Third Man Records vinyl exclusives, Part 63: The White Stripes “Get Behind Me Satan XX” (2025)
The 63rd set of exclusive vinyl items offered to members of Third Man Records’ Vault service was mailed out to the members in the spring of 2025. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, who was the leader of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and is now a solo artist. The Vault service promises to deliver exclusive vinyl-only records (usually one full-length album and one 7” single) to its members every three months.
The 63rd Vault package featured a 20th-anniversary companion set to the White Stripes' 2005 studio album Get Behind Me Satan, made up of two vinyl LP's and one 7-inch single, containing demos, alternate studio takes, and live recordings from the era of the album's release. One of the LP's was pressed in red vinyl, the other was pressed in white, and the 7-inch was pressed in black. The package also contained a Blu-ray disc, and a 24-page booklet with related photos and other visual content from the album's time period. The set is packaged in a handsome hardcover case.
The 2005 album Get Behind Me Satan was the second-to-last studio album recorded by the duo of Jack and Meg White. This album showed a departure from the White Stripes' earlier minimalism, taking on a broader alternative-rock palette. Instead of being as guitar-based as the duo's earlier work, this album was largely piano-based, and unexpectedly made use of more varied instruments, including marimba, mandolin, and tympani. However one may interpret the Biblical reference of the album title, Jack White said that the album's central theme was "the truth". (When Jack sings the words "get behind me" on the opening track "Blue Orchid", he seems to be addressing a person whom he likens to the Devil). Although Get Behind Me marked a then-unexpected change in musical direction for the Whites, it retrospectively bears significant resemblance to Jack White's later solo albums, and the '60's- and '70's-influenced pop sounds found on tracks such as "As Ugly As I Seem" and "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)" hinted at the work that Jack would soon create with the Raconteurs.
The first side of the first LP in this companion Vault package consists of 10 songwriting demos, which Jack had recorded on microcassette in 2004 and early 2005. On some of the demo versions of songs that made in onto Get Behind Me, such as "The Denial Twist" and "White Moon", you can hear Jack trying out the piano-based sounds that would define the finished versions. During the "My Doorbell" demo, you can hear Jack trying the song different ways, first with piano, and then with guitar strumming, and with and without Meg's drums. More interesting is the marimba-dominated "The Nurse", which sounds like quite the cool indie-rock curio in lo-fi form. Those demos are heard on the second half of the side; the first half of the side actually feels like something more than just a demo collection. The opening "Instinct Blues" instrumental demo comes across like a blues recording from a much earlier time, and the lo-fi recording makes it sound like it could have been sourced from an old shellac record. Similarly, the mostly instrumental demo of "City Lights" (a song left off the final album) comes across much like an archival folk recording -- that is, if you ignore the intrusion of Jack's muffled singing at the end. (Another album outtake, "Over And Over And Over", is represented by a short snippet that could have been snipped from the first White Stripes album). The instrumental "Red Rain" demo finds Jack experimenting with various instrumental sounds for the song. And the previously unheard "Seminole Blues" also comes across like a vintage blues recording, this time with muddy vocals. A part of me thinks it's a shame that this side had to turn into a somewhat predictable set of demos halfway through.
The second side of that first disc contains alternate studio takes of four songs from the album, along with two previously mentioned outtakes. These takes sound like they were recorded live in the studio, and were in need of some polish, so (with the possible exception of "As Ugly As I Seem") they should not be mistaken for takes that could have made it onto the final album. Of the four titles that did make the album, "I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet)" is the only one that has a particularly interesting alternate version, as Jack sounds like he's pompously showing off some classical piano moves, and Meg's drumming sounds like it is beating the song to a pulp. The other three alternate takes of album tracks simply have an unfinished quality, and the piano ballad "White Moon" suffers from mostly inaudible vocals. However, the two outtake tracks were worth digging up. The folky guitar ballad "City Lights" is an interesting rarity that sounds like it was almost ready for album inclusion. And the instrumental recording of "Over And Over And Over" is a strikingly Stripes-ian prototype of the high-tech solo track that Jack would record for Boarding House Reach thirteen years later.
