Another band who seemed to be everywhere for a short time, then went away. Taking the minimalism of the garage band right down, this duo seemed to channel the ‘back to basics’ rock approach that The Strokes had tapped into a couple of years earlier. Picked up for a quid in a charity shop a couple of years after release, I don’t remember actually listening to this all the way through. Seven Nation Army kicks off (better known in U.K. as ‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn’)with its famous riff, then we speed up into Black Math, and to my ears loud, angry and fast is what the duo do best. There’s No Home For You Here is plodding and dull, not even enlivened by guitar hero antics, and there’s no defence for the slaughter of Bacharach’s I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself. Meg picks up vocal duties on In The Cold Cold Night, and it’s more interesting, as is I Want To Be The Boy To Warm Your Mother’s Heart, and with You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket I find I’m warming to Jack White’s singer-songwriter with acoustic guitar persona. Ball And Biscuit raises the volume, but is a very ordinary 12 bar blues, and The Hardest Button To Button and Little Acorns are lively, but nothing inspiring, however things liven up with the loud and lively Hypnotise, but it’s not maintained to the end of the album, the final three tracks dragging, especially the excruciating Well It’s True That We Love One Another. I can see why the White Stripes were so popular at the time, and at their best it’s exciting and vibrant. But there’s lots that’s ordinary.
3* - A real curate’s egg, but very, very good in parts.
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