First posted on Mark Is Cranky:
The latest White Stripes record is just killin' (if you don't believe me, ask the White Stripe's world's giddiest fanboy, Al Barger).
Seriously, it's not often that albums like this come along. I don't mean to imply that Get Behind Me Satan is 'perfect'. Not in the sense that records like Imperial Bedroom, Who's Next or even the first Van Halen record are perfect. No. This is more like a collection of disparate tunes that manage to fit perfectly together.
Warning:Nostalgia alert!
Get Behind Me Satan gives me serious 'I remember when' pangs for the Rolling Stones album Some Girls. That record, I suppose like a lot of the Stones' output, was all over the place in term of musical genres. Rock and roll, blues, country, R&B and even a little disco. Man, it was a sweet mix 'o stuff.
Ah, here's the nostalgia bit. I bought Some Girls at the drug store I worked at in high school (the defunct, swallowed by Rite Aid mini-chain, LaVeriere's). My Saturday morning shift ended at 1PM. I took the record home, popped it on the living room record player and sat down on the floor to pour over the liner notes/bizarre Warhol imagery. Unfortunately, I think I'd stayed out too late the night before...so I woke up just as the first side was making that funny needle-grinding-into-runoff-groove sound (for many years, as much as I liked the record, it would make me sleepy). I got up, moved the arm back to "Miss You" and commenced to rock. I was hooked halfway through "When The Whip Comes Down". I still am.
Now Jack & Meg White have put out a record that seems in the same category. There's garage rock, gospel, psychelic hootenanny, noire-ish blues, country folk...and it all makes sense. Plus, it's not the longest record in the world, further reminding me of when albums were forced to be more concise because of the limitations of the media (vinyl).
I liked the White Stripes from the minute I first heard "Fell In Love With A Girl". At that point though, I had no idea that White had so many musical ideas runnin' around in that head. But first that Loretta Lynn record and now this? Phew! He's got it going on.
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