The White Stripes - Elephant: C/D?

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Now that it's leaked via the advance vinyl (and surely I can't be the only one who's downloaded it...right?) what do people think of it?

IMO it's an improvement over "White Blood Cells", partially because they're less stingy about sticking to stricly guitar and drums on this one - the bass, keyboard, and background vox. and other additional instrumentation are essential to many of the tracks (but mostly just because the songs are more distinctive).

Only gripe: Clearly, "Black Math" or "Girl, You Have No Faith In Medecine" should be the first single, not "Seven Nation Army".

― Simon H., Friday, 14 February 2003 00:03 (twenty-two years ago)

GODDAMN x1000

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Friday, 14 February 2003 00:13 (twenty-two years ago)

(the preceding remark re this album was a statement of astonished awe, fyi)

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Friday, 14 February 2003 00:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I love it. Very strong songs and it sounds great; I liked the organ too. The last track is a hoot!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 February 2003 00:35 (twenty-two years ago)

The last track is my favorite on the whole record. The rest? Ehhh...i like the addition of organ and bass on some tracks, though.

― paul cox (paul cox), Friday, 14 February 2003 00:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I've only heard the "There's No Room For You Here" song, but that definitely got me salivating for the proper release.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 14 February 2003 01:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Just waiting for the MTV Unplugged appearance. Oh it's true.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 February 2003 02:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Was this recorded by Billy Childish in England or something? It sounds very much like a Headcoats album. It's really, really good.

― Kris (aqueduct), Friday, 14 February 2003 03:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Close, Kris! It was recorded at Toerag Studios, which is actually why I'm very interested in it. Good call on the sound!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 February 2003 03:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Though "Seven Nation Army", which sounds like a Headcoats song title, is kinda disco or something. Wow.

― Kris (aqueduct), Friday, 14 February 2003 03:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Whoa Ned that was a total guess, although the Holly Golightly appearance was sort of a clue.

― Kris (aqueduct), Friday, 14 February 2003 03:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Advance vinyl you say? As in official release, I can buy at Amoeba vinyl??

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 14 February 2003 04:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Whoa Ned that was a total guess, although the Holly Golightly appearance was sort of a clue.

Heh, true. ;-) No, I read something a few weeks back about how that's where they recorded it, and I immediately thought, "Wow, I actually have a good reason to be interested!"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 February 2003 04:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Advance vinyl you say? As in official release, I can buy at Amoeba vinyl??

Advance record company review copies, pressed on vinyl to discourage pre-release file trading. A brilliant, brilliant plan, obviously!

― paul cox (paul cox), Friday, 14 February 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I SAID GAWDAMN!

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 14 February 2003 05:27 (twenty-two years ago)

the 'every White Stripes album will be better than the one preceding it' streak holds

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 14 February 2003 05:27 (twenty-two years ago)

They had so much fun making it that I almost feel left out.

― Kenan Hebert, Friday, 14 February 2003 05:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Not having heard it (since I'm not priviledged to hear advance copies), I can't comment. But I have high hopes, since every CD is better than the last. Jack and Meg rule.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Friday, 14 February 2003 13:33 (twenty-two years ago)

So is it worth downloading then? I have been rather meh on the White Stripes up 'til now.

― Nicole (Nicole), Friday, 14 February 2003 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

if you don't like the white stripes prolly not - it's not a radical departure or anything

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 14 February 2003 13:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Does anyone know where they recorded this? I was under the impression like it was done at Abbey Road, but the record sounds more like it was recorded behind Abbey Road.

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 14 February 2003 14:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Correct on both counts. Recorded at Abbey Road for the price of a pack of boot laces.

― Kenan Hebert, Friday, 14 February 2003 15:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, fiddle. I just hate it when I'm wrong. It was at Toe Rag studios.

http://www.nme.co.uk/news/102974.htm

Not to self: next time, check facts first.

― Kenan Hebert, Friday, 14 February 2003 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Toe Rag claims to use an old Abbey Road mixing desk.

