White Stripes

Amazon.co.uk Review:
The fifth album from the Detroit favourites, Get Behind Me Satan, finds stage siblings Jack and Meg White jerking the reins and steering The White Stripes into virgin territory. Gone is the maximal 70s rock sound that powered Elephant, cuts like "Seven Nation Army", replaced by a new emphasis on piano, acoustic guitar, and on numbers like "My Doorbell" and "Blue Orchid", the creeping – and very welcome - influence of Stax soul, classic R&B and disco.

Which isn’t to say the Stripes have left behind their desire for the sort of impulsive, raw garage-rock that defined earlier albums like De Stijl: "Instinct Blues", in particular, will hit you like a shot of old Bourbon. It’s just that by this stage in the Stripes’ career, they’re most interesting when they’re making music that sounds like nothing or no-one else. Listen out, then, for "The Nurse" - a minimal wisp of marimba, piano and seed-shaker interrupted by spasmodic, brutal guitar-drums crashes – or the dainty, Meg-sung "Passive Manipulation", which further muddies the waters of this most complicated of relationships: "Women, listen to your mothers," sings Meg, with an endearing falter, "Don’t just succumb to the wishes of your brothers". All of which adds up to another bemusing, but brilliant family album from the White Stripes. --Louis Pattison

White Stripes Links

• Official site
• White Stripes.net FAQ
• The White Stripes Au Discography
• CandyCaneChildren White Stripes Fansite
• The White Stripes Au
• Triple Tremelo
• White Stripes tablature
• Redcandycane French fansite
• The White Stripes at Discogs.com
• The White Stripes at MusicBrainz
• The Little Room, large White Stripes forum