Music: The White Stripes - Icky Thump

The White Stripes
Icky Thump
[Rock]







Ever since the follow up to runaway success "Elephant", "Get Behind Me Satan", defied expectations and split opinions, all eyes focused on Detroit blues-rockers The White Stripes to see what direction they'd go in next. The answer; a partial climbdown. New album "Icky Thump" may feature many an experimental element, but it's closer by far to the stripped down garage rock of "Elephant" than the wild experementalism of "Satan"'s marimba, bluegrass, backward drum loops and thirty second tracks.

Oddly, title track opener and lead single "Icky Thump" is one of the most adventurous pieces on the record; although it's driven by the kind of raucous, righteous guitar lick and atypically political lyrics ("White Americans, what, nothing better to do? / Why don't you kick yourself out, cos you're an immigrant too") that propelled it, somehow, to number two in the charts. Second single "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told)" marries some witty, satisfying lyrics to a more conventional musical structure, making it a more obvious choice of single. It's only by third track, "300 mph Torrential Downpour Blues" that you get the slightest feeling you've heard it all before; could the Stripes be falling into a rut? Thankfully, a tremendously bombastic version of "Conquest", complete with spanish horns, reassures that the will to dabble is still theirs. "Bone Broke", unfortunately, is really a very archetypal White Stripes song, with little to distinguish it from many others; thumping monosyllabic drums and Jack's impassioned screeches. "Prickly Thorn, but Sweetly Worn" however, twists the listener back into a world of surprises; this time they drag out the pipes for what sounds like a scottish folk song. It's followed by a short snippet of experimental nonsense, more self indulgent outro than song, entitled "St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air)"; a mercifully short bout of Meg talking about not very much over increasingly erratic music. Then it's back to the classic approach for the rest of the album; "Little Cream Soda" is perfectly serviceable. "Rag and Bone" provides a pleasant surprise and personal favourite as Jack and Meg summarise their philosophy as musical recyclers by literally masquerading as rag and bone collectors. Then for the last four tracks, the band alternates between two strident, adrenaline filled jams ("Catch Hell Blues" and "I'm Slowly Turning Into You"), and the sweet, quiet, ballad "A Martyr For My Love For You" which is complimented by the satisfying closer "Effect and Cause"; suberbly constructed lyrics about a well known fallacy which dovetail into a love story of sorts. This is not an album which matches "Elephant"'s consistency or "Satan'"s spirit of adventure; in fact, the best word to describe it is "Solid". Solid songs, solid construction, solid lyrics, solid musicianship, solid Stripes.

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