White Stripes - 'Blue Orchid'

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Oh, hello.

http://s22.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0V168FXUTDONM2MMU5K3EPLU1R

― Ron Atkinson, Friday, 15 April 2005 17:56 (twenty years ago)

uh... what? sounds like ths Scissor Sisters. Surprised at the processing, sounds totally digital. strange. not a bad tune tho.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 15 April 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

Holy shit! DISCO STRIPES.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

This is either my favorite or my least favorite song they've ever done.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

What fucking weird guitar tone. JACK WHITE BE LISTENING TO BUCKETHEAD OR S'UM.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

Wtf?!!

I like it though.

― Roz, Friday, 15 April 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

What is this? A new single?

― Good Dog (Good Dog), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

I'm kinda suspicious that it's even them...? None of their trademarks are present - even the vocal isn't readily identifiable.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 15 April 2005 18:12 (twenty years ago)

I'm pretty sure that's Jack.

But the guitar sound is very odd and there are those "whoooosh" sounds that come in now and again. It does sound very digital.

― Roz, Friday, 15 April 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

He must have really dug the vocals he did for "Danger! High Voltage!"

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

Emotional Rescue!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

sonically its very much of a piece w/the last RTX stuff. The digital editing/processing is super-overt. Which is strange for someone like Jack who has, (up to this point anyway?), been a very devout analog fetishist.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 15 April 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

says here that it is the new single. i like it.

― william (william), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

Maybe he got it all out of his system with the Loretta Lynn album & the Cold Mountain sndtrk. stuff?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:28 (twenty years ago)

well that blurb says it was *recorded* at his studio w/his analog gear, but I just can't believe there isn't some serious ProTools fuckery (specifically some heavy compression) going on there.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 15 April 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

he has gone all billy squire on us

― kephm, Friday, 15 April 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

It might just sound digital because the mp3 is so horribly compressed.

I got all excited by "disco stripes" but this sounds more like metal to me, so it's a let down.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:31 (twenty years ago)

I don't know, I'm coming down on the side of "this doesn't sound like Jack White."

And plus, the press release I got from V2 said the music was all on acoustic guitar, piano, and marimba.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

sounds like a cross between jack white and beck.

thats definitely meg though.

also surprised at the processing.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

This song is driving me nuts. Is it them? Is it not? Doesn't quite sound like Jack but the drumming is all Meg. And it sounds very digital.

On the other hand, the lyrics mentions the song title and "Get behind me!". Isn't their new album gonna be called "Get Behind Me Satan"? Ekh.

― Roz, Friday, 15 April 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

he has gone all billy squire on us

This is no bad thing.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 15 April 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

its them, it just sucks.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 15 April 2005 19:05 (twenty years ago)

it's them. it's got the album title in the lyrics.

― shu up, Friday, 15 April 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

holy shit! this is just awesome.
i kinda hated "elephant" but this is much, much better.

― Aerodynamic (Aerodynamic), Friday, 15 April 2005 19:34 (twenty years ago)

sounds kinda like Lightning Bolt circa "13 monsters." Growing on me, refuse to believe its the single.

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 15 April 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

at least not the final mix of it

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 15 April 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

from billboard:

"First single and album opener "Blue Orchid" got things off to a hard rocking start, with vocalist/guitarist Jack White climbing to a near falsetto and unleashing an AC/DC-worthy riff atop drummer Meg White's primal pounding."

― shut up, Friday, 15 April 2005 19:38 (twenty years ago)

jiminy cricket

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 15 April 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

wow, what a let-down. i'm all for metal stripes or disco stripes, but that was just a crappy boring throw-away riff. and i like boring throw-away riffs!

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 15 April 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

Dude, the Rolling Stones made disco records, why wouldn't these two?

The Stripes are just getting over their Exile phase, skipping Goat's Head Soup and moving right on to Some Girls.

Next stop, Dirty Work!

