White Stripes Get 20th Anniversary Edition Of “Get Behind Me Satan” With Unreleased Tracks

Third Man Records have announced the following regarding the album’s release:

Third Man Records is proud to announce Get Behind Me Satan XX, the twentieth anniversary companion release to The White Stripes’ fifth album and the 63rd entry of its long-running vinyl subscription service The Vault.

Included in this package are songwriting demos, alternate studio takes and live versions of the songs found on the album across two LPs and a 7”, a Blu-ray containing footage from the band’s 2005 Central and South American tour, and more.

You need to sign up here to purchase: https://thirdmanrecords.com/products/vault-subscription

Get Behind Me Satan is without question the most misunderstood entry in the White Stripes discography. Often mistaken as a break-up album, a treatise on fame, or a “piano” album, the record is most accurately described in Jack White’s own words as focused on the truth. The fact that it was in no way Elephant, Part 2 only further confused, infuriated, and/or beguiled many.

Twenty years later and the album still stands out for how fresh and how timeless it sounds. In the face of newfound worldwide commercial success, no other contemporary rock band had the stones to introduce mandolin, tympani, hand bells and marimba into their arsenal, let alone embark on deep tours of both Central America and Eastern Europe.

But as has long been established, the White Stripes were singular. They were never like anybody else. What enchants now, upon further reflection, is the disparate threads that all came together to make Satan so refreshing.

Third Man Records is proud to announce Get Behind Me Satan XX, the twentieth anniversary companion release to the White Stripes fifth album and the 63rd entry of its long-running vinyl subscription service The Vault.

At the same time both skeletal and enlightening, Jack White’s songwriting demos from 2004 and early 2005 – captured with zero concern for fidelity or thought that anyone else would ever hear them – are of prime excitement here. Listening as he works to find the right chords, to perfect timings, to put voice behind the phrasings, it’s an incredible peek behind the curtain. While songs like “Instinct Blues” and “Red Rain” begin fairly true to their final forms, it’s mind-blowing reveals like “I’m Slowly Turning Into You” starting as a vamp on a wheezy old pump organ or the germ of “Over And Over And Over” beginning as the briefest idea on an overloaded fuzz bass that become the moments that inspire.

“My Doorbell” run-throughs ruminate back and forth between piano and guitar, with and without trusty Meg White accompaniment, while minor key flirtations in “White Moon” and “The Nurse” tickle a divergent fancy. A standalone exercise we’ve dubbed “Seminole Blues” is a Delta-styled acoustic blues expression with no subsequent existence after this, a one-and-done classic. Across these ten demos, the main takeaway is that all of these songs (some of which would not see a finished release for over a decade) were pouring out of Jack at this point.

So once the studio was ready, the tape was really rolling, that’s when the alternate takes began to take shape. “White Moon” with whisper quiet guide vocals, “The Denial Twist” a skosh fast and excited, a skittish instrumental take on “Over And Over And Over” and a more rudimentary “City Lights” than would eventually see the light of day on Jack White’s Acoustic Recordings album in 2016. All of these are buttressed by a revelatory, vibe-shifted version of “I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet).” As the final song on the album it’s a gospel-adjacent progression of simple vocal and piano veering toward the dour. But the example here is fleshed out with drums and mandolin and sounds more like a celebration, the optimism shining through more clearly, more pronounced, forcing the listener to completely rethink the tenor and impact and intent of the song.

Before Get Behind Me Satan could be released, the White Stripes were already full-throttle into touring that would span five continents, more than 100 performances and would eek into 2006. With a majority of these shows recorded for posterity, disc 2 here is a compilation of all the standout live versions of tracks originally released on Satan. So the recording of “The Nurse” comes from Guatemala (where the marimba is the official national instrument) and “Little Ghost” riffs on “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” in Louisville, from Boston to Buenos Aires, Glasgow to Gdynia, the renditions here captivate and enlighten and delight.

Disc one is pressed on opaque red vinyl, disc two is pressed on white vinyl

Because all of the intrigue could not fit on two LPs, we’ve included a 7-inch single with two outlier rehearsal recordings here. Side A is a charming exploration of “Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) starting with Jack guiding Meg along on electric guitar, before transitioning to electric piano, finally settling on an organ accompaniment. All of this belies the song’s eventual released take of acoustic guitar, marimba and piano all buoyed by Meg’s tempered drums.

On the flipside is one of the great white whales in Stripes history, “Spitting Tacks.” Originating at a time when Jack was still a full-time upholsterer and revisited many times over the course of the band’s existence, this hypnotic, repetitive riff structure never really found a place. We’ve yet to uncover any other even halfway decent attempts at the song, so this may be the only insight fans ever get into the one Jack and Meg could never truly tame.

Armed with a mini-DV camera and free reign to capture whatever caught his eye, David James Swanson tagged along on the White Stripes Central and South American tour in 2005. A soundcheck here, rabid fans singing along there, it’s all crystalline visual quality on a handheld scale. While it would be too grandiose to deem this a “film”, the collection of sequences and behind-the-scenes moments captured here are a striking, complimentary statement of the unique and chaotic time that the White Stripes inhabited in this era.

And rounding it all together is the impressive, expansive archival booklet, complete with photos, concert posters, a comprehensive list of tour dates and all the exhaustive details fans have come to expect from these anniversary editions.

Deadline to subscribe for this package is January 31st, 2025 at midnight central time.

The White Stripes

Get Behind Me Satan 

2 x LP, 1 x 7-inch, 1 x Blu-Ray 

SIDE A:  Songwriting Demos

1. Instinct Blues – previously unreleased demo

2. Red Rain – previously unreleased demo

3. City Lights – previously unreleased demo

4. I’m Slowly Turning Into You – previously unreleased demo

5. Seminole Blues – previously unreleased demo

6. The Denial Twist – previously unreleased demo

7. My Doorbell – previously unreleased demo

8. The Nurse – previously unreleased demo

9. Over And Over And Over – previously unreleased demo

10. White Moon – previously unreleased demo

SIDE B : Alternate Studio Takes

1. The Denial Twist – previously unreleased alternate take

2. White Moon – previously unreleased alternate take

3. City Lights – previously unreleased alternate take

4. Over And Over And Over – previously unreleased alternate take

5. As Ugly As I Seem – previously unreleased alternate take

6. I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet) – previously unreleased alternate take

SIDE C : Get Behind Me Satan Live

1. Blue Orchid – Buenos Aires 5-28-05 – previously unreleased live version

2. The Nurse – Guatemala City 5-18-05 – previously unreleased live version 

3. My Doorbell – Glasgow 11-15-05 – previously unreleased live version

4. Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) – Boston 9-20-05 – previously unreleased live version

5. Little Ghost – Louisville 9-13-05 – previously unreleased live version

6. The Denial Twist – Tallinn 6-29-05 – previously unreleased live version

7. White Moon – Chicago 8-29-05 – previously unreleased live version

SIDE D : Get Behind Me Satan Live

1. Instinct Blues – Vancouver 8-8-05 – previously unreleased live version

2. Passive Manipulation – Rio de Janeiro 6-3-05 – previously unreleased live version

3. Take Take Take – St. Louis 8-24-05 – previously unreleased live version

4. As Ugly As I Seem – Amsterdam 10-31-05 – previously unreleased live version

5. Red Rain – Barcelona 10-19-05 – previously unreleased live version

6. I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet) – Gdynia 7-9-05 – previously unreleased live version

SIDE E: Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) – previously unreleased tracking rehearsal

SIDE F: Spitting Tacks – previously unreleased tracking rehearsal 

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