The White Stripes announce Greatest Hits album, coming this winter

The White Stripes announced the release of a Greatest Hits album with a never-before-seen live performance video of ‘Ball and Biscuit.’

Earlier today, The White Stripes announced the release of a greatest hits compilation album, The White Stripes Greatest Hits. The album will be out on Friday, December 4th.

The White Stripes Greatest Hits will span the expansive career of Jack and Meg White over the course of 26 songs, ‘from late Nineties flashes of brilliance through early 2000s underground anthems, masterful MTV Moon Man moments, Grammy-grabbing greatness, and worldwide stadium chants…’ as a press release put it.

The release announcement said: “In an era of streaming where the idea of a “Greatest Hits” album may seem irrelevant… we wholeheartedly believe that great bands deserve “Greatest Hits” and that a large part of Third Man Records’ and The White Stripes’ successes have been built on zigging when the rest of the music business is zagging. Thus, for a great band with great fans, a greatest hits compilation for The White Stripes is not only appropriate, but absolutely necessary.”

While the tracklist has yet to be announced, the band has revealed one of the 26 songs on it as ‘Ball and Biscuit’. They accompanied the announcement with a never-before-seen live performance video of ‘Ball and Biscuit’ from their 2003 Shibuya-AX show in Japan. Shot on four camcorders, the show marked the band’s third trip to Japan in what was a six-date tour.

Currently, fans can pre-order the album for digital streaming and download and on CD and a two-set 150-gram black vinyl LP. As part of Third Man Records’ Vault Package #46, fans will also received a deluxe limited edition colored vinyl variant of the album, the only one available. The label will also announce added-value items during release week.

Additionally, for subscribers, the Vault version will also come with a bonus third LP compiling ‘largely overlooked’ b-sides on ‘detonation’ colored vinyl. It will also have artwork from longtime collaborator Rob Jones, three Rob Jones silk-screen prints, and a themed magnetic poetry set.