City Newspaper Archives - 7/2007
The White Stripes "Icky Thump"
Warner Bros.
Published by Dayna Papaleo on Jul 11, 2007
Recording with gear that didn't arrive on the Mayflower, spending three whole weeks doing it, and then releasing the results on a major label? Corporate whoring has never sounded so good. After the more experimental "Get Behind Me Satan," Jack and Meg White distill their patented blend of melodious folk and Thames delta blues into maybe their most blatant rock yet. Of course "Icky Thump" doesn't totally abandon the weird: Appalachian bagpipes, a Patti Page cover ("Conquest") that yowls like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page on a mezcal bender, and Jack doing his best David Lee Roth as he and Meg scavenge for junk on the rowdy "Rag and Bone." The weakest offering, "You Don't Know What Love Is," is basically Bad Company's insipid "Shooting Star" with new lyrics, but perhaps it's just a letdown after the mighty, muddy strut of the awesome title track, which erupts with a burst of Black Sabbath and just gets better: "Well, you can't be a pimp and a prostitute, too," claims Mr. White, who obviously underestimates himself.
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