The New White Stripes album is out now!

Anyone who knows me or knows what kind of music I enjoy already knows that I think the White Stripes are one of the best American bands of all time. But now I would like to qualify that statement a bit. They are the best band currently playing today. In the world. Everyone of their albums runs the gamut musically, from country to folk to punk to classic Led Zep rock to gospel and soul. Icky Thump is no exception. And yet these songs don't feel contrived at all as if Jack is saying "ok now we do the blues and now we do the folk music". The songs seem pure as if they were written by someone with a genuine love of the music as opposed to someone hell bent on imitation. Do I mind if the riff in Icky Thump sounds a bit like Bring it On Home? Not at all, because the song that surrounds the riff is unlike anything in traditional blues or traditional blues rock. I would say the album is most similar to Zeppelin III, but even that doesn't do justice to the acoustic/electric territory covered here which also includes mariachi style horns, mandolin, bag pipes, and violin. And yet somehow it all still makes you want to bang your head. This album is much more aggressive than Get Behind Me Satan, but it still has some mellow touches too.

De Stijl is still my favorite Stripes record followed quickly by White Blood Cells, however, they have now made five (yes five!) records that are all very easy on the ears. (Their first album, while good, is a basic dose of Sabbath and Cream style blues riffs) What other BANDS in the rock and roll era have made five great records? The only other ones I can think of are the greats: The Beatles, Stones, Who, Zeppelin, U2, Radiohead, and Queen. Pink Floyd probably belongs in here too. Maybe the Police too. The Doors only released four solid records and the Grateful Dead only two exceptional studio albums. Nrivana only released three good studio records and Pearl Jam, god bless em for their live shows, have only made three really great full albums (Ten, Yield, and Pearl Jam). Please don't talk to me about Aerosmith, Journey, Foreigner, Loverboy, or Rush because I am a)not interested in bands whose goals were simply catchy sing alongs and b) not a big fan of prog rock, regardless of the musicianship. I know I may be missing a quality band or two, but my point is the White Stripes belong with the greats.

Some people have issues with the White Stripes because of their color scheme and wardrobe, the fact that Meg is not Keith Moon or John Bonham, and the fact that their music is so vast in character that they are hard to define as band. That's the point. It's about the music. Although they don't sound like Queen, I compare the bands to one another because Queen had huge hits with operatic, heavy metal, hard rock, rockabilly, and disco songs. Only talented musicians can pull that off and still retain credibility. The White Stripes pull it of on all of their records.

If you are already into the White Stripes this album will change nothing. However, if you have resisted digging in on their tunes in the past, now would be a good time to start listening. I'll post a greatest hits playlist selection soon.

Here is the link to the Best of the White Stripes mix on ITunes. You must open Itunes to make the playlist show up. For some reason tracks from Get Behind Me Satan are not available. These include Blue Orchid, The Denial Twist, and My Doorbell.

Update: The reviews are in and Icky Thump is receiving universal critical acclaim. This site tabulates all major reviews of the new album.