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The White Stripes Elephant
If rock is dead, the White Stripes are holding a sèance with the red, white and blues of Elephant, their fourth full-length studio album. Jack and Meg White, now garage rock royalty, show no sign of budging from their thrones. Chasing the ghosts of music past, the duo dig deeper into their nostalgia for the blues than ever before, delivering a record that truly resonates.
The White Stripes have always sounded like a band caught in a time warp, but never have they sounded so homesick. Dedicated to the “death of the sweetheart,” Elephant longs for the purity of the blues while referencing the grimy punk of the Stooges and Led Zeppelin.
“We mourn the sweetheart’s loss in a disgusting world of opportunistic, lottery ticket holders caring about nothing that is long term, only the cheap thrill, the kick, the for the moment pleasure, the easy way out, the bragging rights and the trophy holding,” the Stripes state in the album’s liner notes.
The Stripes recorded the entirety of Elephant on 8-track, announcing in the album credits that “no computers were used during the writing, recording, mixing or mastering of this record,” as if it was an ethical decision.
On the opening cut, the swaggering “Seven Nation Army,” the Stripes go on the warpath, easily stomping out their current musical competitors. “I’m gonna fight them off,/ A seven nation army couldn’t me back,/ They’re gonna rip it off, taking their time right behind my back,” Jack snarls.
His confidence is justified: rejecting any significant influence of the last decade of rock music, the White Stripes sound more relevant than ever. Sticking to the same formula of Jack’s feverish guitar playing combined with Meg’s thrashing drums, the White Stripes flesh out their sound as if backed by a full band, especially on the swerve of “Black Math” and the rattle of “Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine.”
Even the album’s weaker tracks only pale in comparison to the album’s more impressive offerings. “There’s No Home for You Here,” is an odd rehash of “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” from their last album, White Blood Cells, with a layered vocal track reminiscent of Queen, that does not manage to trump the original.
Meg comes stage forward to take the mic on the melancholy “In the Cold, Cold Night,” giving a calm, though predictably reserved, vocal performance. Burning up on the standout track, the raw, sex-driven “Ball and Biscuit,” fueled by a grungy guitar riff spread out for seven minutes, Jack begs, “Tell everyone in the place to just get out,/ we’ll get clean together and I’ll find me a soapbox where I can shout it.”
The White Stripes even address the questions regarding their relationship on the playful “Well It’s True That We Love One Another,” further confusing the matter by adding guest vocalist and UK-garage rock royalty Holly Golightly to the mix. Whether they’re brother and sister or ex-husband and wife is irrelevant: the music Jack and Meg make together does all the talking. A quote in the album’s credits from K. Johnson clearly explains the White Stripes; their musical integrity remains even as all the hype and rumors fade: “You don’t need anybody ... how strange it is that we cannot do without you.”
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