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Rating: The nagging doubt? Obviously that one, meaning whether "Get Behind Me Satan" was just a (happy) interlude or not. And the answer came back strong: yes, it was.
The "white stripes" return after a two-year absence from the music scene; meanwhile, Jack White's new, excellent project with Brendan Benson under the name The Raconteurs came about. A "fling" that allowed Mr. White to get back to his favorite object, after the unusual piano indulgence of "Get Behind...": his majesty the guitar.
An experience, therefore, that most likely influenced the making of the new full-length album from the Detroit duo, named "Icky Thump" and recorded in Nashville. The new album is clearly influenced by hard rock and seventies rock sounds, even though the main threads confirm the band's excellent taste in mixing a rather raw garage rock with more or less evident blues elements. The album is aptly described by Jack White as one of the hardest things the Stripes have ever produced; a sort of return to basics, at least in sonic aggression.
The title track, placed at the beginning of the work, flaunts an obviously Zeppelin-like riff, interrupted here and there by sudden prog-style solos; a single far from radio-friendly. Even though the focus then shifts to "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)", very seventies, but more centered on a straightforward pop 'n roll. "300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues" is Dylan-esque from the title, while pieces like "Bone Broke", "Little Cream Soda", and "Rag And Bone" navigate the classic garage-blues territories of the group.
The more peculiar things are especially found in the chaotic interlude of "St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)" or the irreverent and quirky folk of "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn". "Conquest" (a cover of Patti Page and a new single, which will feature a handful of b-sides recorded at Beck's house) is a head-on collision between a flashy hard rock and an oblique tex-mex. "I'm Slowly Turning Into You" calls back to Deep Purple with its organ arrangement, while the guitar remains dry and acidic. Of the final trio, the splendid rock ballad "A Martyr For My Love For You" stands out.
"Icky Thump" is a great album, made even richer by new sounds, which the Detroit duo loves to incorporate into each new record. An inspired, compact, and nicely aggressive work, that will re-convince even the early fans, who fell in love with the garage twists of their beginnings.
In short, if they continue like this, that annoying "po-poroppo-po-pooo-po" will quickly fade away.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Icky Thump (04:15)
Yah-Hee,
Icky thump,
Who'da thunk?
Sittin' drunk on a wagon to Mexico.
Ahh well,
What a chump,
Well, my head got a bump,
When I hit it on the radio.
Redhead señorita,
Looking dead,
Came and said,
"Need a bed?"
En español.
I said,
"Gimme a drink of water
I'm gonna sing around the colla'
And I don't need a microphone."
Icky thump,
With a lump in my throat,
Grabbed my coat,
And I was freakin',
I was ready to go.
And I swear,
Besides the hair,
She had one white eye,
One blank stare,
Lookin' up,
Lyin' there.
On the stand,
Near her hand,
Was a candy cane,
Black rum, sugar cane,
Dry ice, something strange.
La la la la la la la,
La la la la la la la.
White Americans, what?
Nothing better to do?
Why don't you kick yourself out?
You're an immigrant, too.
Who's using who?
What should we do?
Well, you can't be a pimp
And a prostitute, too.
Icky thump,
Handcuffed to a bunk,
Robbed blind,
Looked around,
And there was nobody else.
Left alone,
I hit myself with a stone,
Went home and learned how
To clean up after myself.
04 Conquest (02:48)
Conquest.
He was out to make a conquest.
Didn't care what harm was done,
Just as long as he won
The prize.
Conquest.
She was just another conquest.
Didn't care whose heart was broke,
Love to him was a joke,
Til he looked into her eyes.
And then in the strange way things happen,
Their roles were reversed from that day.
The hunted became the huntress;
The hunter became the prey.
Conquest.
Now you know who made the conquest.
She with all her female guile
Led him helpless down the aisle.
She had finally made a conquest.
And then in the strange way things happen,
Their roles were reversed from that day.
The hunted became the huntress;
The hunter became the prey.
Conquest.
Now you know who made the conquest.
She with all her female guile
Led him helpless down the aisle.
She had finally made a conquest.
Conquest.
06 Prickly Thorn, but Sweetly Worn (03:06)
Singing li de li de li, oh oh.
Well a li de li de li, oh.
Li de li de li, oh oh.
Well a li de li de li, oh.
Well, the hills are pretty and rollin',
But the thorn is sharp and swollen.
And the man plays a beautiful whistle,
But he wears a prickly thistle.
Singing li de li de li, oh oh.
Well a li de li de li, oh.
Li de li de li, oh oh.
Well a li de li de li, oh.
The silver birches pierce through an icy fog
Which covers the ground most daily.
And the angels which carry St. Andrew high
Are singing a tune most gaily.
Singing li de li de li, oh oh.
Well a li de li de li, oh.
Li de li de li, oh oh.
Well a li de li de li, oh.
One sound can hold back a thousand hands
When the pipe plays a tune forlorn.
And the thistle is a prickly flower, aye,
But how it is sweetly worn.
Singing li de li de li, oh oh.
Well a li de li de li, oh.
Li de li de li, oh oh.
Well a li de li de li, oh.
Li de li de li, oh oh.
Well a li de li de li, oh.
Li de li de li, oh oh.
Well a li de li de li, oh.
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Other reviews
By azzo
Jack has returned to the guitar. And some songs on Icky Thump are among the heaviest and most distorted ever released by the Chicago duo.
I really like 'Rag and Bone,' an effective rock’n’roll riff, with Jack and Meg calling and retorting at each other, in their typical goofy manner.
