The White Stripes (1 Viewer)

[Steve Owen]

I haven't flipped in a while for an album like I have for The White Stripes' White Blood Cells. It has been buried in my CD player since I got it. Gets better every time I listen to it.
I caught them on MTV about a month ago (the video for Fell In Love with a Girl... the one with the legos). Liked the song, hit the P2P sites and downloaded a bunch of songs. Liked what I heard, so I tore off to the local CD shop to pick up a copy of the CD. REALLY liked what I heard, so I went to check out tour info. Perfect... coming to Boston. BLAH! Sold out! Oh, wait... Providence! Still tickets!
So a couple of weeks ago, I hit the show at Lupo's in Providence. Amazingly fun. Jack's voice was bummin' (he apologized several times), but it really didn't matter. Very high energy show. Enthusiastic crowd. Really good music. Jack and Meg impressed me a lot live... I think they've played together for a VERY long time. Wicked tight. They really have a good feel for each other musically.
So since then, I haven't stopped listening to White Blood Cells. I hear they'll be back in the studio soon working on another one. I can't wait.
In the meantime, they've got a bunch more shows coming up (mostly west coast), and I hightly recommend checking them out.
-Steve

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

I really have to give this band another listen. I got this record a while back.

My friend worked on the album (he's kinda the right hand man, assistant to Stuart Sikes), so I got an advanced copy, and he was raving about it. But it didn't really click with me the first time, so it got set aside.

With the recent buzz, I really need to check it out again.

-Vince

 

[BrianB]

I love "Fell In Love with a Girl", but the album just seems a little too long to me. It gets too repetitive too quickly.

 

[James RD]

Some good songs. I think it would help to have a bass player and a real drummer.

 

[Kelley_B]

I've been listening to The White Stripes for about two years now, and while White Blood Cells is a great album, I still think their best is De Stijl....Steve run out and get that one, its kicks mucho ass.

I've seen them live twice and last time was last summer after White Blood Cells came out and the place was empty! It must be great from them to finally be selling records and selling out shows. I just think its great that finally some of these great rock n roll bands are getting their shot at being something, especially when probably every major label told them they would never sell. Now bands like The White Stripes, Thursday, Sparta, etc are selling in stores like Best Buy.

Oh did I mention that I love The White Stripes?

 

[Steve Owen]

It gets too repetitive too quickly.

Interesting. I find that the diversity on White Blood Cells is one of the things that keeps attracting me to it. For those who didn't quite get grabbed by it the first go-around, try listening to it a half-dozen times or so over the course of a week. I thought the album was "just OK" on the first listen, but really grew on me the more I heard it. I've found that the best albums always seem to have that charateristic to me. Albums that I still listen to years after always seem to have been so-so the first time I heard them.

To me The White Stripes sound like part Ramones, part Led Zeppelin, part Johnny Cash, yet really original. I'm OK with the basslessness (a new word!) of it. It's the "rough edges" of the drums and guitar (and even vocals) that give it that raw energy that like.

-Steve

 

[MickeS]

I love this band. I started listening to them about 6 months ago after downloading their albums on Kazaa, and I didn't know that they were just a duo! I saw them on "Late Show" a while ago, and there was just a guitar player and a drummer, I was like "where's the rest of the band". They don't sound thin to me, it sounds great.
They're playing here May 28th, I'm looking forward to it.
/Mike

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

I like them, but I'm tired of the hype. I saw them play in late 2000 when they toured with Spoon and picked up their s/t record and their best CD, "De Stijl," which I still like better than "White Blood Cells."

There's a CD-single out that has their killer cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene."

If you like them, be sure to check out The Detroit Cobras on Sympathy for the Record Industry (the Whtie Stripes' old label).

Why wasn't all this cool stuff happening when I lived back in Toledo, just 45 minutes south of Detroit?

 

[Samuel Des]

I just purchased this album, literally, an hour ago, and love it. It was on sale at Circuit City for $9.00 plus tax. Loved that second or third track, the one that kinda sounded like the Meat Puppets.

 

[Samuel Des]

also wanted to ask if anyone has heard of "Bantam Rooster or Jeffrey Evans & His 68 Comeback." I read somewhere that these are comparable artists.

 

[Jeff Keene]

I'll have to check it out. Looks like there are mixed feelings about this one, but the album seems to really make sense to you, Steve, so I'm excited for you.
NP: Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (1st playing)

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

FYI, If you find this record and are stunned by the high price, it's because the White Stripes are now signed to major-label imprint V2 records, which has reissued 'White Blood Cells." The Sympathy For The Record Industry release -- which is the exact same as the new reissue -- is the one you'll find at a much cheaper price point. The Hives 2000 record "Veni Vidi Vicious" has just gone through that as well, this time from Epitaph to Sire/Warner Brothers, though the price increase isn't nearly so great.
Another reason I just love corporate rock.

 

[Seth Paxton]

I searched for a thread on them. I know it sucks when you were already jamming on a band and then a hit video brings in all these "bandwagon" fans, but really it often also is just a chance to reach new fans.

I love White Blood Cells all the way through. I took a chance based on the single and was pleasantly surprised.

But then I'm a guy who loves The Strokes album, so YMMV. 2 of my favorite albums to put in and listen all the way through.

 

[Kelley_B]

The Hives 2000 record "Veni Vidi Vicious" has just gone through that as well, this time from Epitaph to Sire/Warner Brothers, though the price increase isn't nearly so great.

I KNOW!!! I'm really torn with this, as I want these bands and this music to be popular, but I also love the fact I'm one of the few people out there who listen to them. I can't believe I just paid $10 for Sparta's Austere EP when if they were on an indie label it would have been $6 tops. And I just read that The Donnas have gone major label. Now I'm glad that these bands are getting some respect...but the price differences are crazy sometimes...BTW it was $5 at my local record store, $10 for Epitaph, $15 for Sire...I've had this album since 2001.