The White Stripes � �Get Behind Me Satan� (XL Recordings) Released 06/06/05

Jack White has already made a name for himself as arguably one of the most prolific singer/songwriter/producers in music history. The White Stripes are a pretty unique band, well known for working with basic instruments in the most stripped down form, and with this, their fifth album, the duo have created a highly sophisticated, abstract record that must and should have the likes of chronic bores Coldplay and Oasis seething with jealousy…

Mainly because Jack and Meg White make it all look so easy, they leave the last 40 years of music technology looking redundant and make every kid with a four-track think that just maybe one day they can be just like Jack…or maybe Meg. This year Jack White has won a Grammy Award for his production on Loretta Lynn’s album ‘Van Lear Rose’, he has gotten himself married, written and more importantly he's produced the brilliant ‘Get Behind Me Satan’ - an album that features the biting ‘Blue Orchid’, a defining opener and one of the few album tracks to feature an electric guitar; and it's all the better for it.

Heavy guitars played over a marimba and shakers make up the abrupt nature on ‘The Nurse’ whilst Jack proclaims over and over again “No I’m never gonna let you down now” resulting in a psychedelic storm of sounds that comes to and end far too quickly. A piano and Meg’s drums are prevalent on ‘My Doorbell’ and as Jack sings “I’ve been thinking about my doorbell, when you gonna ring it? When you gonna ring it?” the track breaks into a dance floor worthy song that's one of the highlights of the entire album.

‘Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)’ is totally heartbreaking, but uplifting track that plods along the sound of a marimba “Forever, a word that she said that means never”. Just as heartbreaking is ‘As Ugly As I Seem’ though it does seem to borrow quite heavily from The Beatles’ ‘If I Needed Someone’. As ever country, folk and rock are the main influences at work here and the White’s dedication to a live, mainly acoustic recording that results in tracks like ‘Little Ghost’ and ‘Passive Manipulation’ that feature Meg singing “Stand back and take a look at each other, you need to know the difference between a father and a lover” off the wall and very White Stripes.

The album is great…as is obvious from the above, but there's always the worry that The White Stripes are a little too much like "Wow, look what we can create with as little as possible" and they may end up with a sound so stripped down that there is nothing left. ‘As Ugly As I Seem’ is amazing but the drums on the track are really fucking basic, you wonder if Meg is just hitting her head against an old box, maybe she is. Next album they will be doing it up a tree, with a tin of beans and length of string…great.