After the bare bones downer of 2005’s Get Behind Me Satan, The White Stripes return to heavy blues-drenched rock for their sixth disc Icky Thump. There’s nothing revolutionary here – except for bagpipes which you don’t hear on rock albums too often – but this one is still a pleaser! After a run with his other band The Raconteurs, Jack White is obviously done with sharing center stage and sails easily back into front man mode complete with some blistering guitar solos and raucous rants. And Meg? Has she broken any new ground in the drumming arena? No, but there’s something comforting at this point about the almost tenacious simplicity of her beats.
“Icky Thump”, the title track and also the album’s first single, comes roaring through like a freight train. It’s so big and fierce that the rest of the songs are left to almost quiver in its wake. Jack makes that guitar not just sing, but wail while Meg keeps the beat loud and ominous. As a tunesmith, Jack White has never been shy about expressing what’s on his mind and he hits the ground running on this song with lyrics like “White Americans, what? / Nothing better to do/Why don’t you kick yourself out ?/ You’re an immigrant too.
The album also delves into the music of other nations for inspiration. “Conquest” has lots of dramatic Spanish flare as Jack White sings about being brought to the altar musing about how “the hunter became the prey”. The song was written by Corky Robbins, but the White Stripes frontman brings such a full-bodied passion to the song that you don’t really have to wonder about how the semi-recently hitched White really feels about marriage. “Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn" mixes the Pogues with psychedelic rock. You’ll want to dance an Irish jig and bop your head at the same time.
The album loses some steam near the end with the so-so “I’m Turning Into You” and the light-weight “Ice Cream Soda” but there’s still enough fuel left in this rock and roll twosome to kick out some furious tunes. “Rag and Bone” plays in short angry spurts like an early punk song while “Catch Hell Blues” should become a jam favorite as those guitar strings bend until they squeal, beg and plead.
Icky Thump may not change your life or the musical landscape, but there’s something to be said about the fact that this is #6 for The White Stripes and I can’t wait for more! |