I hate this whole new rock revolution thing. I hate the way my youth culture has been so subservient to those of the past. I hate the way the way the privately educated NME journalists want to draw the lines around "cool" and assume everyone wants to be in their club, even though their baring on the record buying public is a shade above minimal. I hate the way a band can directly lift from another and now that it's cool they can get away with it. I hate the way that Britain has already had the same thing with Britpop and has to suffer it from around the world. I also hate the way The White Stripes are seen as little more than the leaders of this whole thing.

The White Stripes are not trying to copy 1960s-70s rock n roll. Their influences run much deeper, back to early 20th century blues and all the way around. They are not revivalists. Even though this album was proudly recorded with minimal 8 track studio facilities it seems far better attributed to their sound ahead of any attempt to replicated their record collection. Keyboards, multi tracked vocals and, most shockingly of all for this band, bass all turn up on this release.

The bass introduction on the opener "Seven Nation Army" looks to tell you that everything about this album is different to the smash predecessor "White Blood Cells". This both is and is not the case. The chords for track 3 "There's No Home For You Here" sound almost exactly the same as "Dead Leaves On The Dirty Ground" but the fantastically worked melody and vocal treatment over the song are quite unlike anything The White Stripes have given us on their 3 previous works. "In The Cold, Cold Night" sung by Meg shows a slightly more sinister White Stripes than we are used to. "The Hardest Button" To Button is another song that is perhaps in guitar sound a vocal alone identifiable as The White Stripes.

This, of course, is not to say they have made a Kid A to their OK Computer - far from it. "I Want To Be The Boy To Warm Your Mother's Heart" could have come off any of the Stripes' 4 albums, not least of all White Blood Cells. The unusual cover is still there in Bacarach's "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" and the quirky finisher featuring Jack, Meg and Holly Golightly singing "Well It's True That We Love One Another". They still provide the softer side of themselves that has developed throughout their career ("You've Got Her In Your Pocket") and the hard, heavy riffs ("Little Acorns", "Hypnotize") and their unique blues/punk fusions ("Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine"). The whole album is still driven by Jack White's equally harsh and powerful voice and guitar. Everything that makes The White Stripes be The White Stripes is still here in abundance and never reaches any danger of being squashed by the new additions to their sound.

It is an excellent album, probably the best thing The White Stripes will ever do, but then we all thought that last time. If you didn't like what they were doing before, you probably won't like what they are doing now. If you did, and I did, then you will be well into this album.

I hate this whole new rock revolution thing. I hate the way my youth culture has been so subservient to those of the past. I hate the way the way the privately educated NME journalists want to draw the lines around "cool" and assume everyone wants to be in their club, even though their baring on the record buying public is a shade above minimal. I hate the way a band can directly lift from another and now that it's cool they can get away with it. I hate the way that Britain has already had the same thing with Britpop and has to suffer it from around the world. I also hate the way The White Stripes are seen as little more than the leaders of this whole thing.

The White Stripes are not trying to copy 1960s-70s rock n roll. Their influences run much deeper, back to early 20th century blues and all the way around. They are not revivalists. Even though this album was proudly recorded with minimal 8 track studio facilities it seems far better attributed to their sound ahead of any attempt to replicated their record collection. Keyboards, multi tracked vocals and, most shockingly of all for this band, bass all turn up on this release.

The bass introduction on the opener "Seven Nation Army" looks to tell you that everything about this album is different to the smash predecessor "White Blood Cells". This both is and is not the case. The chords for track 3 "There's No Home For You Here" sound almost exactly the same as "Dead Leaves On The Dirty Ground" but the fantastically worked melody and vocal treatment over the song are quite unlike anything The White Stripes have given us on their 3 previous works. "In The Cold, Cold Night" sung by Meg shows a slightly more sinister White Stripes than we are used to. "The Hardest Button" To Button is another song that is perhaps in guitar sound a vocal alone identifiable as The White Stripes.

This, of course, is not to say they have made a Kid A to their OK Computer - far from it. "I Want To Be The Boy To Warm Your Mother's Heart" could have come off any of the Stripes' 4 albums, not least of all White Blood Cells. The unusual cover is still there in Bacarach's "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" and the quirky finisher featuring Jack, Meg and Holly Golightly singing "Well It's True That We Love One Another". They still provide the softer side of themselves that has developed throughout their career ("You've Got Her In Your Pocket") and the hard, heavy riffs ("Little Acorns", "Hypnotize") and their unique blues/punk fusions ("Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine"). The whole album is still driven by Jack White's equally harsh and powerful voice and guitar. Everything that makes The White Stripes be The White Stripes is still here in abundance and never reaches any danger of being squashed by the new additions to their sound.

It is an excellent album, probably the best thing The White Stripes will ever do, but then we all thought that last time. If you didn't like what they were doing before, you probably won't like what they are doing now. If you did, and I did, then you will be well into this album.