Reviews - Week 25

The White Stripes

I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself

The White Stripes return with another single from their sublime album 'Elephant'. If you've been on another planet or have been shunning them out of some masochistic tendency you have then you won't know that the Stripes recently released one of the finest rock albums ever. 'I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself' builds gently from a tense combination of Jack's great vocals, subtle guitar and Meg's forceful interjections via her drum kit into a whirlwind of violent passions. It is hard to think of Bacharach and David ever imagining their song sounding like this. For the B-sides there is the equally ace countrified rock of 'Who's To Say...' and a Peel session version of a personal favourite of mine 'I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman'. What more could you want?

Label : XL Recordings

Release Date : 1 September 2003

Tracklisting
 
I Just Don't What To Do With Myself
Who's To Say
I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman (Live On John Peel Show)

Spiritualized

She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit)

With its blues metal riffs, classic rock and roll vocals 'She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit)' is bristling with class. If they had felt like including more feedback and keyboards it wouldn't have been out of place slipped into the Jesus & Mary Chain's 'Automatic'. This is far more dynamic and raw than I had thought Spiritualized could ever be. 'She Kissed Me...' is the first track to be taken from Spiritualized's new album 'Amazing Grace ®' which will be hitting the shops on 8 September. If it is any kind of indication of what the new album will sound like then it is odds on to eclipse their previous work.

Label: Spaceman Records

Release Date: 1 September 2003

The Libertines

I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself

Listening to these singles is like an amalgam of music from the last 50 (or more) years. Think new wave meets 80's indie with a serious splash of rock and touch of popular punk. When I hear 'Don't Look Back At The Sun' it sounds like the Only Ones 'Another Girl, Another Planet' sung by a voice somewhere between Buddy Holly, Jilted John and Elvis Costello. The demo of 'Tell The King' sounds like The Smiths while 'Mockingbird' is an old style rock & roll number. For all that, The Libertines, with producer Bernard Butler, have kept the recordings fresh and lively with far more of a homage than a theft to those that have come before them.

Label: Rough Trade

Release Date: 18 August 2003

Tracklisting
 
CD1
Don't Look Back Into The Sun
Death On The Stairs
Tell The King (demo)
 
CD2
Don't Look Back Into The Sun
Skint And Minted (demo)
Mockingbird

Bob Gray