The White Stripes Convert Integrity into Cash
By Nick Smith
Contributing Writer

Elephant is the first major label release and fourth long-player from the highly problematic Detroit based "brother/sister" duo the White Stripes. Their last record White Blood Cells propelled them into the MTV and KROQ realm of rock stardom-landing them a spot right beside Justin Timberlake on the walls of teenagers across the U.S. While Elephant does not contain anything even close to the pop of "Fell in Love with a Girl," or "Hotel Yorba" on White Blood Cells, it is a much more accomplished and musically superior album. Jack and Meg White stray from the guitar/drums lo-fi Led Zeppelin of their earlier recordings to explore material with bass guitar and piano in it. This is where they run into problems. Yes, Jack's guitar work is hot but his song writing is unfocused and formulaic. Most of the songs on Elephant will no doubt remind Joe Listener of tracks on previous White Stripes albums. For example, "You've Got Her in Your Pocket" is simply a different version of "We're Going to Be Friends" and "I Want to Be Your Boy" sounds remarkably similar to "Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground," except of course, "I Want to be Your Boy" features a piano. His themes are muddled and contradictory. Jack seems unable to rationalize his rock urges with his desires to play light boy/girl pop.

Meg's flat drumming does not help matters, (Meg, please learn to play your instrument; what you're doing is fine for a KSPC Blowout on Walker Beach but not on a record) as it adds nothing to the music. Her drumming is clearly out of place when paired with Jack's loud and raucous guitar work. Perhaps the worst part of the record is "Ball and Biscuit" the latest of Jack White's sickening attempts to be Robert Johnson-he tries to dress like the man, covers his songs, name drops him, and on this album writes a poor rip-off song. The final track "It's True That We Love One Another" featuring garage rock queen Holly Golightly is also painful to listen to because of the failed attempt at an inside joke on the part of the band (read the 459 press' articles on the group).

That said, I was pleasantly surprised by this release. I expected the White Stripes like many other "sell-out" bands to lose their edge and, at the very least, not rock as hard as they did on previous records. Poor song writing and musicianship aside, some of the songs on Elephant really rock despite the cleaned up edges. "Black Math,""Hypnotise,"and "Girl You Have No Faith in Medicine" are examples of the White Stripes in top form. "Girl You Have No Faith in Medicine" is particularly fun to listen to, as Jack White uses acetaminophen (the generic name for Tylenol) in the chorus. On the sultry "In the Cold Cold Night," Meg White does her best Mo Tucker (Velvet Underground) impersonation complete with off key vocals. The opener, "Seven Nation Army" is also quite good.

Despite the fact that the Neptunes did not produce it, this is probably going to be one of the best major label releases of 2003, and deservedly so. As the multitudes of teenagers and college students who attended Rhino Records' listening/buying party will attest, Elephant is in no way disappointing, it is just not a great record. Overall, it demonstrates that the White Stripes will be in our collective pop consciousness-for better or worse-for quite some time.