― Christopher R. Weingarten (whineyg), Friday, 15 April 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

drummer Meg White's primal pounding

uh, no, it sounds primal b/c she is barely on this side of sucking.

I think the song is, well, sorta good....i guess....but yea that is a kinda boring riff.

I'm intrigued to see how Jack's voice comes off on the other songs...I'm digging the falsetto....I think....

― PB, Friday, 15 April 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

i'm all for metal stripes or disco stripes

Call me curious, how were they not metal to begin with?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 15 April 2005 20:05 (twenty years ago)

the white parts. the black & red was metal.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 15 April 2005 20:06 (twenty years ago)

Ah right.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 15 April 2005 20:25 (twenty years ago)

You know, this song almost kinda sounds like Billy Corgan making fun of the White Stripes.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Friday, 15 April 2005 20:25 (twenty years ago)

RIYL: Death From Above 1979

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 15 April 2005 20:29 (twenty years ago)

atop drummer Meg White's primal pounding

there's a dirty joke in there somewhere.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 15 April 2005 20:35 (twenty years ago)

I kinda like it - at least they're trying something different. Their schtick was definitely wearing thin on Elephant.

― darin (darin), Friday, 15 April 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

i could probably smash everyone in this thread with my fists.

― shut up, Friday, 15 April 2005 20:50 (twenty years ago)

oooh you're so *butch*!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 15 April 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

RIYL: Death From Above 1979
-- miccio (anthonyisrigh...), April 15th, 2005.

YES.

And I don't. I really really don't.

― PB, Friday, 15 April 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

Well I wouldn't have called them metal before, but we're definitely into metal territory here. I don't like the guitar sound - or riff, but yeah I think the falsetto may be a good sign of what's to come. There's nothing disco going on here, but I rather wish there was. The drums sound great, wish there was more of them on this track.

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Friday, 15 April 2005 21:15 (twenty years ago)

haha it sounds like 'Robot Rock' except sucky.

― The Lex (The Lex), Friday, 15 April 2005 21:18 (twenty years ago)

I think we may need to start making bass players mandatory.

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 15 April 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

I think we may need to start making bass players mandatory.

hell yeah! Too bad Ronnie Lane is dead...he would have whipped those Stripes into shape!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 15 April 2005 21:31 (twenty years ago)

Just waiting for the mash-up which will mix it in with 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' by The Darkness.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Friday, 15 April 2005 21:38 (twenty years ago)

There's a better rip of this available:

http://s11.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=07EA30P012SU12XAX9ZGNAPVF

― Bill Higgins, Friday, 15 April 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

It sounds substantially different, by the way. The guitars aren't as thin and the whooshes aren't as overwhelming.

― Bill Higgins, Friday, 15 April 2005 22:32 (twenty years ago)

much better - i think it's a great track!

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 15 April 2005 22:42 (twenty years ago)

Wow. I think I'm sweating.

― erklie, Friday, 15 April 2005 22:43 (twenty years ago)

wow - this does sound way different than the other one (altho this one sounds a little distorted on the low end maybe?). stupid MP3 encoding...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 15 April 2005 22:44 (twenty years ago)

song rather sux. I believe its all analog... hope the rest of the album is better.. more excited about weezer anywho.

― The Right Reverend Aaron, Friday, 15 April 2005 23:36 (twenty years ago)

Weezer?!? hahaha *wipes tears of laughter from eyes*

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 15 April 2005 23:44 (twenty years ago)

If this song becomes a bigger hit than "Seven Nation Army", I'll eat my hat.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 15 April 2005 23:50 (twenty years ago)

SOMEone's been listening to Desolation Boulevard

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Friday, 15 April 2005 23:51 (twenty years ago)

I don't know. This isn't as catchy as what I'm used to from the White Stripes. At best, it's like that run of kinda eh hard rockers near the end of Elephant that I always skip through. Maybe it'll catch on with me, but right now this seems like their worst single by quite a distance, definitely a long way from the heights of "The Hardest Button To Button," "Seven Nation Army," "Hotel Yorba," and "Fell In Love With A Girl."

