Get Behind Me Satan

Meg White is such an underrated drummer; she is the unmistakeable sound of The White Stripes.

No write up in the book as it's been removed. Makes sense, two white stripes albums still in there is excessive, three would be insane. My interest was also waning considerably by this point also. The single, opener track was decent though. For a 45 minutes long album this somehow way outstays it's welcome. So many jobbing blues jam songs. Tbh I don't think I would give any white stripes album more than 6.5/10, I'm always bored partway through.

Some of the artists with repeat albums on this list leave me wondering why we need all of them. The previous album from The White Stripes (White Blood Cells) and Get Behind Me Satan are pretty different, so I can see how they both coexist here. There’s a lot of piano, some always welcome Marimba, and less a 70s rock vibe than that previous album. Both albums, though, are quite great! Glad to have heard them both!

Take this hollow sounding crap from me. I can't take this disgusting greasy rat looking incel seriously.

Jack White is one of my absolute favorites. The verses have such a unique groove to them that only he can provide with his guitar and vocals. The string of four songs: My Doorbell, Forever For Her (Is Over For Me), Little Ghost, and The Denial Twist is one of my favorite sets of any album of all time. Every time I’ve heard “My Doorbell” over the past 15 years, it constantly plays on repeat in my head. Great song, great album, great band.

That was such a great listen. I had forgotten I had a healthy White Stripes phase while I was living in Nashville, which was also the same time Jack White was living there. Once, he came into J.Alexander's (it was the flagship restaurant & lots of celebrities liked it for some reason) and dude was dressed head to toe in a crushed purple velvet pimp suit complete with pimp hat & cane. It's surreal & bad ass. He was nice as hell, too. I once ate one of his onion rings...a big deal for me since he was my top crush at the time. This album, along with Meg White's drumming, is solid 2000s rock. Meg deserves far more credit than she gets. Girlfriend is talented as hell, and Jack ain't bad either. My favorites are Blue Orchid & My Doorbell, and I like the mix of garage, blues, and pop. I'm so glad this popped up. I was also a big fan of their album, Icky Thump, so I'm taking this as a reminder to revisit their catalog. 4.5 stars.

I wouldn’t consider anything by the White Stripes as being something that you must hear before you die.

i'm a white stripes fan, but this album is comfortably their shittest album. started to believe his own hype didn't he. it's like he just forgot to bother actually writing any songs so just jabbed at his guitar and when he wasn't doing that he was fucking around on a marimba. nonsense album.

The facial hair situation on this album freaks me out but it doesn't detracting from the quality tunes

Great rock album. 5 stars.

Their most complete album, and arguably their best. Which is interesting since I'm always excited when they put their stamp on cover songs, and this is all original material. At times it sounds like their White Album, which I guess stays with their whole color scheme. One also gets the feeling Meg had just about had enough of Jack's shit. That tends to happen when you're forced to hang around with your ex-husband after trying to convince the world you were brother and sister.

