De Stijl

"You're Pretty Good Looking" is one of the all-time great opening tracks, with stop-start dynamics copped from various punk acts throughout time. "Hello Operator" turns a jump-rope rhyme into a desperate plea. Three-quarters through "Little Bird", it sounds like Jack is mucking with the tape speed as he speeds up and slows down his guitar solo. Other standouts include the weary, acoustic "I'm Bound to Pack It Up", playa-hata call-out "Truth Doesn't Make a Noise" and the screaming noise-fest "Let's Build a Home" that starts out with a tape of a child singing a song he's written, underlining the innocence of the band's lyrics. "Why Can't You Be Nicer to Me?" is about as straightforward and yearning as love songs get.

Throughout the proceedings, Meg White helps hold down the low end by alternately attacking the drum set like John Bonham on a particularly bad mental health day and insistently tapping like Maureen Tucker on some of the Velvets' mellower tracks. Jack White is, simply put, a garage rock virtuoso of the highest order, and pens lyrics like a nine-year-old Bob Dylan. Between 'De Stijl' and Nirvana's unplugged album, I'm now fairly intent on exploring the roots of rock music. The Stripes are historians of the first order and will keep the ghost of rock's glory days alive well into the twenty-first century, doubtless.


Possibly the best White Stripes album and a garage rock classic   December 28, 2005
C. Cross (New Haven, CT USA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

This album is a must-own, period. If you thought a guitarist and a drummer couldn't rock like any other band prepare to be proven wrong! "De Stijl" is arguably the best Stripes album with every track being not only memorable and fun but filled with interesting lyrics. Like a modern day Bob Dylan, The Stripes keep churning out music worth repeated listens and for this alone it deserves a place in your record collection along with the rest of the their albums currently available. Jack White is a great singer and pretty good guitarist - he's got a lot of charisma and charm. The lyrics are always very well written and sometimes pretty quotable (they're definitely worth anazlying). Musically it's pretty simple stuff, but that's what's so great about it - it's minimalistic but somehow still manages to be highly engaging (you'll understand once you hear it - it's very hard-rockin'). I couldn't recommend this album enough - along with "White Blood Cells" this is a MUST-have!

Highlights include:
the whole album!


Chapter two of the gospel of Jack White   February 13, 2004
Joe Halloran (Westchester, Ohio United States)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Only a few bands in history have been as consistantly excellent for their first four albums as the White Stripes. The Beatles, The Smiths, and Radiohead are the only three that come to mind(if I left anybody out let me know). The most obvious differences between De Stijl and the self titled album are the songwriting and the production. Jack's writing matured quite a bit on De Stijl, and the production is more polished, yet still raw enough to be considered vintage Stripes. "You're pretty good looking (for a girl)" is a solid opening track and more accessible than "Jimmy the Exploder" from the debut album. "Hello Operator" and "Little Bird" are two classic White Stripes songs. They feature some great blues guitar and Meg's thumping drums provide plenty of rhythm. Jack's voice is awesome as always, and it is a shame that he doesn't get more credit for his terrific vocals. On "I'm bound to pack it up" Jack plays a stand up bass. The song also features violin and maracas. Of course the cover of Son House's "Death Letter" is electrifying(they played the song live at the grammys recently, much to my delight). "Truth doesn't make a noise" is a mid-tempo acoustic piece with a piano accompaniement in a Dylan-esque tradition. "Let's build a home" is one of the best songs on the album. It's fast and to the point with some slide guitar mixed in between verses. They close the album with "Your southern can is mine", a very catchy acoustic blues sing along which is the perfect ending to The White Stripes most bluesy album. It will be nice to sit down and listen to this in about thirty years and just reminisce.


More genius   June 21, 2000
Chris Martel (Madison, WI)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

As the liner notes say, "Even if the goal of achieving beauty from simplicity is aesthetically less exciting it may force the mind to acknowledge the simple components that make the complicated beautiful."

Simplicity is key here, although this album is a tad more sophisticated than its predecessor. The songs encompass a much broader range of musical style, centered around delta blues riffs and chilling vocals. Many of the songs (about half) have a much slower tempo and a more indie feel than the stuff on the first album. The remaining songs are pure, raw, foot stomping madness that only these two could pull off.

Overall, a great CD, but I prefer the dirtier, gritier feel of their earlier releases.