IT'S HERE. I'M A FEW DAYS LATE I KNOW BUT I WAS BUSY OK?
And would you believe it, I almost overlooked it!
Yeah. It's him again. Doesn't it seem like Blunderbuss released just a little while back? I mean, some of its songs are still on my morning jog playlist. The playlist that keeps changing almost every day, depending on how grunge the fresh monsoon air seems to me or how country a hot, dry summer day does or how metal a cold, bleak morning seems. Or how Hole I feel. Then nothing like the killer intro and drums on Jennifer's Body and the big F U on I Think That I Would Die to keep me going even as my right ankle defiantly aches (sprained it ages ago and its always a pain in the a...nkle). Dear Ankle, Someday you will ache like I ache. Makes sense? No? Am I rambling again? Yes?
And would you believe it, I almost overlooked it!
"Oh no you didn't."
Yeah. It's him again. Doesn't it seem like Blunderbuss released just a little while back? I mean, some of its songs are still on my morning jog playlist. The playlist that keeps changing almost every day, depending on how grunge the fresh monsoon air seems to me or how country a hot, dry summer day does or how metal a cold, bleak morning seems. Or how Hole I feel. Then nothing like the killer intro and drums on Jennifer's Body and the big F U on I Think That I Would Die to keep me going even as my right ankle defiantly aches (sprained it ages ago and its always a pain in the a...nkle). Dear Ankle, Someday you will ache like I ache. Makes sense? No? Am I rambling again? Yes?
Back to this beautiful man then?
"Oh lordy lord."
I don't need to state the obvious. Otherwise I'd just ramble more.
BUT LOOK AT DAT FAYCE PLZ.
Well, if you've heard Seven Nation Army and umm, maybe Icky Thump and a couple other great hits from his first mainstream band The White Stripes, you know he played with an equally ridiculously gorgeous chick who shared his last name (actually Meg White IS a certified White its Jacky boy here who took on her last name, married her and divorced her and claimed they were innocent brother-sister for only like the first 13 years of his career) and was killer at drums in a very minimalistic sort of way. The White Stripes were HUGE. Moreover, except for maybe Get Behind Me Satan, every single song on every album they released was gold. At least for me. Their sound was super unique. And like staring at both of their hot faces, addictive. (Boy was that cheesy. Sorry.)
Well, lets begin with all the changes that have happened since. The image has changed. The White Stripes were iconic with their red, white and black; candy stripes and polka dots.
Then they split, and the now solo artist Jack White took on a contrasting colour, blue. Here is his look from Blunderbuss:
His latest solo album thus continues the trend:
Blue could mean a lot of things. His new album is heavily influenced by the blues, so there's that. Or, the more abstract graduation from a loud and young, red blooded guy to a more sober, blue blooded gentleman.
Jack White's irritability with anyone and everyone not Jack White is well known. If Jack White were a girl, he'd be labelled 'feisty'. But he's a he, and initially this was all very 'hot' and 'eccentric' and so 'Byron-y" (mad, bad and dangerous to know, ya know?) and 'oh-my-god-he-is-Willy-Wonka-and-every-mad/cool-guy-played-by-Johnny-Depp', but after a while the whole aura of this image around Jack White became a little jaded.
White was slapped with an aggravated assault charge in 2003 and sent to anger management classes. Later, he and Karen Elson celebrated their divorce with a party in 2011. But in 2013, she got a restraining order against him, and he is locked in a custody battle with her over their two young kids.
It is in the backdrop of these developments that Lazaretto was written. And throughout the album, we find many references to his personal woes. Just before the album released, he had to issue a public apology, after tabloids published some personal emails of his which apparently trashed The Black Keys, Amy Winehouse, Lana Del Ray, Adele, even Meg White. And he seemed to add to these criticisms in an interview with Rolling Stone.
I can totally imagine him gritting his vampire teeth and dictating every word of this painful apology to his butler as he takes swigs of Johnnie Walker Blue Label (or...blood?), or quilling it plaintively while the fireplace rages against every letter quietly. Pick whatever dystopian period image suits you.
Sorry.
But the apology, a total PR move, is as Jack White as is a Justin Bieber in dyed black hair.
Taking a selfie, of course.
Well, lets get to the music now. Enough background building. How do I like the album? Its bloody brilliant, in my opinion. I like it more than Blunderbuss. Its a far more polished sound, again very un-Jack White, as he is the champion of analog recording and constructing guitars on the spot and god knows what but it must be cool, because hey, it's always cool.
So Lazaretto has White messing around in a very Tim Burton-esque setting with guess what...computers.
Make that Tim Burton meets Tron.
Make that Tim Burton meets Tron.
Tiron. Bron. Burron. Burrito.
