Under Blackpool Lights | |
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Video by | |
Released | December 7, 2004 |
Recorded | January 27, 2004 and January 28, 2004 |
Genre | Punk blues, garage rock |
Label | Third Man |
Director | Dick Carruthers |
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
The A.V. Club | link |
The Guardian | link |
Under Blackpool Lights is the first official DVD released by The White Stripes. The DVD consists of 26 tracks recorded at The Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens in the English seaside resort of Blackpool on January 27 and 28, 2004, [1] and directed by Dick Carruthers using super 8 film. Among these tracks, as with most White Stripes live performances, are several cover songs – such as "Take a Whiff on Me" (Lead Belly), "Outlaw Blues" (Bob Dylan), "Jack the Ripper" (Screaming Lord Sutch), "Jolene" (Dolly Parton), "Death Letter" (Son House), "Goin' Back to Memphis" (Soledad Brothers), and "De Ballit of de Boll Weevil" (Lead Belly). [2]
The DVD's title comes from a moment during the performance in which Jack White addresses the audience:
"I heard George Harrison say the Beatles used to go see Blackpool lights – what is that? A different place altogether? I'm in the right place at the wrong time? That's how I feel every day." [3]
Blind Willie McTell was a Piedmont blues and ragtime singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont blues. Unlike his contemporaries, he came to use twelve-string guitars exclusively. McTell was also an adept slide guitarist, unusual among ragtime bluesmen. His vocal style, a smooth and often laid-back tenor, differed greatly from many of the harsher voices of Delta bluesmen such as Charley Patton. McTell performed in various musical styles, including blues, ragtime, religious music and hokum.
Huddie William Ledbetter, better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues musician and songwriter notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In the Pines", "Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".
The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White and Meg White. After releasing several singles and three albums within the Detroit music scene, the White Stripes rose to prominence in 2002 as part of the garage rock revival scene. Their successful and critically acclaimed albums White Blood Cells and Elephant drew attention from a large variety of media outlets in the United States and the United Kingdom. The single "Seven Nation Army", which used a guitar and an octave pedal to create the opening riff, became one of their most recognizable songs. The band recorded two more albums, Get Behind Me Satan in 2005 and Icky Thump in 2007, and dissolved in 2011 after a lengthy hiatus from performing and recording.
The boll weevil is a beetle that feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central Mexico, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growing areas by the 1920s, devastating the industry and the people working in the American South. During the late 20th century, it became a serious pest in South America as well. Since 1978, the Boll Weevil Eradication Program in the U.S. allowed full-scale cultivation to resume in many regions.
Gustavus "Gus" Cannon was an American blues musician who helped to popularize jug bands in the 1920s and 1930s. There is uncertainty about his birth year; his tombstone gives the date as 1874.
John Anthony White, commonly known as Jack White III is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely credited as one of the key artists in the garage rock revival of the 2000s. He has won 12 Grammy Awards, and three of his solo albums have reached number one on the Billboard charts. Rolling Stone ranked him number 70 on its 2010 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". David Fricke's 2010 list ranked him at number 17.
Megan Martha White is an American musician and singer who was the drummer of Detroit rock duo The White Stripes. Her music career began when, on a whim, she played on her future White Stripes bandmate Jack White's drums in 1997. They decided to form a band together, and began performing two months later. The band quickly became a Detroit underground favorite before achieving international fame. White has been nominated for various awards as a part of the White Stripes, receiving four Grammy Awards.
Get Behind Me Satan is the fifth studio album by the American rock duo the White Stripes, released on June 7, 2005, on V2 Records. Though still basic in production style, the album marked a distinct change from its guitar-heavy 2003 predecessor, Elephant. With its reliance on piano-driven melodies and experimentation with marimba on "The Nurse" and "Forever For Her ", Get Behind Me Satan plays down the punk, garage rock and blues influences that dominated earlier White Stripes albums. Frontman Jack White plays with different technique than in the past, replacing electric guitar with piano, mandolin, and acoustic guitar on all but a handful of tracks, as his usual riff-conscious lead guitar style is overtaken by a predominantly rhythmic approach. Rolling Stone ranked it the third best album of the year and it received the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album in 2006. As of February 2007, Get Behind Me Satan had sold 850,000 units in the United States.
"The Big Three Killed My Baby" was released in March 1999 as a 7" single and is the third track on re-releases of The White Stripes, the eponymous debut of the Detroit-based American garage rock band The White Stripes. A live recording of the song is featured on Under Blackpool Lights; the band's first official DVD release. The single is backed with "Red Bowling Ball Ruth".
"Hello Operator" is a song from De Stijl, the second album by the Detroit, Michigan garage rock band The White Stripes and the first track from it to be released as a 7" single. It was released in May 2000. It is backed by The White Stripes' off-kilter cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene". Live recordings of both songs are available on Under Blackpool Lights.
The Soledad Brothers were an American garage rock trio from Maumee, Ohio. Taking strong influence from blues rock, the band consisted of Ben Swank on drums, Johnny Walker on guitar and vocals, and Oliver Henry on sax and guitar. The band produced four albums: Soledad Brothers (2000), Steal Your Soul and Dare Your Spirit to Move (2002), Voice of Treason (2003), and The Hardest Walk (2006).
"Cocaine Blues" is a Western swing song written by Roy Hogsed, a reworking of the traditional song "Little Sadie".
The American duo the White Stripes has released six studio albums, two live albums, four video albums, one extended play, 28 singles, and 20 music videos.
"Jolene" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Dolly Parton. It was produced by Bob Ferguson and recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee on May 22, 1973. It was released on October 15, 1973, by RCA Victor, as the first single and title track from her album of the same name.
"Take a Whiff on Me" is an American folk song, with references to the use of cocaine. It is also known as "Take a Whiff ", "Cocaine Habit", and "Cocaine Habit Blues".
Lloyd Tilghman Binford was an American insurance executive and film censor who was the head of the Memphis Censor Board for 28 years.
Road Trips Volume 1 Number 4 is a two-CD live album by the American rock band the Grateful Dead. The fourth in their "Road Trips" series of albums, it was released on September 30, 2008. It was recorded at the Winterland Arena in San Francisco, California, on October 21 and 22, 1978.
"Boll Weevil" is a traditional blues song, also known by similar titles such as "Boweavil" or "Boll Weevil Blues". Many songs about the boll weevil were recorded by blues musicians during the 1920s through the 1940s. However, a rendition by Lead Belly recorded in 1934 by folklorist Alan Lomax led to its becoming well-known. A 1961 adaptation by Brook Benton became a pop hit, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Under Great White Northern Lights is a 2009 documentary film about the White Stripes' summer 2007 tour across Canada directed by Emmett Malloy. It contains live concert and off-stage footage. The film's accompanying album is a collection of various recordings from throughout the tour. The documentary was released on DVD and Blu-ray, and the album was released on CD as well as 180-gram vinyl LP. A special edition box set was also available. The CD, LP, DVD, BD, and box set were all released on March 16, 2010 in Canada, with other dates worldwide.