Books by Bob

Classic Albums

It's always good to catch up on some of the classic albums of the pop-rock era, but these albums will be especially good companions during the coronavirus crisis. We'll put up a new classic album each week, reaching into different musical genres and picked from different eras.

This Week

The White Stripes - White Blood Cells

The duo's Jack White has always loved being mysterious about his personal history, even introducing his drummer Meg White as his sister, though she was really his ex-wife.  So White would probably be delighted if someone started spreading the world that he was with Robert Johnson at the mythical crossroads when the legendary bluesman made a pack with the devil to gain superhuman musical powers.  By the time this album was released, White - as a singer, songwriter and guitarist - was already so thrilling that one might have thought there might be something to that crossroads scenario.  How else do you explain someone whose fearless independence and explosive artistry placed him in a great rock and blues tradition that stretched all the way back to Elvis, Johnny Cash and Sun Records roster Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters at Chess Records?

The Stripes music was smart, liberating, witty, teasing and wonderfully sensual, and this album is a wonderful introduction.  White's songs range from the urgent blues-rock of "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" and "Fell in Love With a Girl" to the invigorating rockabilly, Gram Parsons-inspired "Hotel Yorba" and the sweet, tuneful innocent, Paul Westerberg-like "We're Going to Be Friends."  And don't think the Stripes was a one-man show.  Meg White was a remarkably appealing and versatile drummer whose steady, insistent hand serves as an anchor for Jack's sweeping emotional excursions.  After "White Blood Cells," you should proceed immediately to other Stripes albums, especially "Elephant" (2003) and "Get Behind Me Satan" (2005).  At the start of the new century, there was no better band in America.

Check out previous albums of the week here

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