There were not a lot of really exciting proper rock and roll bands in the 2000s, and so the White Stripes were a breath of fresh fucking air. You could argue that they are the last twitch of a dying corpse, looking backwards to the roots of rock in blues and country, with their two-piece line up, technical limitations, love of constraint and fetishization of cheap guitars and analogue technology. But it rocked, which is more than can be said of nearly anyone else working the genre in the past 25 years. And I really dug it! I like a ropey band playing as if their lives depend on it, and the rough-edged charm of the White Stripes really did it for me. But, five albums in and following the massive success of Elephant, they could either crank out a series of carbon copies. Instead, Jack and Meg decided to switch things up a bit by making a largely piano-based album. this seems like a shame, given that Jack White is a pretty exciting guitar player. And I curse the person responsible for leaving a fucking marimba in the studio where he could see it -- that was a terrible idea! I read that they wanted to keep things "spontaneous" by setting a very short recording sessions and not bringing much in the way of developed material, developing songs on the spot in only a few takes. And it fucking shows; these are like demos of proper songs. But demos that are too long. I mean, tell me honestly, the 2-minute songs here are far more compelling than the 4-minute versions here. I don't think any of these songs have enough in them to support a 4-minute running time. I don't mind the loose playing or the rough sound quality or a quick-and-dirty recording ethos, but the songs need to be a bit more developed. Don't get me wrong, there are some strong songs here -- Blue Orchid, Mr Doorbell, Denial Twist, Instinct Blues (with a judicious edit), red Rain, I'm Lonely -- but there are a lot of bloated filler tracks and borderline novelty songs, too. I really like the Stripes, but this feels like their least essential album. I think this is a failed attempt to reinvent their sound. Jack White had backed himself into an artistic corner. This really the beginning of the end for the White Stripes as a unit. I don't think the scale of their success sat well with them; Jack White retreated into playing a character, and Meg just retreated. But I would still rather listen to this than almost any other album from this list released this century. 3.5 stars, rounding down because it could have been better, with just a bit more thought and work.

I was debating to give either 1 or 2, but it got worse as it went on. His voice sounds very congested with a bubble in his throat that he’s had for days. I am not a fan. Of the music either- got too radical in a bad way.

Excellent! So, so good. It’s my exact style of indie WITH A MARIMBA FOR GOD’S SAKE! ARGQHQ Fave songs: all of them tbh

There is no way this is objectively their best album, but it's probably my favorite. It's weird and so different from everything else that it's obviously a bit of a passion project, and that comes across. Not everybody can pull this kind of nonsense off. Best track: My Doorbell

Our last White Stripes album was White Blood Cells, which was about 650 albums ago. It seems I had to really work to appreciate that one, but certainly did in the end. This one came across as a favorite right away. Its varied styles held my interest all through, and I think it's brilliant.

If it takes listening to a thousand albums to find out I like bands I didn’t think I would, that can only be a good thing.

I was very deeply into this record. From the more headbanger-ish tracks to the more acoustic tracks.

I just love the sound of this band and the variety of styles on this album. Lots of great songs.

Blue Orchid is the type of catchy and rocking song I want and enjoy from The White Stripes. The rest is not. Pretty solid 2.

A few good singles, but the rest isn't particularly interesting as an album

Favourites: • Blue Orchid

I just got Elephant before this and really didn't enjoy it, and this one was even more of a step down to me. Between Jack White's shout-whining voice and boring instrumentals that seem to be trying to do some sort of quirky, slightly experimental thing but are ultimately just tryhard and repetitive, I didn't get a single ounce of enjoyment out of this album. I straight up couldn't even finish a single song on the whole thing.

Listen. I respect the hell out of Jack White as a talent, but he joins the ranks of John Mayer and Dave Grohl where I just don't like their music. And a lot of it for me is Jack White's vocals, feels like a tin can on my ear. Overall, this album was pretty simplistic. Some intriguing arrangements but overall a snooze cruise for me.

Great!

Jack white is cool

Outstanding

Great songs (3)

Probably my 4th or 5th choice of a White Stripes album for this list. Is it good? Yes. Does it need to be on this list when there are for sure 3, maybe 4 better White Strips records? No.