― Wandering Boy Poet, Friday, 14 February 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Clearly, "Black Math" or "Girl, You Have No Faith In Medecine" should be the first single, not "Seven Nation Army".

great minds...... i said this exact same thing elsewhere earlier this week.

maybe (via the toe rag connection) now the kids will start to pick up on the brilliance of billy childish. probably not.

― stirmonster, Friday, 14 February 2003 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Is the verse to 'There's No Home For You Here' supposed to be identical to the verse to 'Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman'?

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 14 February 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't like it so much. I prefer the more striped down sound of De Stijl.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Friday, 14 February 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Advance record company review copies, pressed on vinyl to discourage pre-release file trading. A brilliant, brilliant plan, obviously!

Which explains why so many people in this thread heard it already?

(note: possibly missing sarcasm)

― donut bitch (donut), Saturday, 15 February 2003 00:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd be irritated about "There's No Home For You Here" sounding like a self-plagiaristic re-do of "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground", only it's fifty times better, especially when that HUGE chorus comes in and it sounds like Sweet ascending to Valhalla. The "thump thump thump" beats of "Seven Nation Army" and "The Hardest Button to Button" make me glad Jack seems to like that whole disco thing and took more than just a paycheck from "Danger! High Voltage!"

Minor quibble: HOW FUCKING LONG DOES "BALL AND A BISCUIT HAVE TO BE" I MEAN REALLY

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Saturday, 15 February 2003 01:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Whoops! Irritation leads to misplaced quotation marks

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Saturday, 15 February 2003 01:12 (twenty-two years ago)

*smacks forehead*

Of course I meant 'Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground' and not 'Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman' upthread; and Nate is right, that giant swoop of a 70s rock radio chorus redeems 'There's No Home For You Here' precisely four times per listen.

― mark p (Mark P), Saturday, 15 February 2003 01:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Plus Jack's more-words-per-verse... er, "flow alteration", if you will... is enough of a new dimension. It's like "Dead Leaves" BUT CRUNK

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Saturday, 15 February 2003 01:41 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, it's like he heard "Dead Leaves" on the radio and thought 'ya know, I'd like to try that again, only fuck it up some'. Anyhow I listened to Elephant about six times today and am nowhere near tired of it.

― James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 15 February 2003 05:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought the more glaring similarity was between "I'm Finding It Harder..." and "I Want to Be the Boy". Actually, there are little bits and pieces all over the album that seem ripped right out of the old ones, such as the little da-da-da-da acoustic bit on "You've Got Her In Your Pocket", ala "Now Mary". Also, "Hypnotise" is very similar to "Fell In Love With A Girl" in terms of rhythm, structure and length.

― Simon H., Saturday, 15 February 2003 12:00 (twenty-two years ago)

toerag? is it as good as the bristols? probably not.

― keith (keithmcl), Saturday, 15 February 2003 23:57 (twenty-two years ago)

heard the whole record (finally) this weekend, at proper ear-splitting volumes - excellent excellent excellent. I just love bands that pay such deliberate attention to an overarching aesthetic. And of course, the songs sound great, the added instrumentation doesn't get in the way, just colors in things a bit more.

And those fantastic vocals on "There's No Room" = Queen.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 23:19 (twenty-two years ago)

one thing that gets up my nose is anyone who is under the impression that Toerag is a lo-fi recording environment. NON-DIGITAL DOES NOT EQUAL LO FI YOU STUPID FUCKING NME-READING TOSSERS!!!!1

(not directed at anyone here)

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 23:35 (twenty-two years ago)

But digital means everything sounds clear and perfect, just the way it's supposed to sound!

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 23:40 (twenty-two years ago)

oh bleeding hooray! does it not occur to these people that the White Stripes LP only cost 6000 pounds to record (which is still A LOT) because they work quickly and efficiently? crimony.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 23:43 (twenty-two years ago)

well, plus there's only two of them... I think the record sounds fantastic, very warm and crackly. The sharp-edged distortion/slide guitar sound he gets is fantastic.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 23:45 (twenty-two years ago)

every day in every way i hate digital a little more. ironically i'm getting sick of vinyl too. AAD all the way!

