Jack Johnson - A Weekend At The Greek/Live From Japan by James Ellaby

One of this year's most surprising musical success stories is Jack Johnson, the Hawaiian singer-songwriter who has quietly managed to sell a heck of a load of CDs over here. His third album In Between Dreams has sold over 350,000 copies and has been in the charts for nearly six months, despite keeping a pretty low profile compared to some of his fellow big-sellers like James Blunt and Daniel Powter.

So, it's a good time to learn a bit more about Johnson with this double-DVD release featuring A Weekend At The Greek and Live From Japan. The former finds him playing two nights at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California - an unusual venue because it really is built like a Greek amphitheatre, which give it a lot of atmosphere.

Suitably for his laidback style, the DVD starts with a medley of the more recognisible songs from In Between Dreams played on his guitar before some relaxed chatter with his band preceeds the gig itself. As you'd expect, Johnson is hardly an intense live performer, but he has a great style and a warm voice.

While it's slightly incongruous to see him performing in front of screaming fans instead of lying back against a palm tree strumming on his guitar - which is how you picture him when listening to his CDs - his band provide good backing and there's also help from his label-mates Money Mark, G.Love and Animal Liberation Orchestra.

We even get the bonus of hearing what Sitting, Waiting, Wishing sounds like sung backwards (there is a reason for it), before he launches into it for real. All the hits are here, as you would expect, including Banana Pancakes and Good People, as well as tracks from his first two albums. The second disc is actually older, dating back to last year and a tour of Japan that sees the formation of some of these now-familiar songs, including an early version of Banana Pancakes.

Whether Johnson really needs a double-DVD release at this stage of his career is debatable, but if you are one of the thousands who have been enraptured by his warm charm and soothing pop folk music, then it certainly gives a comprehensive grounding of his career, with plenty of background information, plenty of live performances and introductions to the likes of Money Mark and G.Love, who could be following him into the stratosphere at some point.