Elephant

“Elephant is the fourth album by the American alternative rock band The White Stripes. Released on April 1, 2003 on V2 Records, the album marks the band’s major label debut. Despite this change, Heather Phares of Allmusic believed the album “sounds even more pissed-off, paranoid, and stunning than its predecessor…Darker and more difficult than White Blood Cells.” The record garnered much critical acclaim upon its release, and went on to win a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album in 2004.

Elephant” is a strong, deep album showcasing Jack White at the top of his game. He rocks every guitar style that he tries including blues and slide guitar and even does a great job on a Burt Bacharach cover. It’s just one more example of Detroit’s enduring musical legacy.

Elephant was recorded in two weeks during 2002 in London’s Toe Rag Studios. Jack White produced the album with antiquated equipment, including an eight-track tape machine and pre-1960s recording gear.

The album has been released with at least six different versions of the front cover—different covers for the CD and LP editions in the US, the UK and elsewhere. To give an example, on the US CD edition Meg White is sitting on the left of a circus travel trunk and Jack is sitting on the right holding a cricket bat over the ground, while on the UK CD edition the cricket bat touches the ground and the image is mirrored so that their positions on the amplifier are reversed.