BLAMING RENEE

By: B -- 6/21/05

I’m not exactly sure what’s happened to Jack White. At the time of the White Stripes’ last album, the amazing Elephant, White was harnessing his passion for ballsy, bluesy rock music. Since then, White’s been busy dating celebrities, appearing in movies, producing albums and getting arrested.

In 2003, our disheveled hero delivered us a modern classic. In 2005, Jack looks like the star of a Broadway version of Tombstone and has given us, um, Get Behind Me Satan.

Get Behind Me Satan may be the coolest album title since Beck’s Stereopathic Soul Manure, but the album sounds more like a cry for help. White’s in bad shape throughout, waxing incomprehensible about tales of loneliness and self-doubt. The sound is raw as hell, more unfocused than White Blood Cells with the toned-down grit of De Stijl. It’s all over the place, with elements of bluegrass, synth rock, balladry and everything in between. Jack experiments with numerous instruments while Meg pounds on her cymbals.

I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed by the album on the whole. For every superb track such as “My Doorbell” (which may be my favorite Stripes song of all time, fyi), there’s the mediocre “The Nurse.” For every kick-ass rocker like “The Denial Twist” and “Blue Orchid”, there’s the bloated “Instinct Blues”. It’s an up-and-down ride, and I can never venture too far away from the “seek” button.

Still, this is the White Stripes. Despite the unfocused, uneven nature of Get Behind Me Satan, the gritty attitude and effective genre-hopping proves that even at their most negative, the White Stripes are still better than most everything else on the scene.

Buy this album on Amazon

POP RATING: 6.5

CRITICAL RATING: 8

B’S RATING: 7.5

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