The White Stripes are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their RIAA 2x-Platinum Certified 2003 fourth studio album, Elephant, with today’s digital release of Elephant (Deluxe). The special release sees the remastered HD audio of the original studio album joined by a 27-song live set recorded on July 2, 2003 at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom during the band’s blockbuster Elephant Tour. A limited edition 2xLP version of the original Elephant album will also be released on Red Smoke (LP1) & Clear with Red & Black Smoke (LP2) colored vinyl on Friday, April 21; pre-orders are available now.
Elephant (Deluxe) and the Anniversary are also heralded by the re-release of the “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself” music video directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Kate Moss, which has been newly remastered in HD.
The official Elephant 20th anniversary will be celebrated with a trio of Third Man Records Elephant Listening Tea Parties as a nod to the album’s London recording roots. These events are set for tomorrow, April 1, at Third Man Records stores in Detroit, Nashville, and London from 11am to 4pm local time. Entry is free, but attendees with proof of pre-order of the Elephant 20th Anniversary Limited Edition Color Vinyl from any retailer will receive a limited edition bonus print of Jack and Meg from the Toe Rag recording sessions photographed by David James Swanson, while supplies last.
The landmark anniversary is further marked with the launch of a brand-new merchandise store and exclusive Elephant collection, available now at www.whitestripesstore.com. Additional 20th anniversary items will be released throughout the year. New merchandise collections are also available for Jack White, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather.
Released on April 1, 2003, Elephant swiftly proved to be a critically acclaimed, award-winning phenomenon, as well as garnering worldwide popularity, peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200 while also topping the UK’s Official Albums Chart. Largely recorded over two weeks in April 2002 at London’s analogue Toe Rag Studios, Elephant includes such now-classic singles as the GRAMMY® Award-winning “Seven Nation Army,” “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself,” “The Hardest Button To Button,” and “There’s No Home For You Here,” all of which prompted Rolling Stone’s David Fricke to hail the album as quite simply, “a work of pulverizing perfection.” Elephant went on to win the 2004 GRAMMY® Award for “Best Alternative Album” and was an “Album of the Year” nominee.