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 23:48 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

Bought today. Listened to all day. Definitly a keeper in my mind- and listenable to all the way through whereas White Blood Cells had a few dodgy momnts that had to be skipped.

― B.E., Thursday, 3 April 2003 22:08 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.tremble.com/dead/0304.html#000183

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 4 April 2003 19:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I bought the vinyl last night, and I really love it. I wasn't as pleased with White Blood Cells, to be honest (De Stijl is my favorite). I just keep pushing the needle back over the Bacharach cover...mmmmmmm. I think the production is amazing (but I'm pretty much obsessed with anything that comes out of Toe Rag...Billy Childish, Holly Golightly, Buff Medways, Kaisers, etc. etc.)

As much as I love Holly Golightly, I think the closer is a little hokey. Perhaps it's supposed to be...

― Kate Silver (Kate Silver), Friday, 4 April 2003 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

From the NY Times:

QUESTIONS FOR THE WHITE STRIPES
Rock 'n' Rules
Interview by HUGO LINDGREN

Q: You've said that your band's new album, ''Elephant,'' is about the ''death of the sweetheart.'' What does that mean?

JACK WHITE: The sweetheart, the gentleman -- it's the same thing. These ideas seem to be in decline, and I hate it. You look at your average teenager with the body piercings and the tattoos. You have white kids going around talking in ghetto accents because they think that makes them hard. It's so cool to be hard. We're against that.

MEG WHITE: The message everywhere is it's O.K. not to care about anything. Everything can be judged, everything can be trashed.

Q: So are you proposing that people embrace the values of a previous era?

JACK: No, I don't want to be considered old-fashioned or a Luddite or conservative. But it's sad to see young kids today -- they're sitting around listening to hip-hop or new metal, with a Sony PlayStation, a bong of marijuana. This is their life. It's a whole culture. And the parenting is so relaxed about that.

Q: In other words, kids need discipline. That sounds counter to the rock 'n' roll ideal.

JACK: It's not counter to us. It's what our band is about. We're white people who play the blues, and our problem was how do we do that and not be fake? Our idea was to strip away everything unnecessary, to put ourselves in a box, to make rules for ourselves.

Q: What sort of rules?

JACK: In live shows, we never play from a set list. The last record, we said, no guitar solos, no slide guitar, no covers.

Q: And no bass?

MEG: The last record had no bass. This one has some bass. We're not against the bass.

Q: Why hem yourself in with restrictions?

JACK: It makes the band what it is. I'm disgusted by artists or songwriters who pretend there are no rules. There's nothing guiding them in their creativity. We could've spent six months making our last album. We could have recorded 600 tracks. Instead, we went and made the whole album, 18 songs, in 10 days.

Q: That must mean a lot of free time. What else have you been doing?

JACK: I spent six weeks filming the movie ''Cold Mountain'' in Romania. My character is a mandolin player, a Civil War deserter. I sing three songs in the film.

Q: They don't sound much like White Stripes songs, I'd imagine.

JACK: No, not much. The whole thing was deeply humbling. I went down to Nashville to record the soundtrack and it was all the best bluegrass musicians, and I didn't even want to touch an instrument around those guys. I just said, O.K., I will sing, humbly sing. Much as I love American folk music, I didn't think that alone entitled me to be in that world.

Q: In all the touring you've done, have you encountered much anti-American sentiment?

MEG: Not at all. I don't think many people hate Americans. They're dissatisfied with what's happening. We're not a very political band.

Q: You never feel the urge to express a political opinion?

JACK: When I was a teenager, I was really into voicing my political opinions. But I could never see anything coming from it. The people who were organizing the rallies and everything, I started to notice that they lived for dissatisfaction. And that is not me. The blues could be very political, you know -- Leadbelly sang about Hitler. But I shy away from doing anything like that because I'm scared of novelty. I'm scared of having nowhere to go with it. A band like Rage Against the Machine, they were very angry and political, but it seems like they ran out of things to be angry about, so they had to go back and talk about Vietnam. It can be interesting, but is that what you want to do, get angry about things you didn't even experience?

