"Ecky Thump," a Lancashire colloquialism, is most commonly described as slang for an exclamation of surprise, disbelief, or in recognition of something amazing. Icky Thump, The White Stripes sixth studio album, definitely lives up to it's name. The band released a statement on their official website explaining that:
The White Stripes have completed the recording and mixing of their sixth album. It is entitled Icky Thump, and is their first album to include a title track, which curiously (and not ironically) has the same words in its name. Though some residents of northern England might almost recognize the title, the Stripes stress they are spelling it wrong intentionally just for "kicks" and "metaphors," and to avoid a possible lawsuit from the estate of Billy Eckstine.
Icky Thump was recorded at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, where Jack White currently resides, and the band spent three weeks recording, which is the longest they have spent on an album. The band experienced another change of pace when they signed on to Warner Brothers for only one album after the closing of V2 Records, the label they have worked with on most of their previous albums. Jack White stated that fans of the band's self-titled debut would be pleased with Icky Thump as the album has a similar raw and stripped down hard rock sound, and that statement is more than the truth.
The White Stripes get back to their Detroit roots, despite now living in different cities - Jack in Nashville and Meg in Los Angeles, with several garage blues rock songs on Icky Thump that will please fans of their first two albums, the self-titled debut (1999) and De Stijl (2000). The album opens with the title track, consisting of an organ and a noisy guitar filled four minutes. The band even touches on political issues with their lyrics in this song, as Jack wails, "Well, Americans / What, nothin' better to do? / Why don't you kick yourself out? / You're an immigrant too."
The next two tracks, "You Don't Know What Love is (You Just do as You're Told)" and "300 MPH Outpour Blues" are performed in The White Stripes' typical yet enjoyable country blues rock fashion, with Jack still singing about women, love, and soul searching.
The fourth track is a cover of 1950's country turned pop singer, Patti Page's "Conquest." As usual, The White Stripes create an impressive and theatrical imitation of the original, as they have with songs they covered in the past. Following this track is "Bone Broke," a song that proves The White Stripes have not forgotten where they come from despite their commercial success since their third release, White Blood Cells. However, the band still experiments with a few songs, using bagpipes on "Prickly Thorn, but Sweetly Worn," creating an unusual but catchy song. The bagpipes flow into the next track, "St. Andrew (This Battle is in the Air)," with Meg doing spoken word over noisy guitars and prominent bagpipes.
"Little Cream Soda" is another stripped down hard rock song, with a darker vibe. "Rag & Bone," the second single off Icky Thump, has a blues rock feel to it while Jack and Meg alternate between conversing and singing over their simple guitar and drums set up. The organ is brought in again on "I'm Slowly Turning into You" with the guitar and drums and varies with garage rock sounds throughout the song. "A Martyr for My Love for You" uses an organ as well, but starts out slower with Jack singing softly and going into louder rock verses. The album closes with "Catch Hell Blues," another slow to fast garage rock song with flailing guitar solos, and "Effect & Cause," which adds a tambourine and a similar feel as songs from their self-titled album with a dirty country-blues rock sound.
The only possible negative criticism Icky Thump could receive is being compared too much to their early sound or maybe not giving audiences anything new. Those criticisms will be hard to justify, though, as The White Stripes have most certainly delivered an incredible album. While the sounds are familiar, they are still enjoyable years later.
