Jack White Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016

Jack White's "Acoustic Recordings 1998 - 2016" is not, as I expected, stripped-down demos of The White Stripes' greatest hits. Instead, these twenty-six songs (released as either a double CD or double LP) are compiled from most of Jack White's myriad projects-The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, his solo albums, a few odds and ends-arranged chronologically, and feature mostly remastered B-sides, remixes, and alternate versions of songs you've never heard on the radio.

The idea seems to be a retrospective of Jack White's softer side, absent of the floor-hammering riffs and bluesy electric-scuzz that shot White's career to the moon with tracks like "Fell In Love With A Girl," "Seven Nation Army," and "Blue Orchid." But even without the big guns, the first handful of tracks- "Apple Blossom," "Hotel Yorba," "We Are Gonna Be Friends" - are catalog staples, fan-favorites that no Stripes fan would leave off their playlist.

It's also in the early Stripes songs that Andrew Mendelson's remastering is most apparent: the OG cut of "Sugar Never Tasted So Good" is flat, as if recorded on two tin mics in a sheetrock basement (pictures from Ghetto Recorders Studio circa '98, where the Stripes recorded it, suggest that's a fair assessment); the remaster manages to give the track some range by texturizing the guitar and lifting Jack's vocals out of the background.

The polish on later songs isn't so obvious, and, likewise, not all the oddities are winners: the Beck-produced "Honey, We Can't Afford to Look This Cheap," is harsh and unfinished; the honkytonk grunge of "Just One Drink" is at odds with the cleaner acoustic sound; and the previously unreleased "City Lights" isn't bad by any stretch, but it's exactly the filler you'd expect to be cut from "Get Behind Me Satan."

The one song that truly stands out here, mostly because it's so out of character, is "Love Is The Truth." Written for a Coca-Cola ad that only aired once (in 2006, and only in Australia), "Love" sounds like an outtake from Neil Diamond's "12 Songs" from the year before - it owes so much to Diamond's patented treacle in fact - specifically, "Delirious Love," - that I wouldn't be surprised if Coca-Cola didn't continue to air the commercial for fear of legal reprisal. (I'm not kidding. And by the way, the commercial itself is definitely worth looking-up: directed by the late Nagi Noda, it's what a White Stripes video would look like if ASIMO tried to bodysnatch Michel Gondry.)

It isn't clear what niche "Acoustic Recordings" is trying to fill: it doesn't best serve as an entry-point the way a greatest-hits would; Jack White fans will already own most of these songs on their respective albums; and if you're not already a fan, these semi-obscure tunes won't change your mind.

At worst, this album is provisional, a novelty that's rounded out by the Third Man Records website, which I think offers more insight into Jack White as a nuts-and-bolts audio engineer than the music alone might convey. But even if it's a place-holder, "Acoustic Recordings" is a potent apertif for whatever comes next - another solo album, a new collaborative effort, or something else entirely. This Whatever he turns out, I'm looking forward to it.

"Jack White Acoustic Recordings 1998 - 2016"
Jack White
Third Man Records
$15.00
http://jackwhiteiii.com