Get Behind Me Satan I listened to White Blood Cells and Elephant a shit ton, and although I still bought this and Icky Thump, my interest had dwindled by then and I didn’t ever really get into either of those albums, aside from Blue Orchid and My Doorbell on here. Love the riff on Blue Orchid though, very White Stripes but it also sounds a little different from Elephant, a little more shiny and robotic perhaps, in the way Elephant sounded a little different and more polished after White Blood Cells (which sounded different from De Stijl etc etc). My Doorbell is great of course as well, I love the melody matching the piano. I guess I wasn’t that into the album back in 2005 due to not really liking stuff like The Nurse, but I quite like its non-typical WS calypso marimba riff and slightly idiosyncratic and creepy feel. In fact that behind closed doors old-timey spookiness permeates the whole album, maybe it’s the focus on piano throughout, with the contrasting tropical sounding marimba accenting the ominous feel in an off kilter way, that gives it a nicely unusual feel. In fact I like a lot of the songs on here, particularly the first half, from Blue Orchid to White Moon. Forever for Her is superb, a lovely ballad with a very delicate melody, nicely picked out by the marimba and augmented by Meg’s cymbal thrash. And White Moon is also excellent, the mournful piano really does have some spooky moonlight atmospherics. There are perhaps a couple of tracks in the second half that don’t work as well for me, Instinct Blues and Red Rain are a little too close to a bit of aimless thrash and a kind of unnecessary throwback to their first album or two, although the slide is pretty nice on Red Rain. It really picks up though with the vaguely familiar but great As Ugly As I Seem and the fantastic piano led country-blues of I’m Lonely. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this and appreciated it far more than I did 20 years ago, it’s a nice little side step from WBC and Elephant, exploring different sounds and structures while expanding on the country and country blues elements they’ve always had and adding a bit more Appalachian spookiness. Perhaps a bit uneven and a track or two too long, but it’s a simple and enjoyable 4 from me. 😈😈😈😈 Playlist submission: Forever for Her

Not their best work but solid WS album nonetheless. 8/10

Such a great album. Loved the move towards more piano heavy songs. 4/5

The White Stripes at their best.

Brilliant

Some decent songs. Its a white stripes album, sounds pretty much like every other one. One thing I'd like to say is that meg white absolutely stole a living in the industry, she cannot drum and her singing voice is just awful. Thank god she knew jack!

Blue Orchid is good, but the next few songs sound like filler dross that could have been on their last album. Then it picks up and becomes a pretty catchy blues-infused rock album. It's better than White Blood Cells, and it has some genuinely good songs. Yet again, I wish I could rate in half stars, but I think This one deserves a 3.

Quite an average album from The White Stripes. Their crazy garage rock image was replaced by quirky garage drum and vocal, which was pretty fun, but not for the whole record. You can just listen to "Doorbell" 12 times or so, and I would have the same effect as listening to Get Behind Me Satan. I think I might mix a song or two into my daily listening list, but probably I won't come back to this album anytime soon.

jack white you consummate whiner you!

I never got into The White Stripes when they first came out (I generally liked my dose of Jack White in the form of The Raconteurs instead) so had only heard the singles from this. Songs like The Nurse are a weird experience wearing earphones - Meg frequently sounds like she's in a different room off to the left, playing a completely different song. I don't like the production on a lot of this album - it sounds quite empty and the tone on the drums is very thin. Highlight for me is My Doorbell, mostly due to the piano. I can't say I really love anything else on this album. And much has been said of Meg's drumming, but it pales in comparison to her singing (I hope she's happy somewhere well away from the spotlight living her best life). Should be 2.5 but... 2/5

I like My Doorbell, but that doesn't mean the album needs multiple songs with the same piano rhythm and this is coming from someone who loves piano rock. Multiple songs sound like they got inspired by classics, but failed to do anything interesting with it. Overall, this was quite boring.

Elephant is one of the first record I ever bought with my own money while I was in high school. I adored that masterpiece, and for some reason when Get Behind Me Satan came out I didn’t give it a fair shot. I think that may be because my interests were more in the jam band space at the time and I didn’t love the first single Blue Orchid, which is mostly because I was a stupid teenager. That track, and this entire album, is incredible, and my ears hear a 5-star masterpiece 20 years later. Thankfully time has shown that this ranks up there with Elephant and White Blood Cells as all time great rock albums by The White Stripes. Get Behind Me Satan is the Stripes at their weirdest, as Jack plays around with various sounds and styles more than any other of the band's records. I did love My Doorbell when it came out, and that song is still amazing.

love my doorbell, nostalgic, groovy, who was he pining for? She was literally haunting him. Was it Renee Zellweger? Apparently Rita Hayworth and ‚truth‘. I love the White Stripes and I love this record. Shoutout to Meg, first woman for me in this very male 1001-lineup…

5/10

Ganska bra album men tycker the white stripes kan vara lite tråkiga.

