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White Blood Cells

by

The White Stripes

 
White Blood Cells
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Avg: 4.0 (107 ratings)

Meg and Jack, sitting in a tree, R-O-C-K-I-N-G.

  • We Say...

    Review by Yancey Strickler

    From the opening guitar squeal of "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground," it's obvious that the cutesy, let's-play-house vibe of the White Stripes' earlier De Stijl is long gone. (When my seven-year-old kid brother first heard De Stijl, he loved it mainly because he assumed that Jack White was his age.) White Blood Cells was also the White Stripes' first tentative step into the mainstream: "Hotel Yorba," "Dead Leaves" and especially "Fell in Love With a Girl" relatively big singles for such a small band, just a Detroit boy and a Detroit girl making the garage rock they had heard their whole lives.

    To the rest of the world, though, this was new. The primal energy, the seeming lack of self-awareness, the illusion of being carefree and having a sense of humor about life (Jack White is, if anything, incredibly self-aware and just as serious) felt genuine in a way that simplicity always does. Sure, dudes who read drummer magazines ragged on Meg — who is certainly not a great drummer, but all the more susceptible to criticism for being a woman playing a man's instrument — and Jack's guitar virtuosity was debated by the kind of people who feel the need to debate such things, but what those people missed were the songs. Jack singing, "Have a doctor come and visit us/ And tell us which one is saved," the unbelievable 50-second jug-band stomp "Little Room" and "The Union Forever," the first time they wrote a song worthy of obvious heroes Led Zeppelin.

    White Blood Cells was the moment when the rudimentary garage of their debut and the smart rock of De Stijl coalesced perfectly. Their albums would decline from here, some obvious high-mater marks excepted, and never again would they be so innocent and naïve to write a song as gorgeous as "The Same Boy You've Always Known" (Paul McCartney, I'm sure, is jealous he didn't write this one first). The latter day White Stripes are still a very, very good band, but here, they were a truly great one.

  • They Say...

    Review by Heather Phares, All Music Guide

    Despite the seemingly instant attention surrounding them -- glowing write-ups in glossy magazines like Rolling Stone and Mojo, guest lists boasting names like Kate Hudson and Chris Robinson, and appearances on national TV -- the White Stripes have stayed true to the approach that brought them this success in the first place. White Blood Cells, Jack and Meg White's third effort for Sympathy for the Record Industry, wraps their powerful, deceptively simple style around meditations on fame, love, and betrayal. As produced by Doug Easley, it sounds exactly how an underground sensation's breakthrough album should: bigger and tighter than their earlier material, but not so polished that it will scare away longtime fans. Admittedly, White Blood Cells lacks some of the White Stripes' blues influence and urgency, but it perfects the pop skills the duo honed on De Stijl and expands on them. The country-tinged "Hotel Yorba" and immediate, crazed garage pop of "Fell in Love With a Girl" define the album's immediacy, along with the folky, McCartney-esque "We're Going to Be Friends," a charming, school-days love song that's among Jack White's finest work. However, White's growth as a songwriter shines through on virtually every track, from the cocky opener "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" to vicious indictments like "The Union Forever" and "I Think I Smell a Rat." "Same Boy You've Always Known" and "Offend in Every Way" are two more quintessential tracks, offering up more of the group's stomping riffs and rhythms and us-against-the-world attitude. Few garage rock groups would name one of their most driving numbers "I'm Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman," and fewer still would pen lyrics like "I'm so tired of acting tough/I'm gonna do what I please/Let's get married," but it's precisely this mix of strength and sweetness, among other contrasts, that makes the White Stripes so intriguing. Likewise, White Blood Cells' ability to surprise old fans and win over new ones makes it the Stripes' finest work to date.

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