WHITE STRIPES SINGLES.....Not to get too indie on you, but it seems as though some enterprising young bootlegger has cobbled together the first few WHITE STRIPES singles and put out a CD unsurprisingly entitled "Singles". It's quite good -- aside from some excellent A-sides already on their first two CDs ("Hello Operator", "The Big Three Killed My Baby"), you get some live staples such as "Lord, Send Me An Angel" (you and I know this song as Blind Willie McTell's "Ticket Agent Blues"), Dolly Parton's "Jolene" and a killer trio of Captain Beefheart covers that came out on a Sub Pop 45: "Party of Special Things To Do", "China Pig" and "Ashtray Heart". Especially strong are a pair of 1960s covers from The Hentchmen w/ Stripes guitarist Jack White playing along called "Some Other Guy / Psycho Daisies" -- this came out on micro-indie Italy Records and probably can't be tracked down easily. This band's fame and fortune (if the latter even exists, which I kinda doubt) is somewhat baffling to me. WHY them? Why now? Are kids really plunking down their allowance on this tough, sincere, genre-hopping garagy blues? Is this somehow part of the horrifying "Adult Alternative" format, as hinted at by the New York Times this past Sunday? Is a spike in Trout Mask Replica sales next (a la 1992 Vaselines and Wipers mania from the Nirvana connection)? In any event, if you can track down this one it makes a fine addition to their three full-length CDs.

posted by Jay H. at 5:10 PM