There are several bands within recent memory who try to take the blues or country as a direct source of inspiration, but there may be the only such band who look to those artists out of sincerity and purpose instead of for the simple reason of fashion. This Detroit band is, of course, Mule. Okay, okay, that other Detroit rock band, the White Stripes, would probably qualify as well, despite the fact that they wear matching red and white clothes and re-write their own biographies.
This purpose the White Stripes have is to start over musically. It seems like a natural reaction to the current state of music. Underground music is often too smart for its own good, and mainstream music is often merely the fruit of high-tech production tricks. To make real rock and roll music, you almost have to take it to down to the level of children's music, which is exactly what The White Stripes do.
Created from only drums, guitar, and voice, the divorced White couple manage to marry everything from Rolling Stones cock posturing to country jug band sing-along. "Hotel Yorba" is twangy short ditty about going to get married, its simplicity made great by Jack White's enthusiastic vocal delivery. "I'm Finding it Harder to be a Gentleman" brings in some of that Mick Jagger attitude to mix with a stomping beat, and, as the title implies, it's hard to tell who is under whose thumb. "Now Mary" brings the country twang back to the guitar later in the album, sounding like a Chuck Berry song only with Lennon-er vocals.
The Beatles influence is keyed on often, doing their best with only one guitar and voice to create Beatles melodies (since harmonies would be near impossible) on songs like "Fell in Love With a Girl." These styles, along with everything in between, are all presented with the same spare lineup of just guitar and drums (with piano and organ used very sparingly). However, the chunky distortion of the guitar combined with White's high vocals and the crashing drums still manages to fill the space well and come off raw and unbridled.
White Blood Cells may be less raw than the band's two previous albums, however, it still has energy and vitality. The band's next challenge may be to heed their own advice in "Little Room": "when you're in a bigger room, you might not know what to do, you might need to think of how you got started sitting in your little room. Da da de. Da da da."
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