Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 26 posts ] 

Board index : Music Talk : Rock/Pop

Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Year In Review (13): White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 3:25 am 
Offline
Worldwide Phenomenon
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 2:49 pm
Posts: 3003
Location: ilXor.com
Average Metacritic score 80 (38 reviews):

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/alb ... d/7371297/

Image

White Stripes
Get Behind Me Satan (V2)
US Release date: June 7, 2005
Score: 4 1/2 Stars (90 for metacritic)

Bad news for satan: Jack White's mama said knock you out. Get Behind Me Satan is a Biblical reference, plus a possible invitation to back-door action with the Prince of Darkness. But the music is so wild, it could make you weep over how pitilessly the Stripes keep crushing the other bands out there. Having clocked all rivals, the Stripes have to settle for topping their 2003 masterpiece, Elephant, the way Elephant topped White Blood Cells. If you happen to be a rock band, and you don't happen to be either of the White Stripes, it so sucks to be you right now.

The Stripes twist a variety of American music styles to their own emotional purpose, figuring out new ways to howl about their romantic torments. For Jack, this means seething, stripped-down ballads full of piano and marimba. For Meg White, it mostly means beating the crap out of her cymbals. They stretch out in heavy guitar stomps ("Instinct Blues," "Red Rain"), bluegrass ("Little Ghost") and falsetto disco that resembles Foreigner ("Blue Orchid"). "Forever for Her (Is Over for Me)" builds a fabulously seductive groove out of the simplest elements -- acoustic guitar, marimba, an egg-shaker -- as Jack begs, "Let's do it/Let's just get on a plane and do it."

Is he singing to Meg? To Renee Zellweger? You might not want to find out, given the demented "As Ugly as I Seem," where Jack broods over Buffalo Springfield-style folkie guitar and a melodic nod to Bob Dylan's "I Believe in You." Meg sings the brief yet chilling ditty "Passive Manipulation." For the grand finale, "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)," Jack sits down at the piano, heists one of the oldest country melodies in the book, wails about missing his mama and mulls over his romantic options: "She's homely and she's cranky and her hair's in a net/I'm lonely, but I ain't that lonely yet."

Jack sings about 1940s film goddess Rita Hayworth in two of his sultriest songs, "Take, Take, Take" and "White Moon." She makes a perfect love idol for him, since he's an avowed fan of Orson Welles, who was married to Hayworth long enough to direct her in the 1947 film-noir nightmare The Lady From Shanghai, one of the creepiest movies about marriage ever made. Get Behind Me Satan could be a rock & roll remake, starring Jack and Meg as the doomed lovers. Satan, you got served.

ROB SHEFFIELD

(Posted: Jun, 16 2005)

Edit in Metacritic info


Last edited by Bee OK on Wed Dec 14, 2005 4:15 am, edited 2 times in total.

Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 3:27 am 
Offline
frostingspoon
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:48 pm
Posts: 10749
Location: getting some kicks at the mall
i still haven't heard any of this, other then stuff in ads and when they were on the Daily show last week.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 3:31 am 
Offline
Go Platinum
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm
Posts: 9020
Joseph P. Crack Wrote:
i still haven't heard any of this, other then stuff in ads and when they were on the Daily show last week.


You've got me bet then. I haven't heard any of it.


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 3:34 am 
Offline
frostingspoon
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:48 pm
Posts: 10749
Location: getting some kicks at the mall
i HAVE heard that Loretta Lynn disc, which should count for something.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 3:47 am 
Offline
Worldwide Phenomenon
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 2:49 pm
Posts: 3003
Location: ilXor.com
I love the White Stripes, just about the best band that we have right now. This album was a bit of a departure from their traditional sound. I played this album over and over again when I bought it the first week of release but haven’t revisited much since. When I did play it because of my little ‘Year In Review’ thing, it didn’t hold my attention like the last three amazing albums have. I see it coming in at around 30 for 2005.

Metacritic is still down and is driving me crazy but Acclaimed is saying that it, right now, is number 8.

_________________
Image


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 3:48 am 
Offline
frostingspoon

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:07 pm
Posts: 12618
It is ok - there are a few good songs and I like it when I play it but doesn't have a lot of staying power - as you mention.

_________________
dumpjack: "I haven't liked anything he's done so far, but I'll still listen."


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:16 am 
Offline
TEH MACHINE
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 3:28 pm
Posts: 16684
Location: Jiggin' for Yanks
I've played this album about a thousand times this year and don't seem to get tired of it. I think it's my number 2 (or 3) overall for 2005. Love, love, love this album.