The second 12-inch disc in the set contains live versions of all 13 of the Get Behind Me album's tracks, recorded on as many different show dates in 2005. The performances are ordered in the same sequence as the studio tracks were on the album, and are edited to sound as if it all took place at the same concert. That would have made a darn good show. The songs are well-performed by Jack and Meg, who mostly deliver faithful renditions of their material. The first song, "Blue Orchid", foretold the sound of Jack's first two solo albums on record, but this live version was clearly performed by the duo of Jack and Meg, in contrast to the full bands that Jack would perform with as a solo artist. The second song, "The Nurse", duplicates the marimba sound of the studio version, though it adds jarring blasts of feedback noise. The remaining songs alternate between the newer piano-based approach explored on the album, and the more expected blues-rock-from-the-attic which was the White Stripes' trademark. Though it is a pleasure to hear piano-based performances of "My Doorbell", "White Moon", and "I'm Lonely", the best tracks are the ones which deliver a more intense guitar-and-drums attack. The high points are "Instinct Blues" and "Red Rain" (no relation to the Peter Gabriel song), both of which are top-notch examples of the duo's garage rock thunder. Other noteworthy moments: the folk-rock tune "As Ugly As I Seem", and the bluegrass tune "Little Ghost", the latter of which features Meg singing along with Jack instead of adding percussion. One disappointing moment: "Take Take Take" promises impressive guitar ferocity, but then seemingly cuts off in the middle. Maybe that was a necessary price to pay for the LP's space limitations.
The 7-inch single, labelled as Side E and Side F of the set, contained two rehearsal tracks. The six minutes of "Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)", starts out sounding skeletal, like a lo-fi guitar-based demo for an earlier Stripes song. But then an organ kicks in, and we hear the song progressing into something a bit higher-tech -- like, say, fuzzy psychedelic garage rock. If you listen to the finished album track afterward, with its piano and marimba, you've heard the basic evolution of the song's sound. The other rehearsal track, "Spitting Tacks", displays an instrumental riff that was never fully developed for a song. It sounds like part of a heavy metal band's demo or work-in-progress, with a grinding and sludgy guitar sound. It's easy to imagine what a metal band could have done with it, but it's a bit harder to imagine the way a finished White Stripes song would have sounded if it was built on this riff.
The 82-minute Blu-ray disc visually captures several more moments from the 2005 tour, documented by David Swanson (of Whirlwind Heat) with a mini-DV camera. The video quality is good, and the content is interesting, collecting three live numbers recorded in Mexico (from two different shows), three more from Rio (all from the same show), rehearsal and sound check footage, and a hotel room demo by Jack of his future solo track "Love Is The Truth". These events are not exactly presented in coherent fashion, but that clearly wasn't the idea; in fact, a live medley of "Passive Manipulation", Screaming Lord Sutch's "Jack The Ripper", and the early Stripes song "Let's Shake Hands" is rather glorious in its incoherence. Meg White gets more camera time on this disc than we are used to seeing her get, most noticeably during the bluegrass duetting on "Little Ghost". When we hear Jack practicing an understated take on Bo Diddley's "I'm Sorry" during a sound check in Panama City, it makes one wish he/they had recorded a fully developed rendition of the song. But the really interesting part of the Blu-ray disc is its hidden bonus material, concealed in Chapter 9, consisting of 45 minutes of footage from a 5/18/05 concert in Guatemala City, at the Expocenter Grand Tikal Futura. And this footage is presented in coherent fashion, showing the duo performing 12 selections, four of them from the then-forthcoming Get Behind Me album. Seeing Jack play the marimba during "The Nurse" and the piano during "My Doorbell" is good for variety, but the main pleasure here comes from the guitar-based numbers, particularly the show-opener "Black Math", the radio hit "Seven Nation Army", and (most of all) the fiery blues jam "Death Letter". If this had been a commercially-released disc, then this concert would have been the main feature, and the other chapters would have made up the bonus material -- but that type of unpredictability is part of what makes the Vault what it is.
