The White Stripes- Get Behind Me Satan (WWWW)
(Third Man/V2/BMG)
For many people, “Elephant”
represented The White Stripes’ opus. With a mixture of straight-up garage rock,
blues and pop-rock sensibilities, it represented their real commercial
breakthrough. I personally found the album uneven and horribly out of focus,
but the bright spots- including the first single “Seven Nation Army”- showed a
band that truly had a lot of potential, one that could take the next step and
firmly assert themselves in an ever-increasingly fickle rock landscape.
That potential arrived in “Get
Behind Me Satan”, a much more focused and consistent performance than 2003’s
“Elephant” was. Like the Stripes’ previous works, it has a strong sense of
nostalgia, but here the Stripes merely relive the past as opposed to being
stuck in it, as witnessed by songs like “As Ugly As I Seem” and “Take Take
Take”. Then there’s the first single, “Blue Orchid”, which may not be “Seven
Nation Army” but after a few spins it becomes the grand, blues-ish single that
it was supposed to be. The best song here is “Take Take Take”, a catchy number
where the Stripes fuse Beatles-esque pop rock sensibilities in an updated
version, creating one of their most irresistible works yet.
As far as problems go, “Get
Behind Me Satan” doesn’t use Meg White’s nice voice all that much- on
“Elephant” she got to sing a whole song (“In The Cold Cold Night”), but here
all she gets is the interlude “Passive Manipulation”. Plus, fans of the
Stripes’ earlier works may think that this work is too “refined” for their
tastes, and while this is probably the band’s most accessible work yet, it’s
far from the “sell-out” that some may fear. In short, “Get Behind Me Satan” is
an excellent work, one that builds upon the potential of “Elephant” and
properly establishes the White Stripes as one of rock’s true leaders.
-DG