_________________
All I can say is, go on and bleed.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:22 am 
Offline
frostingspoon
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 8:50 pm
Posts: 15260
Location: Raised on bread and bologna.
One of my Shuffle Bands, as Bloor calls it.

_________________
A poet and philosopher, Mr. Marcus is married and is a proud parent.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:23 am 
Offline
frostingspoon
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:59 pm
Posts: 10777
Location: Sutton, Greater London
Top 5 contender. Better than Elephant. Not quite up there with White Blood Cells.


Back to top
 Profile WWWYIM 
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:23 am 
Offline
Still Big in Japan
User avatar

Joined: Wed Nov 24, 2004 2:04 pm
Posts: 3824
Location: Indie-anapolis
As a whole, I like this album. The White Stripes for me tend to be more of a "singles" band, though and I don't think the individual songs on Get Behind Me Satan are nearly as strong as White Blood Cells or Elephant. I like that the White Stripes did something a little different this time without drastically changing their sound.

_________________
[url=http://www.last.fm/user/andyfest/?chartstyle=basicrt10] [img]http://imagegen.last.fm/basicrt10/recenttracks/andyfest.gif[/img] [/url]


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:25 am 
Offline
Self-Released 7-Inch
User avatar

Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 1:43 am
Posts: 1208
Location: Brookfield, WI
Sketchristmas Wrote:
Top 5 contender. Better than Elephant. Not quite up there with White Blood Cells.


Once again, Colin scares me... especially since I watched "Dead Ringers" last night.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:37 am 
Offline
frostingspoon
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:24 am
Posts: 17359
Location: cogthrobber
The Denial Twist is great.


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:18 pm 
Offline
Winona Ryder wears my t-shirt on TV
User avatar

Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2004 8:30 pm
Posts: 2563
Location: Place where it is to be
DumpJack Wrote:
I've played this album about a thousand times this year and don't seem to get tired of it. I think it's my number 2 (or 3) overall for 2005. Love, love, love this album.

I like it a hell of a lot, too. While I've found most of their music interesting, at least, none of it really grabbed me like Satan does, and I attribute that to this one having a lot of different textures and sounds on it than any of their others. And Meg doesn't play horrendously on this one, either, something that friggin' drives me up the wall on their other stuff. Seriously, what is wrong with this girl's sense of time? I understand wanting a minimal sound and all, but a good drummer can play minimal and still keep time without all the painful hesitation and clunky execution that Meg exhibits. I'd love to see Jack in a band with good musicians - the boy's got some chops and he deserves a better framework around which to hang them.

_________________
People in a parade are cocky, you know. They think that they attracted an audience but really it's just people waiting to cross the street. I could attract a crowd if I stood in everybody's way.

--Mitch Hedberg


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:26 pm 
Offline
Go Platinum
User avatar

Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 4:32 pm
Posts: 8283
Location: viewing the fall....
This album was a disappointment to me. After the Loretta Lynn work, I was really looking forward to this. Like others have said, it has a few good songs but absolutely no staying power.

_________________
because you're empty, and I'm empty

Cotton Wrote:
I'd probably just drink myself to death. More so, I mean.


"Hey Judas. I know you've made a grave mistake.
Hey Peter. You've been pretty sweet since Easter break."


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:32 pm 
Offline
frostingspoon

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:07 pm
Posts: 12618
i wish meg would stop singing. common complaint, but still.

_________________
dumpjack: "I haven't liked anything he's done so far, but I'll still listen."


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:45 pm 
Offline
Go Platinum

Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:04 pm
Posts: 9783
Location: NOLA
I like it but I have a hard time listening to the entire album at once. Some really good songs on it. It seems they have peaked with WBC or at least with me.

_________________
I tried to find somebody of that sort that I could like that nobody else did - because everybody would adopt his group, and his group would be _it_; someone weird like Captain Beefheart. It's no different now - people trying to outdo ! each other in extremes. There are people who like X, and there are people who say X are wimps; they like Black Flag.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:04 pm 
Offline
Go Platinum
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:51 am
Posts: 6327
At the risk of sounding like an indie wanker their first two albums are by far the best.

Since then they have settled into a 'pretty good but hardly spectacular' album band. They have consistantly hit my Top 15 any year they have released an LP without getting close to a Top 5 place. Basically Steady Eddies.