After two listens, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this album. It seems to snap between dreadfully dull and genuinely inventive every other song almost. Every time I felt like I'd had enough and was about to turn it off, something would come on that convinced me to give it another chance. I've never been all that keen on The White Stripes' particular brand of blues rock, even though I actually quite liked Jack Whites' other project, the Raconteurs, back in the day, so it's no surprise that it's the more garage rock-style tracks on this record that I preferred. Red Rain was my favourite of the bunch, which probably has a lot to do with how different it sounds from the Stripes' usual fare. I could maybe see myself giving a higher rating to a version of this album with a modified tracklist, but as it is, I doubt I'll ever listen to it all the way through again, so three stars feels about fair. Favourite tracks: Red Rain, Instinct Blues, The Denial Twist Least favourite track: My Doorbell (does anyone actually like this irritating racket?)

I remember when this album came out. My Doorbell was a fairly catchy song and I vaguely remember Blue Orchid. The White Stripes usually wrote decent songs, so I was excited about listening to it. There's a bunch of piano, a lot of which sound like My Doorbell, again and again. In fact, the only time White flexes his piano skills in a horrible 70s style closer. Otherwise, he plays the same style of piano riff throughout (a lot). It's not a bad album, but there's not a lot of variety, and while White's a decent songwriter, nothing really stuck. 3 stars.