The 24-page booklet contains photos from the 2005 tour and from the album's photo shoots, as well as the complete list of White Stripes concert dates from 2005 and 2006, and reproductions of concert promo posters and flyers. Those concert promo materials are the booklet's most interesting bits of visual ephemera, not only because of the artwork, but also because of telling historical details. The promos reveal that the Stripes shared bills with the Greenhornes on many of those tour dates, and with Brendan Benson on some others, foreshadowing the formation of the Raconteurs. Also, some concert dates were advertised as part of the "Who's A Big Baby?" Tour, in reference to a bizarre bonus track which only appeared on Japanese editions of the Get Behind Me album; that track predicted the futuristic sounds of Jack White's 2018 solo album Boarding House Reach. By the way, those Japanese editions also contained another oddball bonus track called "Though I Hear You Calling, I Will Not Answer"; maybe those tracks should have been included in this Vault package, perhaps on a 7-inch.
Another note for fellow vinyl aficionados: the practice of engraving text in the dead wax, or the runout grooves between the sticker and the last track’s grooves, is present on the vinyl records in this Vault package. The LP set has “His name is Daniel and his life is rocked by scandal” carved in Side A, “Leak in roof not on floor” carved in Side B, “Is there a giant apple behind me?” carved in Side C, and “If only Chicago” carved in Side D. The 7-inch single has "Slower - know her" carved in Side E, and "Never clicked" carved in Side F.
The White Stripes “Get Behind Me Satan XX” (Third Man TMR-1023) 2025
Track Listing:
SIDE A: Songwriting Demos
1. Instinct Blues
2. Red Rain
3. City Lights
4. I’m Slowly Turning Into You
5. Seminole Blues
6. The Denial Twist
7. My Doorbell
8. The Nurse
9. Over And Over And Over
10. White Moon
SIDE B: Alternate Studio Takes
1. The Denial Twist
2. White Moon
3. City Lights
4. Over And Over And Over (outtake)
5. As Ugly As I Seem
6. I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet)
SIDE C: Live
1. Blue Orchid - (Buenos Aires 5-28-05)
2. The Nurse - (Guatemala City 5-18-05)
3. My Doorbell - (Glasgow 11-15-05)
4. Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) - (Boston 9-20-05)
5. Little Ghost - (Louisville 9-13-05)
6. The Denial Twist - (Tallinn 6-29-05)
7. White Moon - (Chicago 8-29-05)
SIDE D: Live
1. Instinct Blues - (Vancouver 8-8-05)
2. Passive Manipulation - (Rio de Janeiro 6-3-05)
3. Take Take Take - (St. Louis 8-24-05)
4. As Ugly As I Seem - (Amsterdam 10-31-05)
5. Red Rain - (Barcelona 10-19-05)
6. I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet) - (Gdynia 7-9-05)
SIDE E:
Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) - Tracking Rehearsal
SIDE F:
Spitting Tacks - Tracking Rehearsal
Blu-ray chapter listing:
1. Blue Orchid -- Live - May 14, 2005 - Mexico City, Mexico
2. Little Ghost -- Live - May 13, 2005 - Guadalajara, Mexico
3. Passive Manipulation | Jack The Ripper | Let's Shake Hands -- Live - May 13, 2005 - Guadalajara, Mexico
4. Love Is The Truth (Jack White) -- Hotel Room Demo - May 28, 2005 - Buenos Aires, Argentina
5. Instinct Blues -- Pre Show Rehearsal - May 24, 2005 - Santiago, Chile
6. As Ugly As I Seem | We're Going To Be Friends | I'm Sorry -- Soundcheck Acoustic Jam - May 20, 2005 - Panama City, Panama
7. My Doorbell -- Live - June 3, 2005 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
8. Red Rain -- Live - June 3, 2005 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
9. Boll Weevil -- Live - June 3, 2005 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Blu-ray bonus material:
Guatemala City, Guatemala - May 18, 2005
Songs:
1. Black Math
2. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
3. Blue Orchid
4. I Think I Smell a Rat
5. Let's Shake Hands
6. My Doorbell
7. Death Letter / Mother's Children Have a Hard Time
8. The Nurse
9. As Ugly As I Seem
10. I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself
11. Seven Nation Army
12. Boll Weevil
See also Vault 23: Under Amazonian Lights
Reviews of other Third Man Records Vault packages
The 63rd Vault package featured a 20th-anniversary companion set to the White Stripes' 2005 studio album Get Behind Me Satan, made up of two vinyl LP's and one 7-inch single, containing demos, alternate studio takes, and live recordings from the era of the album's release. One of the LP's was pressed in red vinyl, the other was pressed in white, and the 7-inch was pressed in black. The package also contained a Blu-ray disc, and a 24-page booklet with related photos and other visual content from the album's time period. The set is packaged in a handsome hardcover case.
