Friday, November 13, 2015

Throwback Thursday: Redd Blood Cells, by The White Stripes + Steven McDonald

 



Today on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective I'm going to be doing things just a little different from usual. Every Thursday I do a retrospective review of an album that is at least 10 years old. Today I still intend to do that, but instead of reviewing the actual album put out by the band it's by I'm going to review a fan made remix.

In 2001 The White Stripes put out their third album White Blood Cells. The album was highly acclaimed by critics and fans alike. That being said, a big fan of the White Stripes Steven McDonald from the band Redd Kross decided to remix the album, this time adding in elements that weren't there before by recording bass guitar and backing vocals. The finished product was released as Redd Blood Cells and hosted on Redd Kross's website after two tracks a week were released over a period of two months in 2002.

The added bass and vocals really do make White Blood Cells almost an entirely different album from the original thing in a good way. I wouldn't say that it's better (since the original is almost always the best), but the new experience is refreshing. Songs like We're Going to Be Friends and Hotel Yorba sound almost like something The Beatles would have released and songs like The Union Forever and Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground have almost a monstrous Black Sabbath-like feel to them.

That being said, this is definitely an album I HIGHLY recommend you listen to with headphones; that way you can pick up on all of the deep bassy and delicate vocal qualities you might otherwise miss out on.

The only real downside about Redd Blood Cells is that you can kind of tell the audio files are somewhat low quality. They were mp3's created in the early 2000's, so I guess you have to kind of expect as much to be the case when such a thing was being done outside of a professional studio setting. Also, after the album was downloaded from Redd Kross's website 60,000 times The White Stripes ended up getting a hold of McDonald and asking him to take it down, making it harder to find now.

The songs definitely have a bigger presence overall on Redd Blood Cells. While the songs don't necessarily need what was added on, it's nice to hear them taken in a different direction and expanded upon.While it is a bit more difficult to find the mp3's to the album, it is still possible. I managed to find them myself, but to protect myself legally I will not provide a link. However, what I WILL do is provide a YouTube link so you can listen to the album in its entirety.

Redd Blood Cells, by The White Stripes + Steven McDonald receives 4 out of 5 stars.

Track List:

1. Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground
2. Hotel Yorba
3. I'm Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman
4. Fell in Love With a Girl
5. Expecting
6. Little Room
7. The Union Forever
8. The Same Boy You've Always Known
9. We're Going to Be Friends
10. Offend in Every Way
11. I Think I Smell a Rat
12. Aluminum
13. I Can't Wait
14. Now Mary
15. I Can Learn
16. This Protector


Redd Blood Cells (Full Album)

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