White Stripes, The - Elephant Vinyl Record

Elephant is the record that turned a Detroit duo into one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Jack and Meg White cut it in two weeks at Toe Rag Studios in London on eight track equipment, all of it predating 1963, with no computers involved at any stage. The sleeve says so, and you can hear it.

Seven Nation Army opens with the riff that has since been sung by football crowds on every continent, played on a semi acoustic guitar routed through an octave pedal rather than a bass. From there the album swings between blues stomp and something stranger: the seven minute slow burn of Ball And Biscuit, the Burt Bacharach cover I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself, Meg singing lead on In The Cold, Cold Night, and the closing barroom singalong with Holly Golightly.

Rolling Stone later called it the fifth best album of the 2000s. Two LPs, and still the entry point for anyone working through the catalog.

Side A
1. Seven Nation Army
2. Black Math
3. There's No Home For You Here

Side B
1. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
2. In The Cold, Cold Night
3. I Want To Be The Boy To Warm Your Mother's Heart
4. You've Got Her In Your Pocket

Side C
1. Ball And Biscuit
2. The Hardest Button To Button
3. Little Acorns

Side D
1. Hypnotize
2. The Air Near My Fingers
3. Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine
4. Well It's True That We Love One Another