5/10 I never really gelled with the White Stripes when they were around, but I did eventually connect with Jack White and some of his solo work that followed. Maybe I’m in a better place to get stuck in to them as a band with that increased familiarity in my pocket. The album kicks off with some solid, heavy guitar work that inspires confidence, but I find that the production is all a bit strange. The drums are very splashy, not just from a playing point of view, although I could do with fewer ‘cymbal crash at the start of every bar’ passages across the album in general, but also from a production point of view, where the cymbals are very bright and brash. Weirdly, aside from the bright cymbals, a lot of the drums sound like they were recorded in the corner of a slightly boxy room on a single microphone, which is a slightly odd choice when some of the other parts are so clearly recorded. It just sounds a bit messy and sloppy to me. That represents a lot of my feeling about this album, in fact. Stylistically, it feels quite muddled, with tracks veering wildly across styles, but without even a consistent production style to pin them together. I’m all for variety and range, but a lack of internal consistency makes it all feel a bit patchwork. Quite a few of the tracks feel like early demos, where there are solid moments and then bits that sound like they’ve not quite been worked out properly yet, and there are even some quite odd choices to keep takes together that drop a beat here and there. I feel like the bones of a really good album are actually evident here, and there are a few tracks where things get together really nicely, My Doorbell and The Denial Twist, for example, but often those moments of coherence fell away as the next track rolled in. I feel like some of the choices on this album fall back on the ‘look at me, I’m a kooky man’ persona that Jack White likes to promote, which if you buy into that probably work, but just feel a bit calculated to me. If you’re really kooky, it’ll show in your music without you having to try this hard. Apparently, the album was recorded inside two weeks at Jack White’s home studio. The cover photo was produced in a five day photo shoot in that same location. Maybe spend more time on the music and less on the aesthetic, eh? When Jack White gets out of his own way, he’s great, and the music world needs people like him. I’m still looking forward to listening to more of his work, both solo and as the White Stripes, but this album was just a bit of a swing and a miss for me. Blue Orchid - It’s a solid, meaty riff and that guitar tone is great, but the drums are a bit splashy for my taste. It’s a slightly odd mix in that it feels like the guitar takes up a large amount of the audio spectrum but the rest of the parts are quite thin, so it feels a bit sonically gappy. It’s a decent enough song though, and it’s got some good hooks. Short but sweet. The Nurse - This is a bit odd. It’s plodding and not that melodically interesting. The little bursts of guitar and drums are weird and jar massively against the song. It just feels a lot like a song that’s trying to scream “look at me, I’m kooky!” There’s probably a song in there somewhere, but it’s been very oddly orchestrated and produced. My Doorbell - And we’re back on the right track. It’s got a great shuffling groove and some solid hooks. The vocal seems to lose prominence in places, like he’s not bothering to control his mic position at all. But it’s a really good, toe-tapper of a song. Lyrically it’s very repetitive, but in this case it kind of works for the hooky nature of the composition. Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) - We’re back to something a bit more plodding and (in places) splashy. It builds quite nicely, but compositionally it’s quite limited. I quite like some of the sections, but as a whole it’s just a bit too jumbled and messy for me. Little Ghost - This is a bit more stylistically and structurally focused. It’s pretty country, and sounds almost like it’s designed to sound like it’s recorded at some kind of hoedown. It doesn’t really offer much development or variation, but it’s over in just over 2 minutes, so I guess that works. The Denial Twist - They’ve found that groove again. This is solid, with some great hooks from the piano in particular. There are some good developments of the themes, and it’s got great energy and vibe to it. When they hit their stride like this, they’re great. There’s so much swagger and attitude to it. Great track. White Moon - And we’ve slowed down again. The calmness of things is often punctuated with big thumps and, again, too many cymbal splashes. The stilted, staccato nature of the drums and the more intense sections just jar for me. It just all feels a bit unbalanced an inconsistent, even within a single song, let alone across the album. Instinct Blues - This starts off really well and then in places it drops away like he hasn’t quite worked out how to transition from section to section. There are some good riffs in here and the sound and style is more consistent, but it just sounds like an early demo of a song idea, rather than a finished song. Sounds like the finished song would be really good, it's just a shame he didn’t get that far before he released it. Passive Manipulation - More of an interlude than a full song. It’s more plodding, staccato stuff, and then it’s done. Take, Take, Take - Jack White launches into this with great swagger. There are some really nice rhythmic breaks in this and it’s one that feels much more complete and consistent again to begin with. The break to the “take, take, take” bit is a bit odd and then it takes them a couple of bars to catch the rhythm again, which furthers the oddness. Again, this has started to feel a bit jumbled and demo-like, because the production is a bit muddled and there are even a few glaring timing issues in places. The bones are there, but it’s just not coherent enough. As Ugly As I Seem - Another stylistic switch-up and it tonally sounds like it’s from a completely different album. It’s a nice song and feels far more straightforward and by the book than pretty much anything else on here. It’s nothing spectacular, just a nice little acoustic number, but at least it’s internally consistent. Red Rain - Sometimes, I can find Jack White’s voice to be quite pinched and grating. This is one of those times. There are some decent riffs in here, but again it’s all a bit of a jumble. Moments of quality, surrounded by moments of Jack White showing off how kooky he is. And it never really develops any of the real quality into anything that particularly grabs me and holds on. I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet) - Moments of Jack White straining to hit notes that he can’t quite reach over some nice piano work. It’s a nice little slice of Memphis style blues. It’s ok, but not spectacular. Another one where the production and compositional style is far more coherent and consistent, so it’s perhaps more of a flowing track to close things.

I assume there are other white stripes albums on this list? This seems like one of their less essential ones? Still decent though I guess

Gave it a listen through but it's not my cup of tea right now. I couldn't really vibe with it. The first few songs I found pleasing but it was just off through out. I am not sure if I will revisit this one in the future. Right now, 4.5/10

I like: - using piano and drums for the core of a song I don't like: - whatever kind of dweeb it is that Jack White has turned into on this album cover - these songs three White Stripes and one Jack White is definitely too much for the list. 2 stars.

