White Blood Cells

I love these guys but this one isn’t my favorite.

The White Stripes are striping

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

Our last White Stripes album on the list, and I’m pleased to report it’s a good one. Much like Elephant spoke for itself musically, this is just a well done set of tracks. Sometimes, that’s all you need. Jack & Meg do a great job here, especially for 16 tracks seemingly recorded in just under 4 days. A lot of the first half is generally centered around love & the stress that comes with trying to keep your head through all of its ups & downs. It gets a little less straightforward on the back half of the album, but I’m fine with the slightly more cryptic stuff. It makes for decent variety, and it all contrasts well with something as sweet as “We're Going to Be Friends”, which I’ve genuinely always thought was a Jack Johnson song. It turns out the version I heard on the Curious George soundtrack years ago was a cover. The revelation here left me a bit stunned, honestly. (I’ve never seen Napoleon Dynamite, sue me.)

So, why a 4.5 and not a flat 5? I think there’s a few tracks that feel just a bit awkward lyrically (“Expecting” felt soured with the pregnancy angle & “I Can Learn” felt a little clingy), a few tracks that felt just a bit too simple (“Little Room” & “I Think I Smell a Rat” come to mind), and “Aluminum” just feels out of place in the flow of the album. It’s a bunch of little things. That said, only one of them really bit at me like that, and the rest are all nitpicky. When this album is rolling, especially on its biggest hits & some of its country-inspired Wilco-esque deep cuts, I think it’s just as enjoyable as Elephant, and the shorter runtime helps too. Hence, a 4.5 bumped up to a 5.

Cool, fairly raw sound. Overall I liked it, though not enamored of every song.

Formulaic. Look it’s a good formula, but this album is the same song over and over again. I loved it when it first came out and still rock out when I hear it out today. But listening to song after song in album format is just too much of the same sound. This is iconic, but limited by its stripped down style. It robs it of staying power. 3.5

It is a consistent record from the band, which offers a good variety of hits and misses. It fails to have the cultural relevancy that 'Elephant' carries, and to me, the inclusion of 'De Stijl' might have been more interesting.

7/10 [SWAP]

4.5
More of a polished album than get behind.. had a few lesser tracks however

Pretty damn close to being the perfect album

I really enjoyed the style of this album. One thing I've learned from 1001 Albums is that just because you don't like one album from a band, doesn't mean you won't like another one of their albums.

If you dont like this, you are either lying or just simply dont like Rock or guitar rock. Sure, it feels a bit weaker on the back end, but so raw, bluesy, riffs for days and to me a timeless sound of youthful rock energy.

better than elephant

The white stripes were never my thing but I can't help but give them credit for making albums with songs that sound wildly different using only two instruments. There's a lot of range here given the restricted palette. Credit where it is due. I still don't quite care for it but I understand why they received some accolades and why other folks like it.

Consistently good White Stripes album. "Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground", "Fell in Love With a Girl", and "We're Going to be Friends" have always been and remain my top picks for this one.

The somewhat sloppy sound, and clearly blues inspired but extremely raw.

I was going to say that the white stripes sound like a black sabbath cover band until i realized that ive seen a black sabbath cover band live and the singer sounded exactly like Jack White.

And cmon, if you asked me when i thought this album was released, i would’ve said 1975 at the latest.

spare me please, I AM BEGGING

Couple of great songs, and a lot of meh for me

I know there's only two of them, but god I wish they'd mixed some bass into these tunes

Fun and musically interesting album.

I normally like the White Stripes, this listen didn't really click for me. Guess it was the weather, or just not the right moment. It has less stand out tracks and the one that I do remember was like a minute long.