The White Stripes - White Blood Cells

Before Elephant....

there is White Blood Cells. Some of their best stuff is on the CD and is kind of the appetizer for Elephant. Every song seems like a story you can understand and the music seems to go with the words. Some of the best tracks are Offend in Every Way, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground and I Think I Smell A Rat. July 8, 2008

White Stripes

Some songs are good. With this band, you either like their style or you don't. Not much in between. April 10, 2008

A bit long? Maybe, but they beat their way out of "the" band clique. 3 1/2 stars

In a sea of ever evolving (and at the time of this albums release an increasing release of albums) "the" bands, it has been hard to try and find an album by an artist that was worth the time of day, holding onto the nuevo-garage band sound that makes up traditional rock and roll in an industry that has been plauged by corporate rnb, britney spears, the backstreet boys and hip hop with no credibility (crunk sound comes to mind). So far the crusade is a failure: while it's certainly been fun to have around, a garage rock revival hardly seems the way to revive an often stiflingly traditionalist genre.

That's not to say it isn't good music, of course. It's just hard to understand when "RAWK" became such a commodity that having it made one impervious to critical analysis, and VERY sudden interest in corporate america only added to the flames (maybe it was a pre-emo thing?). These bands (the Strokes, the Hives, the Vines, the Modey Lemon, etc.) are almost exclusively mundane in both form and skill. Thus they have left little to the imagination.

Which makes the White Stripes the best of this revival-era. Their forms are all traditional, and terms of style, they're seemingly much more varied than any of the competing brand bands.

White Blood Cells actually gets better when you listen to it over and over. The first time through, it's hard to see past "Fell in Love With a Girl". The most directly garage-rock moment on the album, it's also an early candidate for the single where the big budget video comes from. I may not have ever gotten around to the rest of the album were it not for "Little Room", a quirky, jazzy little number that prophetically rationalizes major-label jumping.

But the rest of the album deserves the attention: "Hotel Yorba" and "I'm Finding it Harder to Be a Gentleman" are almost as immediate, and "The Union Forever" and "The Same Boy You've Always Known" surprise with their subtlety and almost pure genius that is Jack and Meg. And things are tied together with a hidden sexual tension that might resonate between jack and meg, but thats not for me to comment.

Things aren't perfect, of course. The damn thing's too long, with it's 16 tracks, I couldnt but think there was an easy cut of a few tracks, shorter album maybe, but more effective with the overall picture. It gets to that point where you'd rather be listening to almost any other band to get past those moments where its dribble.

A classic white stripes album. Not their best, but certainly awesome in its own magnitude nevertheless.
February 20, 2008

AN ELEPHANT A LITTLE LOW ON IRON

White Stripes' early attempt with White Blood Cells is a decent release that undermines their potential, which would come to surface in the followup, Elephant. At best, White Blood Cells highlights the work of a band trying to recreate a sound already put out by Foo Fighters, only to somewhat miss being in their element.

A serious effort to produce a masterpiece just did not seem to be there. The songs, individually, sounded good, especially with Jack White's energetic vocals. Compared with Elephant, however, White Blood Cells reflects a mere garage band type project. The instrumentation was there, but artistic direction seemed lacking. The creative humor and gothic pensiveness did not consistently blend together.

Don't get me wrong. This is a good CD, but I don't think that it will stick with very many for five years after the first listen. Elephant, on the other hand, has that magnetic appeal to it.

But hey! If White Blood Cells is what it took to lay the groundwork for outstanding future releases along the lines of another Elephant, then great!!
December 19, 2007

White Blood Cells

What more can I say- Meg & Jack rock! I love the eclectic sound and the dramatic sound they created. One of my top 10 CDs. October 7, 2007

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