The White Stripes-Get Behind Me Satan
(V2)
6 out of 10
Photo links to the White Stripes' website
In the six years since their eponymous debut, the White Stripes have become a household name. The duo of Jack and Meg White (whose degree of relation I’ve ceased concern over) were previously garage rock’s ambassadors to the mainstream. Just how have they lost this title? The answer lies within their fifth album, the curiously titled “Get Behind Me Satan”.
Up until the release of “GBMS”, the Stripes were strictly a partnership of drum and guitar. The allure of their music came solely from the pure excitement of their arrangements, and it was absolutely beautiful that way. The catchiness of hits like “Fell in Love with a Girl” and “Seven Nation Army” appeased the Top 40 crowd, while the minimalist production methods and chronological transcendence of tracks such as “Ball & Biscuit”, “Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground”, and “Hotel Yorba” pleased purists. But then Jack White just had to get too eclectic for his own good. After the release of the astounding “Elephant”, he produced Loretta Lynn’s overhyped “Van Lear Rose” and protégé’d such mediocre artists as Brendan Benson and the Greenhornes. Somehow, one gets the feeling that this slightly aloof behavior would come back and hit the White Stripes’ next project hard in the head with a blow likely to cause a concussion.
Even from the start of “Blue Orchid”, the closest the album gets to its predecessors, it’s clear to see that the White Stripes have detatched themselves from their past. The garage rock vibe is still there, but the guitar has more of a glossy sound reflective of Death From Above 1979’s screechy bass. If you think “Blue Orchid” is weird for a Stripes song, then you’ll be shocked by the rest of the album.
The supreme songmanship is still here in places. “My Doorbell” is a vaudevillian romp whose hyperactive chorus, persistent cymbal, and peppy piano will have you doo-wopping your way through an impromptu game of ding-dong-ditch. “Take, Take, Take” is a quirky memoir about an encounter with Rita Hayworth that utilizes mind-bending vocal effects and bounces back and forth in tempo at random times. Jack even sympathizes with the ugly ducking on “As Ugly as I Seem”, which could have become a fist-pumping teen anthem. However, in probably the best artistic move in the album, the song is played from a whispery, acoustic perspective, which brings even more poignancy to the lyrical content.
Still, within the album, the Stripes provide a perfect example of how one could overdo the weird and offbeat. On “The Nurse”, creepy, meandering marimba is interrupted by loud and screechy blasts of guitar to create more of a goofy, “hey let’s scare the neighbors” jam session than a song. Jack, unfortunately, lets the showman in him bleed into his vocals on “The Denial Twist”. His enthusiasm is uncomfortably in-your-face and goofy, as he seems overly excited about absolutely nothing. The same aimless shenanigans occur on the high-pitched, ear-piercing “Red Rain”. The pretentiousness shows also in “White Moon”, except on a more subdued level. This song might be another love letter to Rita Hayworth, or maybe not. I really have no idea and I don’t really have the patience to listen to such a boring song to figure it out.
As this new album shows, the White Stripes have lost touch of their true musical talent, and in their disillusionment, have opted for overconfident ambitiousness. Let’s hope NASA decides to call Jack and Meg back home before they venture too far out in space. Until then, I guess we’ll just have to keep on oohing and aahing at their fantastic back catalog.
Key Tracks: "Take, Take, Take", "My Doorbell", "As Ugly As I Seem"