The album sounds infinitely cooler than all that ^
The first track, Three Women, is a variation of an old blues song by the same name. White boasts of having been with three women, red, blonde hair and brunette. Well, that's the descending order of his relationships with ex wife Karen Elson (redhead), Rene Zellweger (blonde) and sister-from-another-mister Meg White (brunette). Although when a journalist recently pointed this out, White angrily denied the song being personal, although he sings that he's "got one in California (Zellweger) and one in Detroit (Meg White) and brought my woman to Nashville (Elson)". Either way, its a fun track, blazing blues and cheeky lyrics. Oh lawdy lord!
The next track, Lazaretto, is perhaps the best one on the album. It sets the tone for the whole album, with "My veins are blue and connected/ And every single bone in my brain is electric/ But I dig ditches like the best of 'em" followed by the delicious sounding bad Spanish "Yo trabajo duro/ Como en madera y yeso/ como en madera y yeso". So basically, our red blooded American male is now a blue blooded royal with nerve/ mental defects (there are no bones in the brains of us lesser mortals, actually, also, anaemic royalty anyone?!), but he's still doing his work well. The Spanish translates to: "I work hard, like in wood and plaster." That he's an avid furniture maker is well known. In his own words in an NPR interview, the character's "bragging about himself, but he’s actually bragging about real things he’s actually accomplished…not imaginary things or things he would like to do." In his typical punk rock fashion he prepares to piss off the fundamentalists and call God a she. "She grabs a stick and she pokes it at me/ When I say nothing I say everything" is a holla to the title, Lazaretto, which means a leper's quarantine zone. Leprosy causes nerve damage which makes the patient immune to pain. The character (I'm sure its Jack White only but I'm scared he'll hurl abuses at me too if I do this) is immune too any attempts by 'her' (his ex wife Elson?) to get his attention. The next one verse shows how quarantined White feels after losing custody of his kids, rotting bored in his cell "making models of people he used to know out of coffee and cotton". He simply "shakes God's hand". This could represent his relationship with his ex-wife. Since the separation is court-mandated, Jack can do nothing but to shake her hand even though he this is the last thing he wants to do. Then there's a killer signature Jack White guitar solo as he ruminates over all these events. But, there's a but in all these ballsy Jack White songs at the end, he's "so Detroit" he'll make it "rise from the ashes".
Redhead, blonde and brunette.
The next track, Lazaretto, is perhaps the best one on the album. It sets the tone for the whole album, with "My veins are blue and connected/ And every single bone in my brain is electric/ But I dig ditches like the best of 'em" followed by the delicious sounding bad Spanish "Yo trabajo duro/ Como en madera y yeso/ como en madera y yeso". So basically, our red blooded American male is now a blue blooded royal with nerve/ mental defects (there are no bones in the brains of us lesser mortals, actually, also, anaemic royalty anyone?!), but he's still doing his work well. The Spanish translates to: "I work hard, like in wood and plaster." That he's an avid furniture maker is well known. In his own words in an NPR interview, the character's "bragging about himself, but he’s actually bragging about real things he’s actually accomplished…not imaginary things or things he would like to do." In his typical punk rock fashion he prepares to piss off the fundamentalists and call God a she. "She grabs a stick and she pokes it at me/ When I say nothing I say everything" is a holla to the title, Lazaretto, which means a leper's quarantine zone. Leprosy causes nerve damage which makes the patient immune to pain. The character (I'm sure its Jack White only but I'm scared he'll hurl abuses at me too if I do this) is immune too any attempts by 'her' (his ex wife Elson?) to get his attention. The next one verse shows how quarantined White feels after losing custody of his kids, rotting bored in his cell "making models of people he used to know out of coffee and cotton". He simply "shakes God's hand". This could represent his relationship with his ex-wife. Since the separation is court-mandated, Jack can do nothing but to shake her hand even though he this is the last thing he wants to do. Then there's a killer signature Jack White guitar solo as he ruminates over all these events. But, there's a but in all these ballsy Jack White songs at the end, he's "so Detroit" he'll make it "rise from the ashes".
The next track, Temporary Ground is a light, country-esque number, talking about "floating lily islands" and "old explorers" who had it "easy as they discovered nothing new but returned home with answers of sad existence clues". Now though, we all have it harder, as there is nothing but God left to know, while he's left us all hanging with an "illusion of a home". I don't usually like such songs, but it does have a few good parts, though overall with the female background singer and country overtones it is a bit too pretty for my taste, for lack of a better word. At best it seems like a filler track.
Would You Fight For My Love is a poppy power chords all the way track about doubting his lover's intentions and not wanting to get too close lest he gets hurt. 'Well I'm afraid of being hurt it's true/ But not afraid of any physical pain/ Just as I am always scared of water/ But not afraid of standing out in the rain'.
The next song, High Ball Stepper, was the first single released from the album. The music video is artsy, with inanimate objects being manipulated by the sound of music.