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Friday, 15 April 2005 23:52 (twenty years ago)

stoopid n' glamtastic!

― stirmonster (stirmonster), Friday, 15 April 2005 23:55 (twenty years ago)

I bet it is a hoax.

― Disco Nihilist (mjt), Saturday, 16 April 2005 00:02 (twenty years ago)

I think that's unduly harsh Matthew... I think if there's anything the song lacks its just dynamics and changes. It doesn't seem to really go anywhere, no dramatic shifts or pauses or surprises (the whooshes don't cut it)... altho I already suspect I'll be in the minority opinion, after all my favorite WS albums are De Stijl and Elephant...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Saturday, 16 April 2005 00:04 (twenty years ago)

as for the dynamics, i just looked at the waveform and the whole song is incredibly compressed with no dynamic range whatsoever. i think this is more down to whoever encoded the song and the fact that they probably maximised it to with an inch of it's life rather than how it was recorded. i'd wait and hear a better quality version than the ones uploaded here before passing final judgement.

― stirmonster (stirmonster), Saturday, 16 April 2005 00:13 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, dynamic shifts are often helpful. This song is all about the riff and the vocal melody is almost there are a formality, and I don't really like that. His best songs had a really nice singalong quality to the vocal melodies, stuff that could sound really wonderful a lot of different ways. This might come off better live, though.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Saturday, 16 April 2005 00:24 (twenty years ago)

Is it ever good when people think your first single is a "hoax"? Does that ever work out?

Anyways, don't think it's a hoax, but I like the falsetto. And whoever compared it to those rockers near the end of Elephant is right on -- catchy but not worth constant play.

― PB, Saturday, 16 April 2005 06:37 (twenty years ago)

"Is it ever good when people think your first single is a "hoax"? Does that ever work out?"
Eminem and Daft Punk to thread, please.
I rather like this; it's assaultive and fun and a COMPLETELY different direction from where I assumed they were going. I think a lot of the sour faces on this thread is from the "YUCK-I-thought-it-was-milk-but-it-was-orange-juice" effect.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Saturday, 16 April 2005 06:42 (twenty years ago)

JESUS.

This thing is awesome. JW once again slaying all perpetrators. Once again, He gets it. Of course, it's just a little 2:30 throwaway thingy. that's just the way JW works. The whole album will be awesome. Obviously. Very, very excited.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Saturday, 16 April 2005 06:48 (twenty years ago)

First twenty seconds I was thinking hoax, but that's the voice and those are definitely the drums.

On any level of "taste" it's fucking awful, but I can't help nodding along...

P.S: Why only 1:26 here?

P.P.S: If this were an unsigned band, would an A&R guy bother to listen to the demo past about six seconds?

P.P.P.S: Very, Very DFA1979 - but the riff's just not up to their standards

― D.G. Jones, Saturday, 16 April 2005 12:51 (twenty years ago)

If this were the new Darkness single and it was produced by Mutt Lange I'd probably like it better.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Saturday, 16 April 2005 12:58 (twenty years ago)

I'd have been up for "disco Stripes". This is just sub-par Stripes.

― Simon H. (Simon H.), Saturday, 16 April 2005 13:13 (twenty years ago)

at least it doesn't sound so much like Zeppelin. (ahem "Ball and Biscuit" ahem)

― Dave M. (rotten03), Saturday, 16 April 2005 13:29 (twenty years ago)

Meg's cymbals=chorus thing really annoys me now. Lou Reed made Moe Tucker lay off that shit because it gets in the guitars' way and the VU had it right. Listened to "Hotel Yorba" the other day and it would be better if she didn't add that crashclatter.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 16 April 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

I'm picking up traces of backlash in the air! The knives, er, pitchforks, are out!

