blackstar40's Full Review: Get Behind Me Satan by The White Stripes
If for nothing else, The White Stripes will go down in history as a band that proved it was possible to work any degree of musical cohesion with a meager two members and no apparent bass. This survival-against-all-odds scenario means that the friendly twosome have also been adorned with eloquent praises and honors since their 2001 breakout White Blood Cells.
Are they that good, though?
Get Behind Me Satan, the product of a wailing vocalist set to a downtuned raw backdrop of thumping percussive glitches and finger-fiddling on the piano, starts like any other album – with it’s hit single. In this case, ‘Blue Orchid’ is indeed an above-par entry and is definitely the most quirky and vindictively volatile of the lot, matched with a percussive garment of all-sorts and an immediately identifiable riff that would be hard to amplify or distort any more. The problem is, Jack White’s supersonically piercing falsetto wears itself out by the time you’ve heard it a good ten times, and you’re left with a collection of not-so-exciting songs that need your undivided attention and time to comprehend.
Not necessarily a bad thing. However...
Jack has heartbreak on the brain and far from the intriguing concept album about angels and demons the title hints it to be, we get snippets instead from his sad love life (or is he pretending?). It culminates in ridiculous hooks in ‘My Doorbell,’ which actually wasn’t that arousing as a choice of single – ‘I’m thinking about the doorbell / When ya gonna ring it / When ya gonna ring it?’ Hmmm.
If drummer Meg White (she is his sister, right?) has any reaction to this, she doesn’t show it. She just pounds away at the complex drum rhythms, on and off the beat and sometimes in a totally unexpected pause, which at times is an excellent display of skill, and is at other times annoying and distracting. Like on ‘The Nurse,’ where her conga drumbeats are actually louder than her partner-in-crime himself. Not that it matters; the former has so little life and tempo breathed into it that you’ll be glad to see it over.
But let’s not beat around the bush.
While there are no strictly ‘catchy’ tunes or even ones that stand out in the crowd (after ‘Blue Orchid,’ of course), Get Behind Me Satan is by no means a waste of time, and the second half is artistically sublime and worth your while, if you pay attention down to the tiniest speck of instrumental detail.
‘White Moon’ functions effectively as the mopey drawn-out piano ballad, and likewise ‘I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet)’ is strong, with a bluesy tinge that should make critics around the world fall down and exalt them.
Hearing Meg herself sing on 34-second-long ‘Passive Manipulation’ is in itself a blessing, because it’s also possible to get tired of Jack’s airy swagger now and again. Even if her unemotional voice is perhaps not in his league, it’s the experience that counts. She’s urging women not to ‘succumb to the wills of our brothers.’ Eheh. Uh, was that a joke?
And despite all of my petty complaints, I can feel comfortable in saying everything on Get Behind Me Satan is satisfactorily good or goodly satisfactory. That said, seeing as what is very good is arranged and diffused to opposite ends of the spectrum (tracks 1, 7, 13), there’s not a lot of horsepower for it to really get steaming. Some songs (such as the understated ‘Red Rain’) include a brief guitar zap which then dies away back into a kind of instrumental no-mans-land. Other sections are hard to get through without reaching for the tracklist.
If you’re growing old with this wily twopiece, purchase is a good idea. In fact, it was one of the more unique albums that got major attention last year. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for a point to start with The White Stripes, you’re better off going with Elephant or White Blood Cells.
Damn. Now I can’t get ‘Seven Nation Army’ out of my head.
Track List [x indicates standout track]
1. Blue Orchid [x]
2. The Nurse
3. My Doorbell
4. Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)
5. Little Ghost
6. The Denial Twist
7. White Moon [x]
8. Instinct Blues
9. Passive Manipulation
10. Take, Take, Take
11. As Ugly As I Seem
12. Red Rain
13. I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet) [x]
The White Stripes fifth studio album, Get Behind Me Satan, is their most anticipated to date. The album was recorded in Detroit, mixed in Memphis and ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.