Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016 [LP] in Bloomington, MN

Natural-born archivist that he is, it is no surprise that
Jack White
would eventually choose to curate his own career.
Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016
is his first attempt at offering an alternative narrative of his own career, one that places his quieter side as the connecting thread running from
the White Stripes
through
the Raconteurs
to his solo work. It's a tactic that diminishes some of the conventional notions about
White
, particularly that most of his music is grounded in the blues. Despite
Greil Marcus
' mention of blues icon
Son House
in the liner notes, most of the music on
bears stronger ties to country and folk, even British Invasion pop; the latter is evident not only on the singsong whimsy of "We're Going to Be Friends" but the cinematic melancholy of "Forever for Her (Is Over for Me)." Neither version here is heard in an alternate version, underscoring how this spin on
's work isn't revisionist, it highlights what was already there, yet there are rarities scattered throughout the collection: remixes of the early
Stripes
tracks "Apple Blossom" and "I'm Bound to Pack It Up," alternate acoustic mixes of solo material from the 2010s, bluegrass versions of "Top Yourself" and "Carolina Drama," a song from
. What first grabs the attention are assorted
White Stripes
rarities -- the wry, funny
Beck
-produced B-side "Honey, We Can't Afford to Look This Cheap," the recently completed outtake "City Lights" -- and a stripped-down revision of "Love Is the Truth," a song
wrote for Coca-Cola in 2006, but what impresses is the consistency.
not only is a strong set of songs but it makes it plain that
has been mining the same territory, finding something new within it for nearly two decades. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine