THE WHITE STRIPES Elephant (V2) Rating: NNN Rating: NNN
It’s heartening to know that the White Stripes’ phenomenal success doesn’t appear to have changed much — apart from their new Elephant disc being released with six different sleeve designs. Reportedly recorded in two weeks on an eight-track, Elephant retains some of the roughness that always gave their garage-pop its rockin’ edge, but the maturing process is starting to reveal the musical limitations of the Jack and Meg White duo concept. Their attempts at ballads, particularly the ill-advised crack at the Bacharach/David evergreen I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself, fall embarrassingly flat. While Elephant has some enjoyably trashy moments, a stunning breakthrough it’s not.
