Greatest Hits
Third Man, 2020
9/10
This was my first time listen to a record from The White Stripes, and it looks like I started in a good place as 26 tunes from their career are collected on this first anthology release.
The duo place “Let’s Shake Hands” in the lead position where Jack’s fuzzed out guitar and Meg’s thumping drums pair well with the garage-rock meets classic rock setting, and this energy continues to the gritty yet tuneful pace of “Fell In Love With A Girl”, as well as the bluesy spirit of the retro tinged “Screwdriver”.
I was able to find a couple tunes near the middle I was already familiar with, “We’re Going To Be Friends” and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”. The former, a fantastic acoustic ballad that was famously used in Napoleon Dynamite (I always thought it was Modest Mouse), while the latter retains the emotive demeanor of the original country hit while occasionally finder louder areas to reside.
Closer to the end, Jacks’s versatile pipes and Meg’s proficient drumming illuminate the unmistakable riff and precise song craft of “Blue Orchid”, while “I Think I Smell A Rat” presents a dramatic and often more abrasive position of their dynamic chemistry. The pair elect to put their biggest tune, “Seven Nation Army”, as the closing track instead of the first slot, which not be much of a surprise considering their always unorthodox way of doing things.
If you’re a fan, you’ve already got all these songs spread out across multiple releases, but here they’re all in one convenient spot. And for the few first time listeners out there, if you’re like me, you’ll quickly see just why Jack and Meg saw the success they did, cause this is some top notch, contagious rock’n’roll.
Travels well with: The Gories- The Shaw Tapes; Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- Specter At The Feast