Icky Thump

Description

While revealing the band’s roots in American folk music, theWhite Stripes’final albumIcky Thump(2007) is an explosive, revolutionary assault that brings together garage rock, every blues style of the past 100 years, nouveau, flamenco,Jack White’sfastest guitar solo ever recorded, hard country, speed metal, a slide-guitar epic, surf music, spoken word and even bagpipes. Truly a modern rock and roll masterpiece, the eclectic feel of 2005’sGet Behind Me Satanremains, but is less obvious; interestingly, out of all the band’s previous work,Icky Thump’sbrash and confessional songs most closely resemble the group’s underground effortDe Stijl.

The acoustic blues and carefully crafted wordplay of “300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues” harken back to “Sister, Do You Know My Name.” Meanwhile, “Rag & Bone” is a cute, ragamuffin cousin of “Let’s Build a Home” and casts Jack and Meg as enterprising garbage-pickers; the sly grin in Jack’s voice is palpable. And, whileGet Behind Me Satanwas heavy on pianos,Icky Thumpis just plain heavy, dominated by primal, stomping rock that feels like it’s been caged for a very long time. Jack’s guitars are back in a big way here as well.

Once again, theWhite Stripesdefied expectations, and their return to rock wasn’t necessarily a return to the kind of rock they mastered onElephant.

1. Icky Thump
2. You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told)
3. 300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues
4. Conquest
5. Bone Broke
6. Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn
7. St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)
8. Little Cream Soda
9. Rag & Bone
10. I’m Slowly Turning Into You
11. A Martyr For My Love For You
12. Catch Hell Blues
13. Effect & Cause