One of the least essential White Stripes albums. It has a couple of good ones on it, but also: Jack White only really rocked when he worked with big time limitations. That’s why everything after this band kinda stinks. This album, and the one after it, starts to have his worst instincts creeping in. The more he thinks about a song and adds to a song, the less compelling it becomes. I don’t know what that says about a guy. This is more like a 2.5 I suppose, but I’m going to round it down because with hindsight it sounds so much like Something I Liked Going Bad.

started ok lost interest pretty fast

Some of it's okay but largely rather boring. Gave up on it.

Honestly, this album does very little for me. I get at the time there was some mystique around this pair, their relationship, a duo making indie music. But I just don't get enough from it myself.

I'm not trying to be a contrarian, I'm really not, but i just can't stand Jack White's playing and voice. His records, and I'm extending this to his White Stripe's output, tend to feel overlong and they play out their novelty early on, by the fifth song or so. Also, Marimbas, big fucking deal.

Fantastic live band but I am struggling to justify one of their albums on this list let alone three. When listened to as an album, the lack of variety in their sound and, particularly, their progressions becomes very noticeable.

Nowhere near the same energy as ‘white blood cells’, wears more of the blues influences on its sleeve but the songwriting just doesn’t have the same level of quality. For a band where the focus is on two instruments, the songcraft has to be particularly good as it draws so much more scrutiny and this just doesn’t have it in the same abundance of some of their other albums.

I liked the lilting melody of "The Nurse" but I didn't like the drums or electric guitar parts. Too many of the songs had repetitive lines and segments of music repeating. I was surprised at how many of the songs just ended abruptly. I liked the use of bongos on "As Ugly As I Seem". Worst song, "Red Rain". I liked the piano in "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)".

Sometimes there are points in a bands catalogue where, despite being such a die heart fan of their work , you jump off the ride and don’t look back. That’s how I felt about this album. As much as I’m a fan of the white stripes first four albums and love all the splicing of Detroit garage rock and southern blues influence, this departure for their traditional work was a huge fumble in my ears. Despite being a bit more daring then their other work, it sounds like a timestamp of the era and sounds like it belongs on ads of products of the day Wasn’t a fan of the album when it came out, and after rehearing it, it just makes me want to go back to the other albums.

With its sparse arrangements, often just drums, guitar, and vocals, the album makes it easier to hear the clarity and separation between each element. Recorded mostly on analog gear, it carries a warm, gritty midrange that’s great for revealing how natural or “alive” a speaker’s midband can sound

Mastered like crap. Anything higher than 3kHz sounds muted and dull, the bass guitar sounds like its being played from the next room over. The music is a weird mix of country and hard rock, not a horrible mix but the songs themselves are really bad

I hate it when great musicians make music that sucks. Worse still is everything these two make sucks. ⭐⭐

This is a White Stripes record, there are others like it, but this one has marimbas.

Not quite the heights of White Blood Cells or Elephant, but an okay effort that has a bit of shit filler. Shouldn't be on this list. Are they husband and wife or married though, the creepy incestuous weirdos.

Was not my personal taste, listened to a few songs then turned off

I am so *unbelievably* annoyed by how much I disliked this. Every time a new track started, I thought to myself, "hey, ok, here we go, I'm going to like this one" and every time, EVERY TIME it let me down!! Vibraphone solo? I'm in! Moody piano? Heck yes. Toy piano?! I'm sold. Unexpected chord progression? I live for this. Every step of the way, I hoped. And yet, and yet, and yet... it just never transforms from "here's a collection of some neat ideas that we strung together" into music. It could have been good, it could even have been great, there's good stuff buried in there. It's infuriating and exhausting and I am completely shocked by how strongly I felt about it. Points for provoking strong feelings (boy howdy), but man I do not want to go through the experience of listening to this again.

As much as I tried, I could not find one song I want to hear again.

