The White Stripes are in a constant state of evolution. In their typical fashion, Icky Thump doesn't sound like any of their pre-existing albums; they've gone from bluesy garage rock duo to country rock spectacle in just six albums and 10 years. Call them weird or call them droning (and they get to both on Thump), but boring they are not.
Icky Thump is bound to segregate even more of their old fans than Get Behind Me Satan did. This is in part because it's easily their loudest album, but it's also that anyone who complained about the occasional bluegrass overdose on Satan will probably fail to hear the merit in such intensely Scot-rock tracks as "Prickly Thorn, But Sweet Worn" or "You Don't Know What Love Is." The bagpipes certainly spice things up, but the result is both too eclectic and sometimes just downright weird. (See: "St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)," featuring a freestyle speech from Meg against a background of bagpipes and the occasional searing guitar.)
Every song is expertly written--you'll find no argument there. But somewhere along the line, between the daring riffs, bluesy-bagpipes and downright awesome tracks like "Conquest," with its dramatically blaring trumpets, and the conversely modest "Catch Hell Blues," something feels missing. More than a few tracks lack the ruthlessness of what they had on Elephant and their self-titled album. The title song, for example, while an incredibly catchy mix of blues and almost hip-hop-inspired vocals, just gets repetitive. After a while it stops being an enticing track.
You could argue that they're refining their style, but the White Stripes are reaching a point where throwing improvised solos into otherwise bland songs isn't as impressive as it used to be, and certainly can't bring the album up to where their older works lie.
Maybe it's because they've set such a high standard for themselves, or that their timing was impeccable as they arrived on the scene a decade ago to wow audiences for the first time. Regardless of it all, while Thump is fun, don't expect anything more than what it is--creative, sometimes awkward Scot-rock with a signature Stripes touch.
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The White Stripes' Icky Thump - CD Review
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