Made to be listened to Loud with a capital L, Icky Thump is a welcome addition to the White Stripes body of work. It mostly sticks to their winning formula but adds a few shifts in pace and style to keep it interesting.
There is a reasonable amount of variety in the album, so if one track doesn't do it for you, the next probably will. (And the one after that)
85%
Track by track
Icky Thump (4.13)
A good rockin' teaser for the album and a great track in the White Stripes canon.
(YouTube clip at the bottom)
You Don't know what love is (You just do as you're told) (3:51)
Great angsty song of love
300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues 5:28
Cruel Sea vibe/riffs - very nice.
Conquest 2:48
Metal mixed with mariachi
Bone Broke 3:14
Ok rock track which any mainstream rock band would be proud to call their own but in this context it's slightly more filler than killer
Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn 3:05
Dainty rock - country fiddles, contagious melody, driving drums, some kind of bagpipe?, it's all happening here.
St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air) 1:47
Meg sings, hyperbeat, more fiddles and bagpipe, fascinated by this, a little mindblown
Little Cream Soda 3:42
More metalesque guitar but a great sound nonetheless, song of regret
Rag & Bone 3:45
Great dirty southern rock song and lyricism
I'm Slowly Turning Into You 4:28
Jaggerish tint to vocals, slinky rock, layered voices,
A Martyr For My Love For You 4:16
And into a ballad - noice, stylish use of soft loud soft,
Catch Hell Blues 4:14
Ry Cooder slide, another rootsy, Texas blues sound for a while, mutates into some kind of screechy butterfly
Effect & Cause 2:57
"Darlin' it hurts" (Paul Kelly) vibe in there so obviously a great song - stripped back acoustic bluesy number
Icky Thump on YouTube