I wasn't familiar with this album but, after listening to it, I am surprised it's on this list. It doesn't seem to offer anything really new or interesting. Somehow, almost everything about this album comes across as irritating to me, from the melodies to the vocals to the lyrics.

too cornball for me, old navy vibes, trying too hard without doing anything new, I think just not meant for me

Oh good, I was worrying that I'd been too nice with my reviews recently. An album where the artists had just found out about the marimba and thought it was the coolest instrument ever, forgetting about all of the other instruments (and their own voices at some points!). Now I have to wonder if I'm too harsh instead! I haven't really listened to The White Stripes before, so my first proper experience with them being an experimental album is probably not the best. But wow, I did not vibe with this album at all. I understand that the point of the songs is that they're all supposed to be about truth or Rita Hayworth, apparently. I just can't get over the tone and instruments feeling all over the place. If I'm not getting annoyed by the drums being too loud, I'm just confused by, what feels like, random guitars thrown in for the sake of justifying this as rock music. I think loudness can be fun to listen to, but usually not for a whole album and definitely not when it comes in aggressively without any real transition. I dunno, maybe my reaction to the first song soured me on the rest of the album, but I feel like you can represent truth in better ways.

"I've been thinking about my doorbell"??? Very simple juvenile album. Sounds like a brother and sisters high school band project.

I always found The White Stripes a bit overrated and while I wasn't expecting this album to change that I also wasn't expecting to dislike it as much. This albun seems to have 3 moods: going for a clean and melodic rock sound that reads kind of like tv commercial music (Blue Orchid), going for a different, bit experimental sound and failing miserably (The Nurse, Little Ghost, As Ugly As I Seem) or trying to recreate their typical sound but not doing it super effectively (The Denial Twist). While I'm not super crazy about some of their previous stuff, I have to admit that it does have some power to it, some purpose and Jack White's guitar playing was very solid. I can't say any of those things about this album. It's just very gutless, bland and boring, with some moments coming accross as kind of obnoxious.

This was sometimes a painful listen. The album gets better as it develops, but the first two songs had me thinking it was a joke. The production quality was abysmal with instruments sounding like I was listening to some random high school band practicing in the music room. This is probably the worst album of the three I've listened to so far from pretty much every standpoint.

Satan wouldn’t get behind this

I'm sorry, but this was annoying to a level I rarely experienced before.

My cousin is a jazz guitarist. He once dated a woman who played marimba. They landed a cruise ship gig, spent months at sea, and split soon after. Not her fault - there is only so much marimba a person can take. It is a limited instrument: charming in flashes, unbearable in excess. The trick is knowing when to stop and when to get out. You put up with the relationship until the job is done. You keep it all in until you get home. Jack White, apparently, has not learned that lesson. In Take, Take, Take, he meets Rita Hayworth, pushes too far, and ruins the moment. It is a parable for the whole record: overreach, repetition, collapse. White and Meg locked themselves in a studio with a piano, a marimba, and no ideas, and tried to hammer an album out of it. What is left is a bundle of songs that sound like first drafts stretched thin, basic notions padded into "arrangements". Even Passive Manipulation - 35 seconds long - feels overextended. Its one idea is dead after 12. That is the problem everywhere here: riffs with nowhere to go, lyrics that confuse petulance with passion, and rhythms that are more like going through the motions. After six albums, the spontaneity is gone. And spontaneity is no substitute for depth or effort. Jack and Meg had been divorced for years, and despite attempts to spice things up with unfamiliar instruments, there is nothing much here. If there ever was. Worse, they did not even have to put up with it. They could have gone home at any time. 1.5 There is a prevailing sense on the White Stripes’ fifth album that anything will do rightly. And it did. People lapped up this gruel as usual. The first guitar riff that falls under Jack’s fingers; the first (same) drum pattern that Meg felt like playing. Melody? Sure it could just follow the guitar riff. Or Jack could do his old-timey squeaky voice bit. Songwriting is for suckers - folks who don’t have a colour scheme and a widespread rumour of incest. Why would you risk embarrassing yourself with an earnest lyric and fancy fourth-chord music when a large chunk of the record-buying public are aching for more Polly Wolly Doodle with a distortion pedal? Why make art when you can execute a brand identity? To be fair, there is nothing here anywhere near as good as Polly Wolly Doodle but that is actually true of many albums. Polly Wolly Doodle is a classic. What is the protagonist doing down on his knees behind the barn? That’s the sort of haunting, risk-taking line that makes a song Great. I didn’t mean to put it down just then. 1/5

algo así debe en el inodoro una vez

Begnadete Musiker, aber die Stimme von Jack White ist einfach nicht meins. Selbes Problem wie bei den Smashing Pumpkins.

