The White Stripes
Icky Thump
(Warner)
Jack White knows the secret to winning: Always play by your own rules.
For a decade, the singer-guitarist has been laying down the law for The White Stripes, decreeing everything from band colours to their choice of indie studios and labels. And it's worked. But smart cookie that he is, Jack also knows playing by the rules can only get you so far.
So, on Icky Thump, the sixth full-length from White and his drumming ex Meg, White loosens the reins.
Fear not, kids. The Detroit duo are still sporting red, white and black. And their music still mixes Delta blues and folk with garage and classic rock. But it's clear things are different.
The dozen-song disc -- recorded for a major label, in a real studio, over the course of weeks instead of days -- often sounds like their most adventurous record, with Scottish bagpipes, Mexican mariachi horns, proggy synths and spoken-word elements added to the mix.
But at other times, it's also a return to their loud, harder-rockin' sound of old, with more guitar solos, fewer experimental tracks and no pianos.
Either way, it justifies its billing as one of the summer's most-anticipated albums. Maybe that's partly because Jack is still playing by his own rules.
But mostly, it's because right now he's at the top of his game.
Icky Thump 4:14
The lurching swagger. The fuzzy Zeppish riff. The bashy drumming. The yelpy double-tracked vocals. The wordy lyrics and interior rhymes. It's everything you want in a Whites Stripes single -- plus proggy Yes- like keyboards.
You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told) 3:54
Jack sounds like a young Mick Jagger singing a Dylan B-side on this sluggish slice of electric folk-blues. The ringing chords, finger- picked melody and swirling organ complete the effect.
300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues 5:28
Another Dylanesque number that starts with some simple, staccatto chords on an acoustic guitar -- and gradually builds to a slow-burning rocker laced with screeching guitars.
Conquest 2:48 Put a rose between your teeth and grab the castanets. We're off to the bullfights as Jack wails like a Spanish balladeer over a mutated tango beat, toreador trumpets and chugging guitar.
Bone Broke 3:14 We return to more traditional turf with this gritty blues-punk groover. Meg's snare-cracks take the place of handclaps as broke-guy Jack sings to his rich girl -- then pitches a noisy hissy-fit.
Prickley Thorn, But Sweetly Worn 3:05
Droning bagpipes. A plucky mandolin. Tippy-tap percussion. And Jack singing "Li, de-li de-li, oh, ho" like Plant on a unicorn. This Scottish number feels more like a leftover from Cold Mountain.
St. Andrew (This Battle is in the Air) 1:49
Basically, this is just the extended ending of Prickley Thorn, with Meg yammering about angels over a noisy soundscape. "Don't forget me," she says. Too late.
Little Cream Soda 3:45
Another tango-rocker that toggles between a chugging riff and squealing licks. The twangy verses leave space for Jack's world-weary vocals about shrugging off life's disappointments.
Rag and Bone 3:48
In this kooky little novelty, Jack and Meg are junk collectors looking for scraps -- and running the hoodoo down with a bouncy juke- joint boogie straight from John Lee Hooker's fake-book.
I'm Slowly Turning Into You 4:34
If Robert Plant and John Paul Jones ran Zep, they might have sounded more like this sluggish, organ-drenched blues -- until the weird ghostly vocal montage in the middle, anyway.
A Martyr For My Love For You 4:19
To the moody strains of a swelling, swirling church organ and finger- picked electric-guitar curlicues, Jack moans about his doomed love on the closest thing to a romantic ballad on this disc.
Catch Hell Blues 4:18
Jack mucks around with a slide, settling into a choppy, neck-scaling progression. He wails a couple of lines like Plant getting his lemon squeezed -- but basically this feels like a jam.
Effect and Cause 3:00
A simple 12-bar folk-blues with a strummy acoustic guitar, some shivery Rod Stewart vocals from Jack and Meg's side-stick snare. A nice little sendoff.
