Radiohead’s manager is taking a more digital direction, but Jack White has no cell phone, hates Pro Tools, and has started his own analog revolution. While I was digging around at the new Third Man Records vinyl subscription service for Friday’s post, I noticed that Jack seems to be including the White Stripes in his new Nashville-based project. At first it seemed that contractual obligations could prevent him from taking free reign over the White Stripes catalogue, but then I remembered those extremely limited singles he put out in the early, pre-contract, days (“Lord, Send Me An Angel,” “Jolene,” “Let’s Shake Hands,” “Look Me Over Closely,” etc.). Well, my suspicions have been confirmed and we’ve got big news for fans of early White Stripes:
Jack White leaked more of his ambitious plans for Third Man Records to the Edmonton Sun’s Jane Stevenson over the weekend. “I’m re-releasing every record I’ve ever been a part of,” White said. “So I’m collecting all the old ones and getting them back on our shelf. If there’s [a] kid in Nunavut who wants that 45, I want him to be able to get it, if he wants it. I don’t like out-of-print records. I don’t think that’s fair.” I’m not sure if she is referring to the above statement, but Stevenson also specified that White’s effort would include “a massive reissue of The White Stripes’ catalogue on vinyl.”
All of the early White Stripes singles have been available on the Internet as low-quality bootleg MP3s, but original hand painted copies of Jack’s early vinyl are very rare and go for big bucks on eBay (The Go and The Upholsterers might enjoy a return to the spotlight as well). If Jack White can actually pull off this massive reissue project, the folks at the Marlene Dietrich estate might be getting some nice royalty checks and the Candy Cane Children of Nunavut will be very happy.