Video: The White Stripes: "Icky Thump", "Effect and Cause", and "My Doorbell" (live on "Later With Jools Holland")
Sorry, Albuquerque. But if you live just about anyplace else, expect the White Stripes to be thumping ickily this year in a venue near you. In the meantime, the duo have gone on the UK TV show hosted by ex-Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland to preview a couple of songs from their new album, Icky Thump (due June 19 in the U.S. on Third Man/Warner Bros.).
The title track remains a thunderous, Zep-minded rocker, with Meg White getting a deep, lumbering beat out of relatively simple drumming and Jack White telling pimps they can't also be prostitutes. Mid-tempo heartbreak song "Effect and Cause" modifies a 12-bar blues on an acoustic guitar, with Jack hollering new Stripes maxims-- "If you're headed to the grave, then you don't blame the hearse"-- where singers from Eddie Cochran to Alan Jackson would sing "Summertime Blues". Finally, Jack picks up bass and Holland takes the keys for a loose, lively rendition of "My Doorbell", from 2005's Get Behind Me Satan. They don't even make Jools find something red to wear.
The White Stripes: "Icky Thump"
The White Stripes: "Effect and Cause"
The White Stripes: "My Doorbell" [ft. Jools Holland]