High Ball Stepper - Jack White
It's a complete instrumental, there are no lyrics. Quite an interesting choice for the lead single. Overall, it is basically a repeating distorted guitar riff, with the signature Jack White piano frenzy popping up in between. The drums diminuendo out at the end and a final spurt of guitar echoes out the song. This tour is gonna be fun. I can imagine Jack White making crazy eyes as he jabs at the piano keys while *probably* looping (shock oh shock!) the repeating guitar parts, since he actually used *computers* this time and this song, as stated by him in a recent interview, was digitally edited by mixing three separate takes together.
Just One Drink is a fun, thumping number about White moaning 'I love you, but honey why don't you love me?' and asking her to 'put a fork in the road with me'. It also references two famous blues tracks 'Drinkin' wine Spodie-odie' and 'I asked for water (She gave me gasoline)'.
Alone in My Home is that blue hours track, ya know, the kind White probably wrote at 4 am with a glass of scotch and a typewriter for company as it rained outside. He calls his friends 'ghosts in chains' (reference to A Christmas Carol) who haven't visited him (grumpy old Uncle Scrooge?) in a long time, and now he's becoming a ghost, so that 'nobody can know me'. Though the lyrics are rueful, the melody is a satisfied, snug one. Almost like he comforts in his sadness.
Entitlement, though, refreshingly showcases this lonewolf's strong work ethic. After moaning about alienation and comfort in control, he '...can't bring myself to take without penance/Or atonement or sweat from my brow'. In a time when everyone feels entitled, why can't he too? You get the image of the craftsman Jack White, who makes furniture and music with equal precision, the kind who sometimes quarrels with his tools but is content to be left with them, alone. He's also singing about 'children today', sounding like an uncle disillusioned by the easy, spoilt world of the present. A shift in his usually devil-may-care attitude.
That Black Bat Licorice is the track I'd been waiting for since High Ball Stepper. Finally! Forget Uncle White being all Devdas-sy and poetic, here's a perfect track with tongue in cheek humorous lyrics:
'I wanna cut out my tongue and let you hold onto it for me/ Cause without my skull to amplify my sounds it might get boring'. With its voodoo blues and shaky fiddle-mandolin rhythm, it's a teasing number with a woman telling White to 'Behave Yourself' and White repeating the same, as if referring to himself in third person. The lyrics are gold. He also lives out his fantasy of being quarantined in a hospital so that he can focus on his work with 'atomic clock precision': 'The army, asylum, confinement in prison
Any place where there's a cot to clear my vision'. He'd said this in a previous interview: "My sort of fantasy that I have is, I wish that some other forces, some powers that be, would push me into this scenario for a month and lock me somewhere, instead of me doing it to myself all the time. I’m always imposing restrictions on myself. And so I guess my fantasy is, it would be so nice to be in a quarantine hospital, but not to die from it — just to know that I had to stay here for two months and I can’t do anything else. That’s why I named the album Lazaretto."
Well, that's a workaholic for you :P
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| Jack White making a crude guitar from scratch in 'It Might Get Loud' |
The violin outro begins with White light heartedly taking a swing at his formula by scoffing at it, "Now say the same damn thing with a violin!"
I Think I Found The Culprit sees White using the analogy of two birds, two crumbs (err...sounds like a very gross phrase :P) to de construct a flawed relationship where one partner is 'the uglier one always under the gun', giving everything, sacrificing the crumbs, while the culprit is 'upto no good'.
"Two crumbs on my windowsill/ Two birds sitting there perfectly still/ One of them up to no good/ The other one doing what he totally should"
This could also be interpreted as both the birds/partners doing nothing wrong, but White wanting to tag one a culprit and put the blame on as he has nothing to do, as the chorus says.
The concluding Want and Able is a delightful track, simple but thought provoking poetic lyrics, talking about the difference between desire (Want) and the means to do something (Able). "Like I wanna hold you, and see you, and feel you in my dreams/ But that's not possible, something simply will not let me." This could be about Meg White, as he's stated in the Vault Package book, " Want And Able’ is part two of a three song trilogy, the first of which is heard in the song ‘Effect And Cause’". He seems to want to make music with Meg more than anybody, but he is not able to anymore.
Overall a great album, with a lot of variety, but it's the fast numbers that were the best. I'd say my favourites are Lazaretto, High Ball Stepper, The Black Bat Licorice and Want & Able.
Once more, White draws attention to his brilliant songwriting and delights with his signature sound, albeit a bit more polished now. This one's sure to hog the Grammys like Blunderbuss. Here's a verse from Want & Able to mull over:
Who is the who, telling who what to do?
Being able is to freedom what wanting is to cruel
It's hard to tell it seems, which one of them's the fool
Is freedom a gift, that we only give to the ones that say I love you?
Being able is to freedom what wanting is to cruel
It's hard to tell it seems, which one of them's the fool
Is freedom a gift, that we only give to the ones that say I love you?
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| JUST LOOK AT HIM TOO |
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| Dass Right!!! |
