If you don't know who The White Stripes are, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Take a second and listen to one of the best musical duos of (at the very least) the past half century.
"Under Great White Northern Lights" is a live album that was released on March 15th 2010 and was accompanied in a box set with a DVD documentary. The DVD chronicles the 2007 White Stripes tour of Canada where they visited every province and territory in the country. In addition to having a major show in the cities, there was usually a smaller acoustic set that they would play in smaller towns or suburbs. Standouts for me are when they play the bowling alley and the public transit bus.
The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2009 as a build up to the release of the album. It ended up being on of their last albums, as the group officially split up in February of 2011. The box set ended up winning a Grammy Award in 2010.
Having Scottish roots, it's always wonderful to hear bagpipes. Which is exactly how the album begins at the beginning of "Lets Shake Hands", which eventually gets ripped to shreds by Jack Whites guitar. Being a live album, it has some of the improvisation in between songs that you would expect from a live show. Because each song is taken from a different show however, it doesn't always flow together perfectly. Which was my only real problem with the entire album. At some points the improvisation ends up just sounding like feedback in between the songs which does nothing more than hurt your ears. When it comes down to it I would rather hear a crowd cheering, over feedback from a guitar.
That being said, the songs are preformed beautifully. The song that I chose to record was "Blue Orchid". Besides being one of my favourite songs by The White Stripes, you can hear the crowd at times screaming and generally having a good time. Plus the song (like most of the album) actually sounds better in this live recording, than it did on the original polished studio version. That might just be a personal preference of mine though. I prefer bands that sound as good, if not better than the albums they release. There is just something about a live performance that throws more energy into the recording, in comparison to a polished studio version.
Other standout tracks include "Jolene", "We Are Going To Be Friends" and Fell In Love With A Girl". When the White Stripes covered the Dolly Parton single "Jolene" they essentially stole the song from her forever. Having Jack White sing about this mystery lady Jolene completely changes the meaning and direction and makes it a entirely new song. So maybe stealing isn't the right term to use, but it's definitely making it their own. "We Are Going To Be Friends" is a special song on the album for the mere fact that it's entirely acoustic. On an album that is loud and filled with distorted guitar riffs, the acoustic "time-out" becomes all the more special. "Fell In Love With A Girl" is the song that made the band famous. It was fast and strong. In this version they play it as a song that is longer and more rhythmic, which slowly builds towards the chorus. Once the chorus hits, the band goes completely silent and the crowd sings by themselves. It's wonderfully unique and helps to lead you towards the end of the album.
The album closes out with " Seven Nation Army", which has been their biggest hit to date. It starts with the band getting the audience to clap in time which turns into the opening power chords of the song. At different parts of the song there are brief sing along parts for the crowd (who oblige instantly) and keep the song rolling. Eventually towards the end of the song the guitar and drums build until there is nothing but noise. That all drops to leave Jack White playing with the distortion feedback to close out the album.
Overall I would probably give the album a total of around 85/100. I would have to say that if you enjoy live performances or live recordings more than studio produced pieces, this is definitely for you. The imperfections on this album are the same thing that make the album reach perfection. Plus it's good rock music. So go out and buy it already.
Buy it here:
http://whitestripes.kungfustore.com/categories/53-music
or here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/under-great-white-northern/id355609179
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