White Blood Cells may have been a reaction to the amount of fame the White Stripes had received up to the point of its release, but, paradoxically, it made full-fledged rock stars out of Jack and Meg White and sold over half a million copies in the process.
Despite the White Stripes' ambivalence, fame nevertheless seems to suit them: They just become more accomplished as the attention paid to them increases.
Elephant captures this contradiction within the Stripes and their music; it's the first album they've recorded for a major label, and it sounds even more pissed-off, paranoid, and stunning than its predecessor.
Darker and more difficult than White Blood Cells, the album offers nothing as immediately crowd-pleasing or sweet as "Fell in Love With a Girl" or "We're Going to Be Friends," but it's more consistent, exploring disillusionment and rejection with razor-sharp focus.
Chip-on-the-shoulder anthems like the breathtaking opener, "Seven Nation Army," which is driven by Meg White's explosively minimal drumming, and "The Hardest Button to Button," in which Jack White snarls "Now we're a family!" -- one of the best oblique threats since Black Francis sneered "It's educational!" all those years ago -- deliver some of the fiercest blues-punk of the White Stripes' career.
"There's No Home for You Here" sets a girl's walking papers to a melody reminiscent of "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" (though the result is more sequel than rehash), driving the point home with a wall of layered, Queen-ly harmonies and piercing guitars, while the inspired version of "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" goes from plaintive to angry in just over a minute, though the charging guitars at the end sound perversely triumphant.
At its bruised heart, Elephant portrays love as a power struggle, with chivalry and innocence usually losing out to the power of seduction.
"I Want to Be the Boy" tries, unsuccessfully, to charm a girl's mother; "You've Got Her in Your Pocket," a deceptively gentle ballad, reveals the darker side of the Stripes' vulnerability, blurring the line between caring for someone and owning them with some fittingly fluid songwriting.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seven Nation ArmyJack White | The White Stripes | Play | 03:51 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 2 | Black MathJack White | The White Stripes | Play | 03:03 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 3 | There's No Home for You HereJack White | The White Stripes | Play | 03:43 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 4 | I Just Don't Know What to Do with MyselfBurt Bacharach, Hal David | The White Stripes | Play | 02:46 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 5 | In the Cold, Cold NightJack White | The White Stripes | Play | 02:58 | 6 MB | 15 MB |
| 6 | I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's HeartJack White | The White Stripes | Play | 03:20 | 7 MB | 19 MB |
| 7 | You've Got Her in Your PocketJack White | The White Stripes | Play | 03:39 | 8 MB | 19 MB |
| 8 | Ball and BiscuitJack White | The White Stripes | Play | 07:19 | 16 MB | 46 MB |
| 9 | The Hardest Button to ButtonJack White | The White Stripes | Play | 03:32 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 10 | HypnotizeJack White | The White Stripes | Play | 01:48 | 4 MB | 11 MB |
| 11 | The Air Near My FingersJack White | The White Stripes | Play | 03:40 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 12 | Little AcornsMort Crim, Jack White | The White Stripes | Play | 04:09 | 9 MB | 24 MB |
| 13 | Girl, You Have No Faith in MedicineJack White | The White Stripes | Play | 03:17 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 14 | Well It's True That We Love One Another | The White Stripes | Play | 02:42 | 6 MB | 15 MB |
| 49 mins | 114 MB | |||||
| 49 mins | 302 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burt Bacharach | Composer |
| 2 | Bruce Brand | Layout Design |
| 3 | Mort Crim | Commentary, Composer |
| 4 | Hal David | Composer |
| 5 | Holly Golightly | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 6 | Miti | Engineer |
| 7 | Ian Montone | Navigator |
| 8 | Patrick Pantano | Photography |
| 9 | Noel Summerville | Mastering |
| 10 | Liam Watson | Engineer, Mixing |
| 11 | The White Stripes | Primary Artist |
| 12 | Jack White | Composer, Guitar, Mixing, Piano, Producer, Vocals |
| 13 | Meg White | Drums, Vocals |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |