(XL/Remote Control)

Great documentary, shame about the live disc

You can’t deny Jack White’s genius as a songwriter, which is why The White Stripes’ six albums have received near-universal acclaim. Live, they are a slightly different proposition. I have seen them only once, at what I thought was an uninspired and uninspiring Big Day Out performance. Others I know speak reverently of the band’s live show. Under Great White Northern Lights is the band’s first official live release, and it documents their 2007 tour of every province and territory in Canada through a film and live CD. Unfortunately, the recordings on the CD themselves don’t stand up to the task of representing the Stripes at their best. There’s a lot of crowd noise that sits too high in the mix, and Jack’s guitar often sounds muddy, making this seem like a bootleg rather than a professional live album. Meanwhile Meg White’s untrained drumming style shows in tracks such as Blue Orchid and Black Math, both of which increase in tempo as they progress, pulling against Jack’s more timely guitar work. Seven Nation Army can’t fail to be engaging, but why Jack relies on the crowd to sing some of the lines and provide the song’s signature riff for a whole chorus is beyond me, let alone the extraneous synthesiser and canned bagpipe music at the end. The duo’s cover of Joelene, on the other hand, maintains its emotional poignancy thanks to Jack’s impassioned vocal performance. A much better proposition is the accompanying tour documentary, which contextualises these same performances with compelling footage of the band’s progress through Canada, thanks to the adroit work of director Emmett Malloy. This touching and inspiring film is the core of Under Great White Northern Lights; in its light, the sins of the live disc are entirely forgivable.

****

CHAD PARKHILL

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