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From its opening bars of stop/start low end, to the motivational tape samples, to the aforementioned multi-tracking, Elephant just screams and begs to be viewed as a departure from the Stripes’ well-known approach. The problem is that in between all this commotion lie the same vintage jams that the group has trafficked in for years.
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Elephant isn't one of those albums that'll change your life, or your tastes, or even the face of your music collection -- it's just a strong and consistent collection of powerful rock songs.
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The eloquence, barbarism, tenderness and sweat-drenched vitality of 'Elephant' make it the most fully-realised White Stripes album yet.
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'Elephant' is already this year's most crucial purchase.
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Therein lies the contradiction of The White Stripes. How do you combine the shit-hot with the "twee?" Elephant's shortcomings suggests the enterprise is futile.
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It is a glorious thing to hear. It will be one of the best things you hear all year.
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Elephant overflows with quality -- it's full of tight songwriting, sharp, witty lyrics, and judiciously used basses and tumbling keyboard melodies that enhance the band's powerful simplicity.
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'De Stijl' is just about better song for song, but the sheer vitality and energy of this one alone makes 'Elephant' their most accomplished record to date.
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The duo have refined their sound until it is shatteringly effective. Nevertheless, Elephant sounds suspiciously like the White Stripes' apotheosis.
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A baby elephant still, bigger, brighter than its two siblings, but it's in your kitchen, and it ain't leaving anytime soon.
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It's a massive success.
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Not that there aren't hints of greatness on Elephant.... That said, ''Elephant'' also flaunts everything that's contrived about the band -- the gimmicks for which they've become better known than their actual music.
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Each album, from the White Stripes to De Stijl to White Blood Cells, has shown their evolution from Blind Willie McTell cover band with a pop sensibility to full-fledged, honest-to-goodness rock 'n' roll gods, a status finally reached on their latest disc.
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All the elements of previous White Stripes records surface again, but in weirder, more intense strains that don't break with Jack and Meg White's past, yet don't slavishly adhere to it, either.
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A masterpiece, regardless of hype.
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Never has the pair sounded more fresh and self-assured; nor has it delivered such a fully realized work before.
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Elephant is a startlingly dark and consistent record, incorporating frequencies never before heard on a White Stripes album.
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It is stranger, thornier, and meaner than anything in the band’s past.
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A follow-up album that not only meets expectations, it blows them away.
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So the news is good. They didn't sell out, they didn't run out of ideas, and they were able to find still more places to yell "Whooo!" Go buy this now.
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The second side is the dullest sequence they've put together since tracks five through 11 on their debut.
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UncutLaced with enough blue-eyed longing to make the most diehard Gram Parsons fan weep with wonder and the sort of verbal acuity that would give even Dylanologists pause for thought, Elephant is where the tabloid phenomenon of summer 2001 prove they are no flash in the pan by making a truly phenomenal record. [May 2003, p.94]
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MojoWhere Elephant does differ from what has gone before is in terms of quality. It's just better all round. [Apr 2003, p.88]
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Q MagazineA record sufficiently impressive to suggest that White Blood Cells caught Jack and Meg using only a fraction of their talents. [Apr 2003, p.98]
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BlenderThey break their own rules, even adding expansive guitar solos, to keep themselves interested and fans off-balance. [May 2003, p.123]
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SpinThis is not garage rock; this is art rock. And that's a compliment. [May 2003, p.107]
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MagnetIt's what the British Invasion might've sounded like had it come after punk rock. [#58, p.109]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 406 out of 457
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Mixed: 19 out of 457
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Negative: 32 out of 457
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Oct 19, 2011
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Sep 22, 2011
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SimonBDec 1, 2003