Like...unhuh?
Initially, it sounds like all those advance reports of a seriously different WHITE STRIPES are to be borne out when you catch the first 20 seconds or so of "Blue Orchid." The high-end falsetto is so feminine you think it's either Meg or they've roped in a soul belter such as Lisa Lekaula, but it's only after it comes down an octave or so that you realise it's Jack after all. Oh, OK.
After that, the economic and Glam-my riffing and Meg's ruthlessly basic pounding all gradually slide into place and The White Stripes we know and love assemble before our ears, with the lyric (featuring the "get behind me" of the new album's title) as ever balanced precariously someplace between bitterness, desire and downright lasciviousness. Very clever. Oh, and then it ends just like THAT. Dead. And even that sounds bang on.
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So there you have it. "Blue Orchid" suggests everything's the same and eveything's also very different in Stripesworld 2005. Mind you, with the album having only just floated into my orbit, it's too early to say whether "Blue Orchid" is really a red herring or a pointer to more exotic blooms over the course of the long player. We'll get to that presently, but for now consider our interest freshly piqued.
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