red & white (& black)

I picked up the new White Stripes album yesterday after having two previous attempts thwarted by sold out stock. I popped the disk into my car and drove the 20 minutes home rocking out to ‘Icky Thump’ at full blast. To say I am quite satisfied with my purchase would be an understatement.

The album is great. I’ve heard it called ‘more of the same from the White Stripes’…but in the same breath they’ll add ‘but a little tighter and just as enjoyable’…and that pretty much sums it up. You get a little bit of everything Jack and Meg do well…a couple of grungy blues numbers, some neo metal/rock/county/blues twist ups, a few re-imagined old fashioned type tunes...and a little something 'different' too. Jack has always seemed to be more than willing to venture into new territory when it comes to the Stripes, but he’s also smart enough to tie a ribbon around his waist and leave a bread crumb trail leading back to where he’s been so as not to stray too far. Like many fans, I wrestle with not wanting the exact same record as before when buying a new album from an artist or a band that I am loyal to…while also wanting to feel like I’m still hearing the essence of the same band that I’ve liked so much. ‘Icky Thump’ for me, comes very close to being as perfect a ‘next step’ that the White Stripes could have taken. I certainly hope there is more to come. Jack has always made it clear that this ‘thing’ could end at any time…and with this ‘dream’ tour of Canada being undertaken as we speak, there is at least a chance that we may not see them ‘round these parts again. I hope not.

But if that were the case, then I’d at least have some musical accompaniment to help me through those “three hundred mile per hour, finger breaking, no answers makin', battered dirty hands, bee stung and busted up, empty cup torrential outpour blues…”