The 2005 album Get Behind Me Satan was the second-to-last studio album recorded by the duo of Jack and Meg White. This album showed a departure from the White Stripes' earlier minimalism, taking on a broader alternative-rock palette. Instead of being as guitar-based as the duo's earlier work, this album was largely piano-based, and unexpectedly made use of more varied instruments, including marimba, mandolin, and tympani. However one may interpret the Biblical reference of the album title, Jack White said that the album's central theme was "the truth". (When Jack sings the words "get behind me" on the opening track "Blue Orchid", he seems to be addressing a person whom he likens to the Devil). Although Get Behind Me marked a then-unexpected change in musical direction for the Whites, it retrospectively bears significant resemblance to Jack White's later solo albums, and the '60's- and '70's-influenced pop sounds found on tracks such as "As Ugly As I Seem" and "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)" hinted at the work that Jack would soon create with the Raconteurs.
The first side of the first LP in this companion Vault package consists of 10 songwriting demos, which Jack had recorded on microcassette in 2004 and early 2005. On some of the demo versions of songs that made in onto Get Behind Me, such as "The Denial Twist" and "White Moon", you can hear Jack trying out the piano-based sounds that would define the finished versions. During the "My Doorbell" demo, you can hear Jack trying the song different ways, first with piano, and then with guitar strumming, and with and without Meg's drums. More interesting is the marimba-dominated "The Nurse", which sounds like quite the cool indie-rock curio in lo-fi form. Those demos are heard on the second half of the side; the first half of the side actually feels like something more than just a demo collection. The opening "Instinct Blues" instrumental demo comes across like a blues recording from a much earlier time, and the lo-fi recording makes it sound like it could have been sourced from an old shellac record. Similarly, the mostly instrumental demo of "City Lights" (a song left off the final album) comes across much like an archival folk recording -- that is, if you ignore the intrusion of Jack's muffled singing at the end. (Another album outtake, "Over And Over And Over", is represented by a short snippet that could have been snipped from the first White Stripes album). The instrumental "Red Rain" demo finds Jack experimenting with various instrumental sounds for the song. And the previously unheard "Seminole Blues" also comes across like a vintage blues recording, this time with muddy vocals. A part of me thinks it's a shame that this side had to turn into a somewhat predictable set of demos halfway through.
The second side of that first disc contains alternate studio takes of four songs from the album, along with two previously mentioned outtakes. These takes sound like they were recorded live in the studio, and were in need of some polish, so (with the possible exception of "As Ugly As I Seem") they should not be mistaken for takes that could have made it onto the final album. Of the four titles that did make the album, "I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet)" is the only one that has a particularly interesting alternate version, as Jack sounds like he's pompously showing off some classical piano moves, and Meg's drumming sounds like it is beating the song to a pulp. The other three alternate takes of album tracks simply have an unfinished quality, and the piano ballad "White Moon" suffers from mostly inaudible vocals. However, the two outtake tracks were worth digging up. The folky guitar ballad "City Lights" is an interesting rarity that sounds like it was almost ready for album inclusion. And the instrumental recording of "Over And Over And Over" is a strikingly Stripes-ian prototype of the high-tech solo track that Jack would record for Boarding House Reach thirteen years later.
