Heart - The Road Home
Performance
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Heart - The Road Home
Performance
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Heart have never been a band to shy away from breaking out the acoustic instruments during most of their recording sessions. Many of my favorite Heart songs, such as "Love Alive", "Dog and Butterfly", and "Crazy On You" were already mostly acoustic numbers to begin with, and they sound fantastic under these new arrangements. Others, like the ultra-heavy "Barracuda", had me scratching my head as to how they were going to pull it off acoustically, and in Nancy Wilson's own words after the performance, "acoustic Barracuda? - some say it could never be done." They did it all right, but it was probably one they should have skipped. Heart were one of my favorite rock bands throughout the 70's and early 80's. They were essentially the female version of Led Zeppelin and Bad Company. Led by the Zep-idolizing Wilson sisters, Ann and Nancy, they could always be counted on to lay down a couple of Zeppelin covers during their explosive live concerts, and they always did them justice. Check out their killer performances of "Battle of Evermore" and "Black Dog" from their Alive In Seattle concert DVD. They certainly had their ups and downs during the 80's and 90's, scoring big with the MTV-targeted Heart album in 1985, and then experiencing a slow decline for the next couple of decades until eventually reemerging with the excellent Jupiter's Darling album in 2004. In between, they managed to slip in this gem of a performance, recorded in front of an ecstatic hometown crowd at Seattle's Moore Theater in 1995. The DVD kicks off with some behind-the-scenes footage and commentary by Ann and Nancy before switching over to the theater just as eight members of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, who were backing the band this night, open with a short musical interlude. The band receives a warm ovation from the packed Moore crowd, and they dig right in to a cover of Joni Mitchell's "River", which falls a little flat as the show opener. This is quickly remedied as Ann belts out "Dog and Butterfly" next, proving that her amazing vocals are still as powerful as ever. "(Up On) Cherry Blossom Road" is a new song that sounds like it could have been a leftover from the Little Queen sessions, thanks to some delightfully bluesy acoustic guitar interplay between Wilson and Leese. For this performance, the Wilson sisters were also accompanied by original member Howard Leese on guitar and mandolin, and augmented by Fernando Saunders on bass, and Denny Fongheiser on drums. Some of the highlights were the obvious ones, such as the stunning performances of "Love Alive" and a completely rearranged "Crazy On You", but non obvious choices like "Alone" and "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You" turned out much better than the over-produced originals. Ann and Nancy's performances were brilliant, and their enthusiasm was infectious, but Leese simply looked like he had a plane to catch. Check out his dour expression throughout an otherwise excellent performance of "Dream Of The Archer" that featured he and Nancy jamming on mandolins. No wonder he was gone from the band shortly after this gig. The DVD was produced by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones and the quality is outstanding. Audio is provided in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and stereo tracks, and they each provide a crystal clear mix of all of the instruments and vocals. The video looked excellent, and the camera work captured the intimacy of the performance perfectly. Bonus Features include Heart's live performances of "Crazy On You", on The Tonight Show, and "The Road Home", on Later With Greg Kinnear, as well as the original Capitol Records' Electronic Press Kit for The Road Home. The Road Home comes highly recommended if you are into the whole unplugged thing. I enjoyed this one a little bit more than the somewhat sterile Alive In Seattle video, but I still yearn for something from one of Heart's late-70's/early-80's tours. Hey, if Zeppelin can do it. |
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Running Time: 89 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - April 2003 |