Today’s album is White Blood Cells by The White Stripes
I love The White Stripes, I always have since I first heard them. The noises that these guys make with basically just a drum kit and a guitar is quite staggering. Meg’s very simple but effective drumming plus Jack’s outstanding guitar skills and unique vocal style deliver the songs with amazing skill and panache.
I could have chosen any of their albums for this article, but I chose this one simply because it’s my favourite!
The opening bars of the opening track ‘Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground’ are Jack White’s guitar playing in a nutshell – a hooky, melodic riff, played on a (possibly out of tune) cheapo guitar , fully fuzzed-up. There’s straight-up Jimmy Page- style rock riffing, down n dirty delta blues and more on this album. Great stuff.
The quality of the playing, recording and production on this record give it a very ‘live’ feel, you really feel you are in the room with the band.
Highlights of the album include ‘Fell In Love With A Girl’ (later covered by Joss Stone), ‘The Union Forever’, ‘I Think I Smell A Rat’, and the kooky ‘Hotel Yorba’ and ‘We’re Going To Be Friends’.
A stonking good album. No messing about – straight-up rock and roll. Great fun from start to finish.
Standout track: Fell In Love With A Girl
Other ‘W’s who didn’t quite make it: The Who
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