On his third solo album, Jack White steps out of the safe, traditionalist confines of his previous records (all recorded analogue with antique guitars on wax cylinder) to embrace the modern age. He also makes a bid for rock royalty by channelling both Prince and Queen in places. It's his most bonkers record yet, but largely it works.
The album starts out with a pretty typical fuzz-guitar work out, Connected By Love, probably the most Jack White song on here. The first taste of Prince (via James Brown) appears on track 3, Corporation - seriously, close your eyes and you'll see purple. He's even got the Alphabet Street scream in there. And there's more of that to come on Ice Station Zebra.
Recent single Over and Over and Over is the closest we get to the big riffmaster of old, coupled with some multi-tracked vocals Freddie and Bryan would be reasonably happy with.
The lyrics, as usual, are nonsense. JW's never been a great lyricist, but he's OK when he embraces his mad side. Why Walk A Dog? seems to be a plea for us all to free our pet pooches. Abulia & Akrasia embraces his long-held desire to be Johnny Depp. On Get In The Mindshaft, White reveals how he learned to play piano in an old abandoned house. Yes, it's basically Sparky's Magic Piano. Final track Humoresque was written by Al Capone. No, really.
And then, on tracks like Hypermisophoniac and Everything You've Ever Learned, things go really crazy. Radiohead meets Primal Scream meets Prince (again) meets experimental jazz meets the noise you hear coming from a lunatic asylum at three o'clock in the morning.
It shouldn't work. It should be an unlistenable mess. Indeed, some reviewers have taken to dubbing it White's grand folly. But for me, it does. It takes a bit of getting into, obviously, but once you do, there's much to enjoy. If you dig bonkers.
It's definitely a divisive album, glad you enjoyed as well. I like that White is actually trying to make a classic, something ambitious, experimental & unique. It could potentially alienate fans so a bold move.
ReplyDeleteI probably owe you thanks for encouraging to keep at it, Chris.
DeleteThe White Stripes were consistently brilliant, yet (confusingly) the same AND different.
ReplyDeleteJack White's solo outings always felt a bit "trying too hard" and "look at me and my self importance".
That track though has piqued more than a bit interest and is added to the Investigate Further list
He obviously takes himself far too seriously, but at least he's trying something different. He could have happily churned out the same kind of record for the rest of his career and hardcore fans would have kept on buying them. Ironically, by pushing himself to experiment, he may have alienated some of those guys... but that's art!
DeleteI've never been much of a fan, but I've liked everything I've heard from the new album
ReplyDeleteYeah, it verges on jazz in places, so you should approve. ;-)
DeleteI like this, really interesting - Jack White goes funky prog! Also think it's really healthy and natural to keep evolving, not get stuck. As Rigid Digit says I felt some of his later stuff seemed a bit 'trying too hard', but this seems to transcend that. Good on him.
ReplyDelete