JASON ANDERSON - Tonight

This came out in 2007. I won't cover up the fact that I absolutely adore Jason Anderson. Once you see this man perform live, you would probably feel the same. Tonight attempts to capture the magic of his live performances. The best parts on the album are when the crowd sings back to Jason. The album does a pretty good job of showing you the energy and audience participation that Jason has when he plays live, but they still can't hold a candle to actually being there in the circle around Jason and having him sing to you while he plays his acoustic guitar. The songs on this album also feature more instrumentation than just Jason and his guitar. Still, I love this album. Jason has a special way of capturing the moments in life that make your heart happy (or sad, in some songs) and putting them into song. He likes to write a lot about living life to the fullest every day and also just about love in general. Here's some lyrics off of "So Long": "All I want, at least right now, is to be close to you, the smell of your hair is literally amazing, honestly" and "The best thing in the world is to love someone and they love you back." So simple, yet so true; I'm sure everyone's felt this way at some point. The most amazing part, though, is if you were with all of your friends chanting out the "The best thing in the world..." lyrics; you would feel all warm and fuzzy inside. That is the appeal of Jason Anderson.

www.jasonandersonswebsite.com

THE WHITE STRIPES - Under Great White Northern Lights

Released in March of 2010, Under Great White Northern Lights is both a White Stripes live CD and the name of a documentary film about them. The material was recorded during their tour of Canada in the summer of 2007. We hear many of their hit songs on this album, including "Fell In Love With A Girl", "Blue Orchid", and "Icky Thump". We get to hear the minimalism the two-piece employs (employed?) in their live shows as well as Jack White's unrestrained, raggedy live vocals (though, at times, he is a bit much because while the man's got heart, he doesn't exactly have the pipes). We also see how much energy the band generates during their performances, which is probably the highlight of this recording. The White Stripes aren't playing note-for-note renditions of their studio recordings; these are raw, garage-worthy performances, yet the crowd goes nuts over them. A true testament to the power of a great rock 'n' roll band.

www.myspace.com/thewhitestripes
www.whitestripes.com