almost rockabilly feel.
“Fell in Love with a Girl”
is the obvious catchy rock hit that everyone knows, and I certainly
don’t dislike it, even after the saturation play it got back in the
day. “We’re Going to be Friends” has a kind of naïve cuteness to it
which the band were presumably courting with their peppermint stripe
motif and story that they were brother and sister (they were actually
husband and wife with Jack Gillis having taken his wife Meg White’s
surname).
Rock, blues and country mix in a catchy package. I’m still not
convinced at the band’s divinity, but I can admit that they’ve made some
pretty good music over their career.