First, they came for Tortoise, and I did not speak out...

― erklie, Saturday, 16 April 2005 16:32 (twenty years ago)

Meg's cymbals=chorus thing really annoys me now

It's cool that she doesn't play the all the time, like most drummers, though! Which makes them stand more of course.

I guess even more restraint could be cool, like if she just added in the hi-hat for the chorus.

― Jordan (Jordan), Saturday, 16 April 2005 16:43 (twenty years ago)

This is very good.

― Masked Gazza, Saturday, 16 April 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

Hey! The Datsuns are back!

― Tyrone Willie Demetrius DeAndre DeShawn (deangulberry), Saturday, 16 April 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

This is fun stuff. Sounds great.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 16 April 2005 17:16 (twenty years ago)

Correction - REALLY GREAT - very danceable too (in a rock way of course, I expect to hear it at hipster nights within the week).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 16 April 2005 17:21 (twenty years ago)

I like it.. But I cant tell if I like it solely on the basis that its not a retread of something older, like half the songs on elephant.

― Actor Sizemore fails drug test with fake penis (jingleberries), Saturday, 16 April 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

uhuh, i thought of the datsuns too.

― jed_ (jed), Saturday, 16 April 2005 20:04 (twenty years ago)

I could see this as an album track. It is pretty dull and the riff doesn't grab you and rip out your skull like "Seven Nation Army" or whatever, but it's not offensive, just kind of there.

Also, i never quite got why people give Meg such a hard time. I think she's one of the best rock drummers out there, it's all about the backbeat. If I want to hear fills, I'll listen to Neal Peart.

― Adam Bruneau (oliver8bit), Saturday, 16 April 2005 20:53 (twenty years ago)

Peart = Pert, or however you spell it

― Adam Bruneau (oliver8bit), Saturday, 16 April 2005 20:54 (twenty years ago)

i think this song is great. cool riff, catchy vocals, solid drumming. love the guitar tone, too. i assume it's some sort of an octave pedal giving it all that squelchiness. (if that's not a word, it is now)

― 6335, Sunday, 17 April 2005 05:28 (twenty years ago)

it's like an above-average track by the Darkness (ie bad but not ear-bleeding)

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 17 April 2005 05:55 (twenty years ago)

It totally sounds like Jack/Meg...different style, but it's got their hands all over it. I dig it.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 17 April 2005 07:29 (twenty years ago)

not heard this as i cant DL it but maybe this is the WS trying to get a big commercial pop/rock hit. i mean, theyre still not as big in the US as maybe theyd like to be, so maybe this is their stab at trying to achieve it.

― ppp, Sunday, 17 April 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

theyre still not as big in the US as maybe theyd like to be

?!? A number one album, huge sellout tours, immediate mainstream name recognition -- what more could a band want in comparison to the thousands who have never gotten anywhere near that level?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 17 April 2005 12:43 (twenty years ago)

dude if jack white look-a-like Michael Jackson could break into "Unsatisfied" after Thriller...

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 17 April 2005 13:34 (twenty years ago)

If I want to hear fills, I'll listen to Neal Peart.

haha we're not giving her shit for giving too LITTLE here! Read upthread!

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 17 April 2005 13:36 (twenty years ago)

The vocal melody is forgettable. Will see it if grows on me.

― Matt Boch (Matt Boch), Sunday, 17 April 2005 21:11 (twenty years ago)

not heard this as i cant DL it but maybe this is the WS trying to get a big commercial pop/rock hit.

The band got numerous requests to use "Fell in Love with a Girl" in ads, and "Seven Nation Army" got a ton of radio play. And Elephant was about as big of a hit album as any good rock band can expect these days.

― PB, Sunday, 17 April 2005 21:29 (twenty years ago)

well i know theyre big already, but maybe they want to be enormous. i mean, this is a big dumb rock riff that jack could probably riff out in his sleep, it really IS like the datsuns! and its just more commercial sounding - the production is a lot more modern and clean than before too - than what theyve done before. i cant help thinking this is the WS trying to get as many people as humanly possible on board. the vocals are great though.

