The White Stripes: Elephant

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

That those who care about the crusty concept rock'n'roll have pushed the White Stripes out of the cultdom they've enjoyed on their first three albums into the spotlight on this on says what about the state of the music? It's desperate for something new? Something real? Something new that sounds real old? How about that in an age of conveyor-belt rock stars, we just need something genuinely weird, loud and fundamental?

And if it happens to be a colour-co-ordinated boy-girl duo whose exact relationship is a little hazy, hey, all the better.

There's a little more riding on Elephant than whether it will just keep Jack and Meg White in a new set of team colours.

It's the first key album of the whole (embarrassed cough) garage-rock movement - quite possibly the Nevermind of its era. Up to the task?

Yes, very. Especially with Elephant's high count of absolutely, er, mammoth songs, enough variation on their minimalist guitar-drums-and-voice approach, and many an explosive performance with just the occasional let-up from all that fuzzy frenzy. It sounds like the White Stripes have peaked just when it mattered most.

Many of the 14 songs still holler the blues in a curious way (Ball and Biscuit, I Want to Be The Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart); some come on like a pocket edition Led Zeppelin (Black Math), a couple kick out the jams (Hypnotize, Girl You Have to Have Faith in Medicine) and a couple less just twang gently (the Neil Young-ish You've Got Her In Your Pocket) or let Meg's deadpan singing voice come to the fore (In the Cold Cold Night).

She and guest voice Holly Golightly also figure in the final track, Well It's True We Love One Another, which caps this off with a sweet in-joke.

Great album. Expect international outbreak of Elephantitis any day now.

Label: Xl Recordings