“Blue Orchid”
from the album Get Behind Me Satan
2005
[iTunes]
When publicists for The White Stripes circulated a carefully drafted press release stating that the band’s new record, Get Behind Me Satan, was written entirely on “piano, marimba and acoustic guitar,” fans (and journalists) had to wonder, “Was this the same primal-blues duo we’ve grown to love? The same candy-cane characters who busted out jams like ‘Seven Nation Army’ and ‘Fell in Love With a Girl’ ?”
Had the White Stripes gone — dare we say it — soft? Not in the least.
Because when Get Behind Me Satan made its world premiere last week at New York’s splashy Splashlight Studios — before an assembled crowd of around 100 rock journos — one thing became clear: Satan is not only the hardest, sleaziest, gutpunchingest album the Stripes have ever made, it’s also the prettiest, subtlest and most confounding thing they’ve ever done.
The lead track (and first single), “Blue Orchid,” charges in with such a loud blast of amplified guitar, you’d swear this was the new Electric Six disc. Jack White’s falsetto has never been higher, his guitar never more reminiscent of Led Zeppelin. And as the tune sped along to its conclusion, many in the room were left wondering what happened to those new, soft Stripes they’d been reading so much about.
~ James Montgomery, MTV.com
 The White Stripes |