The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan

Artist: The White Stripes

Title: Get Behind Me Satan

Label: V2

Rating: 8/10

CORPORATE LINE: The White Stripes Will Release Their New Album — The Band’s Fifth — On Third Man Records/ V2 Records On June 7th 2005. Recorded In Detroit At Jack White’s Third Man Studios, Mixed In Memphis At Ardent Studios And Mastered In New York City At Masterdisk, The Album Will Be Titled Get Behind Me Satan.

The Album Contains 13 Original Songs, All Of Them Written On Piano, Acoustic Guitar And Marimba. The First Single Is Titled “Blue Orchid.” Get Behind Me Satan Was Written, Produced And Mixed By Jack White.

Jack White Describes The Record As An Exploration Of “Characters And The Ideal Of Truth.”

THE GREAT:
“Blue Orchid” – Jack White’s falsetto is overtaken by the might of this hard-charger.
“Little Ghost” – The White duo take on bluegrass with their usual expertise. Some fans might find this ridiculous and that would be too bad.
“Take, Take, Take” – Gorgeous. If this doesn’t knock listeners on their asses then perhaps you shouldn’t be listening to music.
“I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet)” – Another odd ballad about missing mama and his sister and everything that he knows.

THE AVERAGE:
“My Doorbell” – Endearing and the most pop song they have written—in a good way.
“The Nurse” – From the stampede of drums and bizarre sounds that never seem right and yet never wrong—this is as odd a song as it gets.
“White Moon” – A completely odd ballad which can be summed up with these lyrics: “Probosocial’s a word/And the word is the bird/That flew through the herd in the snow”

THE BAD:
Absolutely nothing.

FRANKLY: The White Stripes are like aliens in the world of music. No one else takes chances. Everyone does what they know will sell. The White Stripes do the exact opposite. They make music they like and satisfy their own wants and desires. With that said Get Behind Me Satan satisfies real music fans with a passion that hasn’t been heard since Kurt Cobain first shredded popular music. If only Jack would have added a hidden cover of “Devil Went Down to Georgia”–he would he have really slain the beast.

+ Rae Gun