Elephant (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Elephant
Type = studio
Artist = The White Stripes


Released = April 1, 2003
Recorded = November 2001, April 2002 at Toe-Rag Studios and BBC Maida Vale Studio, London, England
Genre = Alternative rock, Blues-Rock
Length = 49:56
Label = V2 (US)
XL (Europe)
Producer = Jack White, Liam Watson
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:twx8b5p4zsqe~T1 link]
*Mojo Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/whitestripes/elephant/ link]
*"NME" (9/10) [http://www.nme.com/reviews/7000.htm link]
*Pitchfork Media (6.9/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/23153/White_Stripes_Elephant link]
*Q Rating|4|5 [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/whitestripes/elephant/ link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|5|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/271218/review/5940476/elephant link]
*"Spin" Rating|5|5 [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/whitestripes/elephant/ link]
*Tiny Mix Tapes Rating|3.5|5 [http://tinymixtapes.com/spip.php?article642 link]
*Uncut Rating|5|5 [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/whitestripes/elephant/ link]
Last album = "White Blood Cells"
(2001)
This album = "Elephant"
(2003)
Next album = "Get Behind Me Satan"
(2005)

"Elephant" is the fourth album by American alternative rock band The White Stripes. Released on April 1, 2003 on V2 records, the album marks the band's major label debut. Despite this change, Heather Phares of Allmusic believed the album "sounds even more pissed-off, paranoid, and stunning than its predecessor…Darker and more difficult than White Blood Cells." [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jzfoxq9aldje allmusic ((( Elephant > Overview ))) ] ] The record garnered much critical acclaim upon its release, [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hbfwxqljldae~T1 allmusic ((( The White Stripes > Biography ))) ] ] and went on to win a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album in 2004.

Background and production

Album

The White Stripes recorded "Elephant" in two weeks during 2002 in London's Toe Rag Studios. Jack White produced the album with antiquated equipment, including an eight-track tape machine and pre-1960s recording gear.Fridge, David (April 17, 2003), [http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&AN=9491694&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live "Living Color"] . "Rolling Stone". (920): 102]

Cover art

The album has been released with at least six different versions of the front cover—different covers for the CD and LP editions in the US, the UK and elsewhere. [ [http://www.whitestripes.com/lo-fi/discs.html?type=albums&release=3 The White Stripes official website] , index to album artwork including covers, page 1 of 3. Page retrieved 21 June 2007.] To give an example, on the US CD edition Meg White is sitting on the left of a circus travel trunk and Jack is sitting on the right holding a cricket bat over the ground, while on the UK CD edition the cricket bat touches the ground and the image is mirrored so that their positions on the amplifier are reversed. The cryptic symbolism of the album art includes a skull sitting on the floor in the background, as well as peanuts and peanut shells in the foreground, and on the circus travel trunk appears the mark "III," Jack White's signature. Jack White is also displaying a mano cornuta, while Meg White appears to be barefoot and crying, with a rope tied around her ankle and leading out of frame. Both have small white ribbons tied to their fingers.

In an interview with Q Magazine in 2007, Jack White said, "If you study the picture carefully, Meg and I are elephant ears in a head-on elephant. But it's a side view of an elephant, too, with the tusks leading of either side." He went on to say, "I wanted people to be staring at this album cover and then maybe two years later, having stared at it for the 500th time, to say, 'Hey, it's an elephant!'"

Reception

The White Stripes had been gaining momentum with their previous three albums and were generally lauded in critical circles. Upon its release, critical response to this album was overwhelmingly positive, and many critics hailed it as the one of the defining events of the 2000s garage rock revival."Uncut" magazine remarked that "Elephant" is where the tabloid phenomenon of summer 2001 prove they are no flash in the pan by making a truly phenomenal record." [Byline unknown (May 2003), "Elephant". "Uncut". volume unknown: 94] David Fricke (with "Rolling Stone") called it "a work of pulverizing perfection," adding, "It will be one of the best things you hear all year." and Allmusic said the album "overflows with quality". [Phares, Heather (2003). [http://wm05.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=2:53:27|PM&sql=Alfja7ia4g75r "Review"] AllMusic.com. Retrieved September 11, [2007] ] Critics also commented on the development of the band. "NME" noted that "The eloquence, barbarism, tenderness and sweat-drenched vitality of "Elephant" make it the most fully-realised White Stripes album yet." [Author unknown (2003). [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/whitestripes/elephant Elephant] MetaCritic.com. Retrieved September 11, 2007] PopMatters said the album cemented "their evolution from Blind Willie McTell cover band with a pop sensibility to full-fledged, honest-to-goodness rock 'n' roll gods." [Alves, Tim (April 4, 2003). [http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/w/whitestripes-elephant.shtml The White Stripes: Elephant"] PopMatters.com. Retrieved September 11, 2007.] The album enjoys a metacritic rating of 92. [ [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/whitestripes/elephant?q=elephant Elephant] Metacritic.com. Retrieved September 11, 2007.] Negative critique, though rare, was centered around the "gimmicks" that surround the music, most notably, the White Stripes' insistence on being called siblings. "So maybe it's time to drop the enigmatic charade," Lorraine Ali (with "Newsweek") pleaded, although she concluded, "Elephant" still sounds great." [Ali, Lorraine (April 14, 2003), [http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&AN=9461056&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live "The Second Coming"] . "Newsweek". 141 (15):57]

The album debuted at number one in the United Kingdom and reached number six on the "Billboard 200" in the US. The album won Grammys for Best Alternative Album and Best Rock Song ("Seven Nation Army"). RS500|390 It was also placed thirty-ninth in Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of all time. [(2003). [http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/albums/results.html 100 Greatest Albums] . Channel 4. Retrieved September 11, 2007] In December 2003, "NME" made it their Album of the Year.

Track listing

All songs written by Jack White, except where noted.

CD

#"Seven Nation Army" – 3:51
#"Black Math" – 3:03
#"There's No Home for You Here" – 3:43
#"I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:46
#"In the Cold, Cold Night" – 2:58
#"I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart" – 3:20
#"You've Got Her in Your Pocket" – 3:39
#"Ball and Biscuit" – 7:19
#"The Hardest Button to Button" – 3:32
#"Little Acorns" (Mort Crim, J. White) – 4:09
#"Hypnotize" – 1:48
#"The Air Near My Fingers" – 3:40
#"Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine" – 3:17
#"It's True That We Love One Another" – 2:42

LP

ide one

#"Seven Nation Army" – 3:51
#"Black Math" – 3:03
#"There's No Home for You Here" – 3:43
#"I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:46
#"In the Cold, Cold Night" – 2:58
#"I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart" – 3:20
#"You've Got Her in Your Pocket" – 3:39

ide two

#"Ball and Biscuit" – 7:19
#"The Hardest Button to Button" – 3:32
#"Little Acorns" (Mort Crim, J. White) – 4:09
#"Hypnotize" – 1:48
#"The Air Near My Fingers" – 3:40
#"Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine" – 3:17
#"Well It's True That We Love One Another" – 2:42

*Many UK copies of the vinyl split the album into four sides across two records

Personnel

*Jack White – guitar, piano, Vocals
*Meg White – drums, vocals
*Holly Golightly – vocals
*Mort Crim – spoken word vocals
*K. Johnson – author
*Ian Montone – navigator

Charts and certifications

Footnotes

External links

*Discogs release|name=Elephant|id=367211 (UK version)
*Discogs release|name=Elephant|id=379819 (U.S. version)

succession box
before = "Meteora" by Linkin Park
title = UK number one album
years = April 12 2003 – April 25 2003
after = "A Rush of Blood to the Head" by Coldplay