I still reckon unless you see them live you haven't really see the 'real' White Stripes.

_________________
He has arrived, the mountebank from Bohemia, he has arrived, preceded by his reputation.
Evil Dr. K "The Jimmy McNulty of Payment Protection Insurance"


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:16 pm 
Offline
Whiskey Tango
User avatar

Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 9:08 pm
Posts: 21753
Location: REDLANDS
I need to give this fucker some more spins, just as a common courtesy.

Dunno, I have something personal against the White Stripes that I cant really explain.

_________________
"To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss."


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:18 pm 
Offline
A True Aristocrat of Freedom

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:46 am
Posts: 22121
Location: a worn-out debauchee and drivelling sot
Yail Bloor Wrote:
I need to give this fucker some more spins, just as a common courtesy.

Dunno, I have something personal against the White Stripes that I cant really explain.


Yes, yes you do.

I like their pop-y sounding stuff (Hotel Yerba) so "Doorbell" rules, but I can't really listen to this whole disc. I should pull it back out and see how it sounds in the truckster.

_________________
Throughout his life, from childhood until death, he was beset by severe swings of mood. His depressions frequently encouraged, and were exacerbated by, his various vices. His character mixed a superficial Enlightenment sensibility for reason and taste with a genuine and somewhat Romantic love of the sublime and a propensity for occasionally puerile whimsy.
harry Wrote:
I understand that you, of all people, know this crisis and, in your own way, are working to address it. You, the madras-pantsed julip-sipping Southern cracker and me, the oldman hippie California fruit cake are brothers in the struggle to save our country.

FT Wrote:
LooGAR (the straw that stirs the drink)


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:19 pm 
Offline
Post-Breakup Solo Project
User avatar

Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:22 pm
Posts: 3376
Location: Charlotte, NC
Yail Bloor Wrote:
I need to give this fucker some more spins, just as a common courtesy.

Dunno, I have something personal against the White Stripes that I cant really explain.


Have always felt the same way but this disc has started to make me come around a bit.


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 2:38 pm 
Offline
frostingspoon
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:31 pm
Posts: 12368
Location: last place I looked
Joseph P. Crack Wrote:
i still haven't heard any of this, other then stuff in ads and when they were on the Daily show last week.


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 2:47 pm 
Offline
Go Platinum
User avatar

Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 6:11 pm
Posts: 8881
Location: *3
Yail Bloor Wrote:
I need to give this fucker some more spins, just as a common courtesy.

Dunno, I have something personal against the White Stripes that I cant really explain.


i heard their first cd when it first came out & liked it but it didn't strike me as anything special. constantly (whenever i listen to them) giving them another shot.

_________________
@--


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 2:48 pm 
Offline
frostingspoon

Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:36 pm
Posts: 10198
Whofa King cares Wrote:
DumpJack Wrote:
I've played this album about a thousand times this year and don't seem to get tired of it. I think it's my number 2 (or 3) overall for 2005. Love, love, love this album.

I like it a hell of a lot, too. While I've found most of their music interesting, at least, none of it really grabbed me like Satan does, and I attribute that to this one having a lot of different textures and sounds on it than any of their others. And Meg doesn't play horrendously on this one, either, something that friggin' drives me up the wall on their other stuff. Seriously, what is wrong with this girl's sense of time? I understand wanting a minimal sound and all, but a good drummer can play minimal and still keep time without all the painful hesitation and clunky execution that Meg exhibits. I'd love to see Jack in a band with good musicians - the boy's got some chops and he deserves a better framework around which to hang them.


i think meg would be better if they had a bass player and if JACK could keep time, because he can't either.

_________________
http://www.cdbaby.com/fishstick2


Back to top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 2:50 pm 
Offline
frostingspoon
User avatar

Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:24 am
Posts: 17359
Location: cogthrobber
Personally I like Meg's painful hestitation and clunky execution. What she does with her incompetence is often more passionate than many technically proficient drummers.


Back to top
 Profile WWW 
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 2:53 pm 
Offline
frostingspoon

Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:36 pm
Posts: 10198
if i really loved their music i could get past it, but since i don't . . . i can't get past the fact that Jack is such a douche bag. Or at least wants to present himself that way in interviews and such.

_________________
http://www.cdbaby.com/fishstick2


Back to top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 26 posts ] 

Board index : Music Talk : Rock/Pop

Go to page 1, 2  Next

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 16 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Style by Midnight Phoenix & N.Design Studio
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group.