America: Hearts Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

America: Hearts Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 24, 2025

Hearts was the second album in a row after America: Holiday (released a couple of years ago as a Quadio disc) that George Martin produced for this (then) trio, and Martin would go on to produce several more after this particular album. If none of the America offerings ever quite rose to the heights Martin experienced with that "other band", Hearts arguably is a more nuanced and varietal offering than its immediate predecessor. If, like Martin himself, this album didn't quite reach the chart heights its immediate predecessor did (Holiday made it to Number 3 on Billboard's list, while this album "only" got to Number 4), this album did provide the band with its first Number 1 single since "A Horse With No Name" off of its first album, "Sister Golden Hair". Despite Martin's continuing influence, the band would experience the law of diminishing returns going forward after this album, with none of their subsequent studio pieces achieving the same general success as their first four or five albums. In the trivia department, this is one of many iconic albums which featured covers designed by the inimitable Phil Hartman before he left to pursue his comedy and acting careers.

The album's track list can be seen in the screenshots of the (static) disc menu I've uploaded to accompany this review.

America: Hearts Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As mentioned above, while there is video content here, like most of Rhino's Quadio line of audio Blu-rays, it's simply a static menu. Longtime readers of my reviews know one of the bugaboos that tends to bother me is inconsistent authoring of these discs in terms of toggling between audio codecs, but in this particular instance, you can use the color buttons on your remote to choose which audio codec (red for DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0, yellow for DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0), you really don't even have to have your display on to enjoy this release. Commendably switching codecs does not start the song over. Screenshot 10 shows how the color of the font changes if you scroll to a subsequent tune while playing another.

America: Hearts Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

America: Hearts features DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. The quadraphonic mix is nicely immersive, though rather interestingly a number of the tunes tend to offer the vocals emanating from all four speakers simultaneously, leaving discrete channelization to various instruments and/or effects (e.g., that evocative heartbeat opening the album is anchored toward the front). I'd frankly even argue that standing in the center of the soundstage tends to offer voices subtly but noticeably skewed toward the rear a lot of the time, even if they do indeed also engage the front channels. There are some appealing moments of directionality, as in some bursts of (female) backups from the rear channels, or some nicely wide imaging between guitars (rear) and percussion (front) in songs like "Company" (not the Sondheim tune, and, yes, that's a joke). Martin's production finesse shines through in some of the orchestral adornments, which, like the vocals, tend to surround the listener, though occasional solo instruments like a plaintive oboe are discretely channeled.

America: Hearts Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As usual with Rhino's Quadio line, there are no on disc supplements. The insert booklet reproduces cover images and also includes credits and the typical verbiage on "bass management" along with the traditional photos of master tape boxes.

America: Hearts Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

America often seemed to just kind of coast along on a general affability, beautiful major sevenths in abundance and evocative layered harmonies that couldn't help but recall efforts by the likes of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Hearts delivers all of that in a typically immaculately produced album, and if the results are a little, well, hygienic (even in supposed "genre breakers" like "Woman Tonight"), there are still several memorable songs. The quadraphonic version is nicely immersive, though it tends to be weighted rearward a lot of the time, kind of interestingly. Recommended.