Jokingly referred to as the White Stripes' British album, Elephant is scattered with cultural references that give away the fact it was recorded far from home. Just listen to the lyrics on "Seven Nation Army" ("From the Queen of England to the hounds of Hell") or the album outro, in which someone chips in, "Jolly good, cup of tea?" But while there are new twists here, from Meg White discovering her voice to a tongue-in-cheek threesome with Holly Golightly, Elephant is no great departure for Jack and Meg White. They still push their creativity (and the boundaries of their eight-track) to new heights. Check out the startling, Queen-inspired "There's No Home for You Here," while the deep bass line on "Seven Nation Army" makes it a classic indie dance track. But while some songs fly off into new realms, there's plenty of their trademark straight-up bluesy rock, notably the overtly sexual "Ball and Biscuit." And there's Jack's plaintive, resolutely modest and yet theatrical voice. --Caroline Butler

Double colored vinyl. One white. One red.

A defining event in the garage rock revival, this 2003 album earned platinum and shot to #6 U.S. and #1 U.K. Winning Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album and for Best Rock Song for the #1 Modern Rock 'Seven Nation Army,' Rolling Stone called the album 'a work of pulverizing perfection.' Also on the Modern Rock chart, 'The Hardest Button To Button' reached #8 and 'I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself' Top 25.

I give this album four stars just for Meg's impressive drumming alone. She really knows how to jam out on drums! Move over "Keith Moon", you've got some competition! Unfortunately, Jack White has no talent and makes this album crap, but Meg saves it. Bravo, Meg!

This is the story of Jackie and Meg, who made some type of deal with the prince of something or other to become famous. The result? Throngs of mind-controlled & brain washed youth--who collectively could not distinguish Mozart from the sound of cats having sex, are programmed to love this "music." These robots, along with the Tavistock Institute's favorite brain-washing mechanism--MTV, make Jackie and Meg famous. Their nails-on-a-chalkboard sound is typically wrapped in a very interesting CD cover. Such is the case for "Get Behind Me Satan," which is nothing more than a tribute to their master. This is nothing more than The Partridge Family on 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine.

When I first listened to Elephant, I had no clue who the White Stripes were, or what to expect. Needless to say, I had an open mind. My first thoughts were about the first song, one that I usually skip now because I like the others too much. "Seven Nation Army" is the kind of song that brings people in, catches their attention. It held mine for quite a while, and I still don't mind listening to it, but compared to the others on the album, I find it around par for the course.

"Black Math" is another song that sort of draws in people. Quite simply, it had two layers: the first was the catchy song that drew in more fans, and the seconds was decoding the lyrics. Were they actually literal, or was there something else to it?

The next few songs (the 'softer' ones) I didn't quite like at first, although a few listens through (especially when everything was calm) changed my mind: I loved those songs! While I'm part of the younger generation (so go ahead and criticize me for that) I thought several of the lyrics were pretty creative (if not, dare I say, or-ig-in-al), especially on "You've Got Her In Your Pocket".

I can honestly say I skipped "Ball and Biscuit" the first several times I heard it. 'Seven minutes?!?' My mind kept saying, 'That won't hold your attention!' I matured a bit (it took maybe two years to start fully appreciating music as a whole), and "Ball and Biscuit" became my favorite song. Why so I cannot explain, but there is just something about the simplicity of Meg's drumming mixed with Jack's varying guitar assault, how they turn the action up three times, changing it up just a bit every time. Would you believe they were inspired by a hanging microphone?

The other songs were a bit faster paced, and so I caught on to those more quickly, although "Hypnotize" was an instant favorite, and still is. "The Air Near My Fingers" kind of builds up to "Girl You Have No Faith In Medicine"; I liked the latter much better at first, then "The Air Near My Fingers" grew on me.

As with The White Stripes other albums, it ends on a humorous note with "It's True That We Love One Another", probably the weakest song on the album, although I don't mind it every once in a while. Just because it's the weakest on the album doesn't make it a weak song, if the album is good. In this case, I definitely think so.

By the way, I would like to point out the live performances by The White Stripes, especially the seven minute hurricane of the Son House cover "Death Letter". They take the album version, already changed up a bit from the original, and add on some great on-stage chemistry, along with a few killer guitar solos that might change the mind of those disagreeing with Jack White's position on the Rolling Stone's list.

I'll post it here, although I doubt anyone that doesn't like the Stripes would ever actually watch a seven minute video, yet alone agree that it is pretty good: [...]

That's it! I hope I could help at least one person with their choice. If you can find it for anything less than $[...], buy it! If you like their other albums, buy it anyway!

Not great, but good. There's a few songs on there I'd listen to more than once.

OK, while I'm in a good mood, I'll make this polite: Jack White can't hold a tune in a bucket, neither can Meg. A five-year-old could drum better than Meg White. This duo should be mown down with a truck for slaughtering a Bacharach/David classic.

This is one of the worst albums I have ever heard. I'm sticking with The Band until things improve... God help us all.