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Friday, 4 April 2003 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

(sorry for the double post. i forgot to bold the important part)

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Friday, 4 April 2003 19:55 (twenty-two years ago)

(fixed)

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 4 April 2003 20:16 (twenty-two years ago)

(thanx sterl)

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Friday, 4 April 2003 20:17 (twenty-two years ago)

what a fool that jack is.

― chaki (chaki), Friday, 4 April 2003 20:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Dude, he should totally go out with me and not his sister or whatever the hell those two freaks are up to. They're like a VC Andrews novel.

This album is fantastic, by the way.

― Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 4 April 2003 20:45 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Now that I've actually heard this, I feel bad for ever making fun of them. It's awesome. Like the Darkness but better, they remind me me of like every 70s rock band. Bits remind me of Queen or Deep Purple in weird ways. Some parts seem to pastiche Zeppelin. "I Just Don't Know. . ." makes me think a little bit of Mellon Collie for some reason.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 6 September 2004 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Like the Darkness but better

Dude, EVERYTHING is better than the Darkness.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 6 September 2004 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

twelve years pass...

CLASSIC!

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 22:25 (eight years ago)

Only gripe: Clearly, "Black Math" or "Girl, You Have No Faith In Medecine" should be the first single, not "Seven Nation Army".
― Simon H., Friday, February 14, 2003 12:03 AM (fourteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Do you still think this, Simon? :D

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Wednesday, 19 July 2017 12:54 (eight years ago)

(although 'Black Math' still rules)

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Wednesday, 19 July 2017 19:34 (eight years ago)

Classic, but Get Behind Me is better

― Paisley Window Pane (Ross), Wednesday, 19 July 2017 23:00 (eight years ago)

You think!?

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Thursday, 20 July 2017 01:56 (eight years ago)

I worked at a music store when Elephant came out and my co-worker played it every day. Some records are ruined like that

― Paisley Window Pane (Ross), Thursday, 20 July 2017 02:32 (eight years ago)

I like the attempts at branching out on Get Behind Me Satan, like on 'The Nurse' for example, but my god did Jack White look like the biggest twat during that period. His "Zorro on doughnuts" phase.

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Thursday, 20 July 2017 03:04 (eight years ago)

Jack White has always looked like a twat tbh

― dance cum rituals (Moka), Thursday, 20 July 2017 05:31 (eight years ago)

Like honestly google Jack White and try to find a single photo were he doesn't look like a twat. He even looks insufferable prick on his childhood pictures.

― dance cum rituals (Moka), Thursday, 20 July 2017 05:35 (eight years ago)

Moka is totally and unequivocally OTM.

― Paisley Window Pane (Ross), Thursday, 20 July 2017 05:36 (eight years ago)

Ha, true... but christ, the sleeve to Get Behind Me Satan!

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Thursday, 20 July 2017 09:48 (eight years ago)

Like honestly google Jack White and try to find a single photo were he doesn't look like a twat. He even looks insufferable prick on his childhood pictures.

ahah, I tried... and failed !

― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 20 July 2017 10:19 (eight years ago)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVtOXtTgt7C/

― Mungolian Jerryset (bendy), Thursday, 20 July 2017 12:54 (eight years ago)

Good lord...

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Thursday, 20 July 2017 13:01 (eight years ago)

OH GIRL! YOU HAVE NO FAITH IN MEDICINE!

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Friday, 21 July 2017 20:10 (eight years ago)

Get Behind Me Satan is hands down their best record

― Οὖτις, Friday, 21 July 2017 20:11 (eight years ago)

When it comes down to it, I think both Elephant and Get Behind Me Satan are great... strangely, it's White Blood Cells, of all of their records, that I like the least! I hate the fact that 'Hotel Yorba' was the first thing I heard from this band.

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Friday, 21 July 2017 20:27 (eight years ago)

three years pass...

Still incredible. Never cared much for when they try to do the slow, soft and sincere songs but they rock so hard on this. Hardest button, little acorns, hypnotize, is a superb sequence. Then theres theres black math, which I think might be their greatest song.

― candyman, Friday, 19 March 2021 18:44 (four years ago)

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