Get Behind Me Satan

Surprised to see this one before Elephant. It started strong, but got weak in the back half. I appreciate them branching out but meh. 3*.
Highlights: blue orchid (goes hard for an opener), my doorbell, the denial twist (similar groove to my doorbell)

It's not that its bad, just that it's nothing. They had the crazy idea to make stripped back blues based rock music with some fuzzy distorted guitars and emphasis on big riffs, for some reason this is very exciting to a large number of people and they're treated as important artists. They'd be a fun local band to see live doing throw-back rock, but 7 Nation Army catching on as a stadium rock anthem elevated them way out of their league. I guess being one of the last big bands standing holding a guitar and being very deferential towards rock tradition has meant they're carrying the torch for rock dudes. But they're scrapping the bottom of that barrel and coming up with pretty minimal ideas.

Having heard more now from other acts ascending in Detroit around this time, White Stripes even more solidified as an oasis in the desert of mid-aughts pop culture

Fuck it. This is my favorite White Stripes album precisely because it doesn't sound like White Blood Cells or Elephant. I just prefer this sound, songs that aren't non-stop guitar-jamming drum-slamming.

I assume there are other white stripes albums on this list? This seems like one of their less essential ones? Still decent though I guess

Blue Orchid is good, but the next few songs sound like filler dross that could have been on their last album. Then it picks up and becomes a pretty catchy blues-infused rock album. It's better than White Blood Cells, and it has some genuinely good songs. Yet again, I wish I could rate in half stars, but I think This one deserves a 3.

This is like channel surfing inside Jack White's brain.

Some familiar bangers as well as some good songs I hadn't heard before. Occasionally devolves into just noise which is not my favorite, but overall a strong album that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I miss some bass.

There's a reason the only hit from the album was the Denial Twist. It's not a bad album, but that's a transcendent song, and the rest is pedestrian. Still enough to elevate to another listen.