The second 12-inch disc in the set contains live versions of all 13 of the Get Behind Me album's tracks, recorded on as many different show dates in 2005. The performances are ordered in the same sequence as the studio tracks were on the album, and are edited to sound as if it all took place at the same concert. That would have made a darn good show. The songs are well-performed by Jack and Meg, who mostly deliver faithful renditions of their material. The first song, "Blue Orchid", foretold the sound of Jack's first two solo albums on record, but this live version was clearly performed by the duo of Jack and Meg, in contrast to the full bands that Jack would perform with as a solo artist. The second song, "The Nurse", duplicates the marimba sound of the studio version, though it adds jarring blasts of feedback noise. The remaining songs alternate between the newer piano-based approach explored on the album, and the more expected blues-rock-from-the-attic which was the White Stripes' trademark. Though it is a pleasure to hear piano-based performances of "My Doorbell", "White Moon", and "I'm Lonely", the best tracks are the ones which deliver a more intense guitar-and-drums attack. The high points are "Instinct Blues" and "Red Rain" (no relation to the Peter Gabriel song), both of which are top-notch examples of the duo's garage rock thunder. Other noteworthy moments: the folk-rock tune "As Ugly As I Seem", and the bluegrass tune "Little Ghost", the latter of which features Meg singing along with Jack instead of adding percussion. One disappointing moment: "Take Take Take" promises impressive guitar ferocity, but then seemingly cuts off in the middle. Maybe that was a necessary price to pay for the LP's space limitations.
The 7-inch single, labelled as Side E and Side F of the set, contained two rehearsal tracks. The six minutes of "Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)", starts out sounding skeletal, like a lo-fi guitar-based demo for an earlier Stripes song. But then an organ kicks in, and we hear the song progressing into something a bit higher-tech -- like, say, fuzzy psychedelic garage rock. If you listen to the finished album track afterward, with its piano and marimba, you've heard the basic evolution of the song's sound. The other rehearsal track, "Spitting Tacks", displays an instrumental riff that was never fully developed for a song. It sounds like part of a heavy metal band's demo or work-in-progress, with a grinding and sludgy guitar sound. It's easy to imagine what a metal band could have done with it, but it's a bit harder to imagine the way a finished White Stripes song would have sounded if it was built on this riff.
The 82-minute Blu-ray disc visually captures several more moments from the 2005 tour, documented by David Swanson (of Whirlwind Heat) with a mini-DV camera. The video quality is good, and the content is interesting, collecting three live numbers recorded in Mexico (from two different shows), three more from Rio (all from the same show), rehearsal and sound check footage, and a hotel room demo by Jack of his future solo track "Love Is The Truth". These events are not exactly presented in coherent fashion, but that clearly wasn't the idea; in fact, a live medley of "Passive Manipulation", Screaming Lord Sutch's "Jack The Ripper", and the early Stripes song "Let's Shake Hands" is rather glorious in its incoherence. Meg White gets more camera time on this disc than we are used to seeing her get, most noticeably during the bluegrass duetting on "Little Ghost". When we hear Jack practicing an understated take on Bo Diddley's "I'm Sorry" during a sound check in Panama City, it makes one wish he/they had recorded a fully developed rendition of the song. But the really interesting part of the Blu-ray disc is its hidden bonus material, concealed in Chapter 9, consisting of 45 minutes of footage from a 5/18/05 concert in Guatemala City, at the Expocenter Grand Tikal Futura. And this footage is presented in coherent fashion, showing the duo performing 12 selections, four of them from the then-forthcoming Get Behind Me album. Seeing Jack play the marimba during "The Nurse" and the piano during "My Doorbell" is good for variety, but the main pleasure here comes from the guitar-based numbers, particularly the show-opener "Black Math", the radio hit "Seven Nation Army", and (most of all) the fiery blues jam "Death Letter". If this had been a commercially-released disc, then this concert would have been the main feature, and the other chapters would have made up the bonus material -- but that type of unpredictability is part of what makes the Vault what it is.
