... I've decided to give a chronological listen to everything Jack White has recorded (that I can find -- I know he's done some "vinyl only" releases for e.g. Record Store Week and such, and may have difficulty tracking down online versions).
It looks like I've got four interwoven discographies to work with:
- Jack White proper (his solo releases, songs/albums he's guested on, etc.);
- The White Stripes;
- The Raconteurs; and
- The Dead Weather.
My top to bottom ranked order of preference from among those is 2, 3, 1, 4.
But that might change, because I've never listened to his stuff in any organized kind of way before.
Why now? Just the other day, I was discussing music with my brother, with both of us lamenting that the high point of it all was late '60s/early '70s, and me opining that to me, White is the most significant recording artist to come along in the last 25 years or so, precisely because a lot of his stuff captures what was best about that period.
There are newer bands whose music I think is OK, and there are older bands who have recorded stuff during that period that I've liked, but if I was told I was going to a desert island and could take the music of one person or group, and it had to be a person or group whose first album was released in 1997 or later, I can't think of anyone who'd compete with White as my choice. It's not even close. I can't think of any competition at all there.
On an "oh, how great the modern era is" triumphalism note, can you imagine what I'd have had to do to round up a similar quantity of specific musical output in, say, 1982? Going to physical record stores. Special ordering rare stuff or hoping to find it in bins in the back. Visiting friends to listen to or borrow their copies of stuff that was hard to find. Hell, even figuring out what all there was TO find.
I once walked several miles each way to get a new Rush album (Power Windows, 1985) on release day -- a year after I'd happened across a new Rush album (Grace Under Pressure, 1984) that I hadn't known was even out yet at a mall store.
Now, the vast majority of it will be as simple as saying "Alexa, play [insert album or song title] by [insert artist name]."
Speaking of which, I'll need to re-stream It Might Get Loud as part of this little project.
He's playing in St. Augustine in September, but Tamara seems curiously resistant to getting tickets. I gotta work on that. Never have seen him live.
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