Jack White – I’m Shakin’ (2012)
For reasons not completely clear to me, I have never really liked the work of Jack White. There was something too mannered and contrived about The White Stripes to ever love them and his solo career has similarly left me cold.
Following my eventual submission to Spotify, I have started listening to full “albums” again. “Blunderbuss” seems to have got rave reviews so I have given it several spins.
Overall, I still have the impression that Jack White is someone with nothing to say but with plenty of ways of not saying it. The breadth of his styles, for me, reveals the paucity of his content ….
The exception that proves the rule is his stunning cover of Little Willie John’s “I’m Shakin’” which was originally recorded around 1960-61. Little Willie John has already appeared on this blog in his own right with the killer, definitive reading of “Fever” from 1956 (check here). The Blasters did a pretty good cover of “I’m Shakin’” in 1981 but Jack White’s is the one ….
Just love the guitar, video and pronunciation of “noy-vous” at 2:15!
I agree with you somewhat: Jack White definitely does juggle too many plates, but I don’t think that necessarily means he has nothing to say. However, I also have not been interested in much he’s done (I do like Dead Weather, but that’s as much for Alison Mosshart as Black) until “Blunderbuss.” Something finally clicks; I attribute it to his finally taming his annoying guitar gimmicks that bothered me to no end on later White Stripes releases.