The 24-page booklet contains photos from the 2005 tour and from the album's photo shoots, as well as the complete list of White Stripes concert dates from 2005 and 2006, and reproductions of concert promo posters and flyers. Those concert promo materials are the booklet's most interesting bits of visual ephemera, not only because of the artwork, but also because of telling historical details. The promos reveal that the Stripes shared bills with the Greenhornes on many of those tour dates, and with Brendan Benson on some others, foreshadowing the formation of the Raconteurs. Also, some concert dates were advertised as part of the "Who's A Big Baby?" Tour, in reference to a bizarre bonus track which only appeared on Japanese editions of the Get Behind Me album; that track predicted the futuristic sounds of Jack White's 2018 solo album Boarding House Reach. By the way, those Japanese editions also contained another oddball bonus track called "Though I Hear You Calling, I Will Not Answer"; maybe those tracks should have been included in this Vault package, perhaps on a 7-inch.
Another note for fellow vinyl aficionados: the practice of engraving text in the dead wax, or the runout grooves between the sticker and the last track’s grooves, is present on the vinyl records in this Vault package. The LP set has “His name is Daniel and his life is rocked by scandal” carved in Side A, “Leak in roof not on floor” carved in Side B, “Is there a giant apple behind me?” carved in Side C, and “If only Chicago” carved in Side D. The 7-inch single has "Slower - know her" carved in Side E, and "Never clicked" carved in Side F.
The White Stripes “Get Behind Me Satan XX” (Third Man TMR-1023) 2025
Track Listing:
SIDE A: Songwriting Demos
1. Instinct Blues
2. Red Rain
3. City Lights
4. I’m Slowly Turning Into You
5. Seminole Blues
6. The Denial Twist
7. My Doorbell
8. The Nurse
9. Over And Over And Over
10. White Moon
SIDE B: Alternate Studio Takes
1. The Denial Twist
2. White Moon
3. City Lights
4. Over And Over And Over (outtake)
5. As Ugly As I Seem
6. I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet)
SIDE C: Live
1. Blue Orchid - (Buenos Aires 5-28-05)
2. The Nurse - (Guatemala City 5-18-05)
3. My Doorbell - (Glasgow 11-15-05)
4. Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) - (Boston 9-20-05)
5. Little Ghost - (Louisville 9-13-05)
6. The Denial Twist - (Tallinn 6-29-05)
7. White Moon - (Chicago 8-29-05)
SIDE D: Live
1. Instinct Blues - (Vancouver 8-8-05)
2. Passive Manipulation - (Rio de Janeiro 6-3-05)
3. Take Take Take - (St. Louis 8-24-05)
4. As Ugly As I Seem - (Amsterdam 10-31-05)
5. Red Rain - (Barcelona 10-19-05)
6. I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet) - (Gdynia 7-9-05)
SIDE E:
Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) - Tracking Rehearsal
SIDE F:
Spitting Tacks - Tracking Rehearsal
Blu-ray chapter listing:
1. Blue Orchid -- Live - May 14, 2005 - Mexico City, Mexico
2. Little Ghost -- Live - May 13, 2005 - Guadalajara, Mexico
3. Passive Manipulation | Jack The Ripper | Let's Shake Hands -- Live - May 13, 2005 - Guadalajara, Mexico
4. Love Is The Truth (Jack White) -- Hotel Room Demo - May 28, 2005 - Buenos Aires, Argentina
5. Instinct Blues -- Pre Show Rehearsal - May 24, 2005 - Santiago, Chile
6. As Ugly As I Seem | We're Going To Be Friends | I'm Sorry -- Soundcheck Acoustic Jam - May 20, 2005 - Panama City, Panama
7. My Doorbell -- Live - June 3, 2005 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
8. Red Rain -- Live - June 3, 2005 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
9. Boll Weevil -- Live - June 3, 2005 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Blu-ray bonus material:
Guatemala City, Guatemala - May 18, 2005
Songs:
1. Black Math
2. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
3. Blue Orchid
4. I Think I Smell a Rat
5. Let's Shake Hands
6. My Doorbell
7. Death Letter / Mother's Children Have a Hard Time
8. The Nurse
9. As Ugly As I Seem
10. I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself
11. Seven Nation Army
12. Boll Weevil
See also Vault 23: Under Amazonian Lights
Reviews of other Third Man Records Vault packages
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