Fact #127896

Whether or not you like their rough-hewn music, the White Stripes deserve bucketloads of credit for having the guts to actually sound like themselves, a rare thing these days when everybody sounds like ever so slightly re-mixed combinations of everybody else or, worse yet, like inferior versions of Radiohead and/or R.E.M. But then Jack White and his drumstick-wielding 'sister' Meg are probably the least competent musicians in any contemporary superstar band so, lacking the virtuosity that would enable them to copy their musical betters, they’re reduced to doing whatever they can. Fortunately, what they can do is pretty remarkable because they play and sing with a crazed passion that invests this album with a glorious spirit, untainted by the presence of ultra-slick session men or even other band members, because every ragged guitar riff and clattering drum thwack is made by Jack and Meg. Songs like the anguished Forever For Her, the country lament I’m Lonely, and the twitchy stomp Doorbell rate among the best they’ve written, making even the throwaway rant of Instinct Blues easy to forgive.
Johnny Black (review originally appeared in Hi Fi News)