Blue Orchid and The Denial Twist are okay, rest is forgettable. Drums sound like they were recorded in the other room and that mixing got more distracting as the album went on. It also felt like the drummer just got 10 new instruments that they were dying to incorporate, with random tambourines or maracas. First album we've been served up that I really felt like just skimming through the tracks after the first five.

Idk how a band can be both so noisy and so boring at the same time. I don't get the music industry's preoccupation with these guys and won't remember a single line from this album tomorrow.

an insult to music enjoyers everywhere. this is just jack white jacking off for 45 minutes in his usual weird, self-indulgent way. meg's inane drum parts bring nothing to the table (go girl, give us nothing!) and the lyrics are absurd but uninspired. after the mediocre blue orchid appetizer, the next twelve tracks are just pretentious soup. even for the white stripes, this is straight up garbage. favorites: blue orchid, i guess my doorbell

Holy mother of god that was laboured. Every toothless song feels like half an hour. Not for me

A lot less “garage” than I expected, based on what I know of the band. Less energy too, and fewer killer riffs to mask the minimalism. On the plus side, the lyrics are nice, and the whole thing is easy enough to listen to. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that a real drummer and a solid bass wouldn’t have hurt—and that Jack White could have made the same record alone in his bedroom. In the end, meh.

en tarvinnut tätä tänään en tarvinnut tätä tänään, eilen lähti moderaattoreille viestinvilutusta että huomiselle jotain kivaa, huomiselle jotain hyvää ottivat ilmeisesti semmoisena vittuiluna että lätkäytti tämmöstä EI USKALLETA ENÄÄN YY VEESEEN PISTÄÄ POSTIA... tämä parivaljakko huhuillut vilkuillut pitkin projektia pikku pirulaiset alkaa pikku. hiljaan. vituttaan. tämä. as ugly as i seem

Loved!

Strange, playful, and emotionally off balance in a good way. Rating: 4.6/5 Short Review: This album trades garage rock punch for piano, marimba, and mood swings. It feels restless, theatrical, and experimental while still sounding unmistakably like them. Favorite Track: The Denial Twist. Moody, catchy, and slyly hypnotic.

The second half of the album declines a bit (with the exception of As Ugly As I Seem), but overall this is fantastic.

blue orchid 2005 alternative rock united states

Fantastic name for an album

Fantastic

I won’t apologize for being a jack white stan. I won’t

Man, the talented really do shine. This is just another level from the first notes. I love the piano and breadth of this album, adding variety and depth to their balls-out rock’n’roll. It’s just great, top to bottom.

Every White Tripes album was a moment of music history where was Rock was reclaimed and updated for the 21st century.

Excellent album.

barely got to start it, day ran away from me, but this is what I'm looking for

Weird and experimental but just so dang interesting to listen to.

Coming off their commercial and critical high point in Elephant, The White Stripes took the time honored tradition of taking their time to come out with their most experimental album. In fact, this might be Jack White's most experimental album period (other than maybe Boarding House Reach). Instead of the straightforward, almost punk DIY sound, the duo comes out with a record full of piano, marimba and even xylophone. As a superfan of the group, it should come as no surprise that because of that, this is easily their worst album IMO. And as a superfan of the group it should also come as no surprise that I'm still giving this 5 stars. 10/10

See my comments on last week's White Stripes. :)

Great live band, love the aesthetic - LOVE A FEMALE DRUMMER Can't get Ring my Doorbell out of my head now !!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️