zz1000zz
I have always enjoyed The White Stripes albums, which seems to make me an oddity. GilAskan stated the opinion i hear the most, one which always bothered me.
It seems i always hear this when a band tries not to have a single sound. Experimentation seems to make people mad, as they buy the album expecting everything to be whichever single they heard on the radio. Music which differs from some cliché sound is met with protests, despite it often being the integral part of a band. If Jack did what most people seem to want him to do, his music would die as quickly as any other pop-indie group with one good set.
*shrugs*
Of course, there are some problems, as with any other band. Lately the one that bothers me the most is that it seems the songs in the albums do not segway into each other. One just stops, then the other starts.
P.S. Though Jack proves my statement, "Bass players are overrated."
I love their experimentation, just not the format of the albums. I've always considered White Stripes to be a very minimalist group. Their simple, down-to-Earth rock sound has always been intriguing, and I've always thought that full-length albums have defied that minimalist nature.
I loved the blues, jazz, and ragtime departures on "Get Behind Me Satan", for example, but would have far prefered that they just released either 3-5 singles or an EP rather than a 10 or 12 track album.
As for the transistions- I think it largely comes from their live style. Many bands depend on the flow of songs to coordinate a good concert. But the duo of the White Stripes really only have to organize themselves. In their live concerts, they're known to randomly switch songs with no warning (sometimes even mid-song); with only two members, one makes the change, then the other adjusts. Because of this eplay style, I suspect they've stopped caring about album flow and worked harder on making strong independent songs.