knowncutter's Full Review: Get Behind Me Satan by The White Stripes
Note to Reader:
This is one of the first reviews I wrote. Consequently, I go through every song in exruciatingly, dragged out detail. I'm too lazy to change it, maybe some day I will, but I just want to apologize in advance. I know I like a good short, concise review and this certainly is not one of those.
The White Stripes, since their emergence onto the rock scene in 1999, have wasted no time in identifying themselves with a certain, raw rock sound. All four of their prior albums have had a pure, unadulterated guitar buzzing brilliantly in lead man, Jack White's, hands. This attempt to achieve this pure rock standard is met, most noticeably, in Elephant, by far the White Stripes best album, in which they use no technology post-1965 to spruce up their album. This leaves us with the feeling that the guitar is blasting in your own living room, and it's so good you can't possibly complain.
In the White Stripes new album Get Behind Me Satan this identity is, save for three tracks, thrown out the window, most likely bouncing off the heads of Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix on its way down. Not only is pure, unadulterated guitar no longer the focus of the album, guitar is not even used prominently on the majority of the songs. To many this sac religious behavior on the part of the White Stripes is going to be a major turnoff. Being as brilliant and critically renowned as Elephant was it's hard to imagine the White Stripes turning from that version of success. None the less they do here, and despite the fact that I don't agree with them doing so I have to admit they change their identity about as well as James Bond (The Sean Connery version. None of this Pierce Brosnan trash).
The first song on Get Behind Me is Blue Orchid. This one was the first single released and is definitely more conventional White Stripes. This is one of the tracks that displays Jack's gift with an ax. It gives you the impression that the rest of the album will be guitar oriented. Wrong! Still, you can notice that this album will be a little different in that Jack's voice is higher than Ricky Williams. Never on Elephant does he reach this pitch, or even attempt to. This is one of the better songs on the Cd and is a great, if very misleading, intro.
The second song is our clear introduction into the new style the White Stripes have decided to adhere to. The Nurse is made up of what I believe are a xylophone, a marimba, and Meg's cymbals, with the addition of a slight amount of guitar towards the end. Unfortunately this song, at no point in time, is worth listening to. There's absolutely no catchiness to it and Meg's incessant banging on the cymbals just becomes obnoxious about the tenth time in a row.
The third and fourth songs, My Doorbell and Forever For Her (Is over for me), continue this trend of guitar-less songs but these two accomplish the feat of being very catchy and even exciting in the case of My Doorbell. Doorbell very effectively uses a piano as the driving force in the song and along with Meg's pounding on the drums, which here is perfect for the song, it is one of the top songs on the album. Forever For Her is somewhat of a ballad for Jack but this too is a very catchy song. Here Jack squeals, "Let's do it, Let's get on a plane and just do it, like the birds and the bees, and get to it." Jack's voice continues the trend of being much higher than on the previous two albums, but never reaches the point of being irritating and reminds me a little of Robert Plant.
The next song, Little Ghost is easily the most annoying on the album, at least the first couple of times you listen to it. Ghost is an attempt at a bluegrass style song and is lyrically very clever. The only problem is that it's, well, bluegrass. If that's what you're into than I'm sure you'll love this, but most people buying White Stripes albums don't expect to get a song that many will deem "country".
The sixth song on the album, Denial Twist is easily my favorite song on the album. We still haven't returned to the guitar but a hammering piano and relentless marimba drive the song at a quick pace that seems perfect. This is Jack at his very best. He sings to the point of almost rapping, while still keeping the awesome tune in tact. This song actually contains a couple short visits from a bass guitar that make for very effective transitions.
Luckily when this album gets slow and boring, as it does in the next song White Moon, it doesn't stay that way for more than one song. White Moon is far more enjoyable than The Nurse but is not a good song at all. Fortunately the next song Instinct Blues makes up for that. In Instinct Blues we finally return to a song with some powerful guitar and funny, if not clever, lyrics. For those of you who are Elephant fans and are expecting something like Ball and Biscuit in this song you're going to be disappointed. Instinct Blues is not as good as Biscuit but is a good song in its own right. Here Jack yells out, in his very best imitation of Robert Plant to date, " Even the Strawberries get it, and I want you to get with it." The biggest downer about this song is that the solo is weaker than one could imagine. I didn't think Jack could possibly have weak guitar but the lack of using it on so many songs clearly has left him somewhat forgetful of how to pull a "Ball and Biscuit."
Passive Manipulation is this albums version of Elephant's, In the Cold, Cold, Night, giving Meg White a chance to sing. If this is the only way Jack can get her to stay in the band than I implore him to just find another drummer. These songs are not worth putting on the album. Luckily this song is only 35 seconds so the pain is quick, but having to skip a song every time I listen to the Cd is a little to much work for me.
Take, Take, Take is another standout track on this album. This one is the story of a man who meets who 40's actress Rita Haywood and becomes increasly obsessed with her. It reminds on a lyrical base of Eminem's Stan. Again we have the piano and our good friend marimba (who knew this instrument could be used so effectively) as the driving force. We also have some acoustic guitar here to accompany Jack's vocals.
As Ugly as I Seem is pretty much White Moon with a different tune and lyrics. Same speed, same type of song, same general disliking of the song from me. Red Rain on the other hand is our third and final guitar friendly song that in my opinion would fit in fairly nicely with Elephant. The guitar and drums here are in their best pounding form of the entire album. Jack is also at his very scratchiest, screaming Red Rain over and over during the chorus.
I'm not even gonna bother typing up the final song's name. It's not that it's any worse than any of the other songs on this album I dislike, it's just a fairly long title and I'm kind of tired. This one shows the effects of producing Loretta Lynn's grammy award winning album on Jack. It seems to be in that same country, heartfelt, mold. Still a good song to end the album with.
Overall I'd have to say Get Behind Me Satan is a good album. It is not as good as I have come to expect from the White Stripes but Jack White was trying something different and he's definitely earned that right. I really hope he takes the best of both world's, Elephant style and Get Behind Me, and combines them for his next album. Imagine Denial Twist followed by Ball and Biscuit.
In conclusion Get Behind Me Satan is not on the level of their own Elephant in the room. Fortunately for Jack that's exactly how the White Stripes intended it to be.
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