― ppp, Monday, 18 April 2005 08:30 (twenty years ago)

Um. It isn't bad at all, but it just isn't very memorable.. surely not a great 1st single. I've listented to it like 30 times and it has yet to stick with me.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Monday, 18 April 2005 08:31 (twenty years ago)

yeah, i like it, have heard it over and over, but it just seems pretty insubstantial. its a better 'song' than 7NA though, it has a better song structure.

― ppp, Monday, 18 April 2005 08:41 (twenty years ago)

This is great, giving me chills.

Anthony, you're totally wrong about the crashes in the chorus of "Hotel Yorba"--it produces a nice dynamic shift without turning on distortion or adding any extra elements. I also really like counting accented by percussion.

― Eppy (Eppy), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:52 (twenty years ago)

This is insubstantial, and more than a little boring. It certainly doesn't sound like one of the greatest rock bands in the world, or whatever they're often called.

― paulhw (paulhw), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:27 (twenty years ago)

i second that paulhw. totally forgettable.

― breezy, Monday, 18 April 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

I liked it when I heard it, but I can't remember what it sounds like now. Very DFA 1979, I thought. It doesn't stick like "Seven Nation Army" or a couple other singles of theirs..

― daria g (daria g), Monday, 18 April 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

Im a pretty big fan of the Stripes but this song friggin blows! It is definitely insubstantial as well as very much like DFA 1979 which cant be a step in the right direction. Anyways The Stripes couldn't even beat Good Charlotte to this falsetto dance bullshit, not to say this song is worse but Jack needs to try and appropriate a different "vintage" sound into his music that isn't so damn trendy to avoid a critical lynching. This song is horrible.

― jmeister (jmeister), Monday, 18 April 2005 19:03 (twenty years ago)

Actually the sound might help him out as far as critical accliam goes especially with the mags that love him already. I don't think he cares though.

― jmeister (jmeister), Monday, 18 April 2005 19:04 (twenty years ago)

This song sounds SO MUCH like Eagles of Death Metal. (I like it, BTW - I have that "You got a reaction DID-N'T YOU?!" part stuck in my head)

― Waking Up Onstage at Jumbo's (Bent Over at the Arclight), Monday, 18 April 2005 23:47 (twenty years ago)

Man, I love the Whites Stripes are my favorite band that are still together right now. I think this is a great comeback and it takes a little getting used to but I like it. Man, this single is friggin awesome.

― Justin Smith, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 00:39 (twenty years ago)

I don't blame them for going for a more commercial sound (at least from a business standpoint). They've probably had every music biz brown nose tell them that if they just cleaned up the production and went more radio-friendly that their next album could make the kind of commercial leap Nevermind made.

I honestly think one of these groups is gonna do something that for better or worse will make that kind of commercial leap. That song wasn't Smell's Like Teen Spirit though.

― Cunga (Cunga), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 07:24 (twenty years ago)

I can't fathom how this song is more commercial than "Seven Nation Army."

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 12:55 (twenty years ago)

I mean following White Blood Cells and the hype that song was like SLAAAAAAAAM DUNK.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 12:56 (twenty years ago)

Is there any good reason why this song fades out awkwardly at the end, even on the version from iTunes?

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 16:35 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

The video is out. You can download it here.

I'm still not sold on the song (I wish it was easier to tell what he was saying and bass is not a sin), but the video is great. Johnny Depp fans will cream.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:45 (twenty years ago)

It's great isn't it.
The wooshes could be analogue taper manipulation (cf dub) and the wierd guitar sound is probably some combination of overdubs and an ocatve pedal/effect.

― mei (mei), Friday, 3 June 2005 08:22 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

can someone repost this please

― John Smithy, Thursday, 4 August 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

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