America: Live in Chicago Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

America: Live in Chicago Blu-ray Movie Review

The Horse Still Has No Name

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 22, 2012

When I first heard America's eponymous debut album (the second version, which included "A Horse with No Name") and even their follow-up release, Homecoming, I assumed I was hearing another band that hailed from California. Not only were there plenty of SoCal references, but the band's entire style fit with that of west-of-the-Rockies contemporaries like the Eagles (in their more acoustic moments) and Loggins and Messina—both of whom lost the Best New Artist Grammy to America in 1973. What a shock, then, to learn that the three founding members of the band—Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek—were all U.S. army brats who'd been raised in the U.K. by English mums. Both their sound and their fascination with locales like the Ventura Highway arose more from longing for a land they barely knew than appreciation for places familiar since childhood. Such is the power of music, not to mention movies and TV, over the imagination. (The band famously took its name from a jukebox in an English cafeteria.)

Beginning in 1971, the group enjoyed almost immediate success with acoustic instruments and three-part harmonies that recalled Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As the Seventies progressed, they moved toward a more consciously rock-intensive style and further broadened their range when they partnered with producer George Martin, still best-known as the architect of the Beatles' studio creations. Peek left the band in 1977, and although the split was amicable and talk of a reunion surfaced periodically, it never happened before Peek's death in 2011.

America has remained active continuously through the Eighties and Nineties and into the 21st Century, but I think it's fair to say that the band's current appeal is primarily as a nostalgia act, notwithstanding Beckley's insistence that there's a difference between "classics" and "oldies". Certainly the song list for this broadcast on August 18, 2005 by Soundstage, the concert series presented on PBS by Chicago's local station, WTTW, in partnership with HD Ready, LLC, focuses heavily on the band's output from its first two decades (which isn't a bad thing; those songs hold up well). Koch Vision released the concert on DVD in 2008, and Image Entertainment re-released it on DVD and Blu-ray in 2011.

By the time America appeared on Soundstage, its lineup had been consistent for many years: original members Gerry Beckley (vocals, guitar and keyboards) and Dewey Bunnell (vocals and guitar), plus Richard Campbell (bass), Willie Leacox (drums) and Michael Woods (guitar and keyboards). For the Soundstage concert, America was joined on select numbers by several guests: singer-songwriter Christopher Cross (playing guitar instead of his familiar piano), Henry Diltz (best known as a photographer for album covers and publicity stills, but also a banjo player) and Larry Glazier (cello).

Classics like "Riverside", "Ventura Highway", "You Can Do Magic", "Tin Man" and "I Need You" have lost none of their power, even though they now sound inescapably like tunes from an oldies station. (I keep waiting for someone to use them on a period film soundtrack.) But the performances are enthusiastic and, at least to my ear, the arrangements have been updated without being overproduced, which gives these songs greater edge than I was expecting. A more problematic track is the group's cover of "California Dreamin'", which was used in a little-seen 1979 film of the same name and received moderate radio play. In both style and subject matter, the song would seem a natural fit for this band, and the members certainly perform it with relish. But, at least for me, it never sat comfortably with their style.

"Muskrat Love" (which, for some reason, is listed on the disc menu as "Muskrat Candlelight") was a huge hit for The Captain and Tennille in 1976, but it first appeared on America's third album, "Hat Trick", in 1973. (At this point, many readers are probably wondering, "The Captain and who?", but take my word for it.) Listening to America's performance for Soundstage is a perfectly enjoyable experience (and is accompanied by some amusing comments before and after), but it also makes clear why the song wasn't one of their hits—it works best with a female voice.

I had completely forgotten that America performed Jimmy Webb's songs for the animated feature The Last Unicorn (1982) until the band introduced their performance of the title track. It sounds as good here as it ever did.

For the final number of the evening, the band performs its first hit and signature tune, "A Horse with No Name", joined by guests Cross and Diltz. It may have something to do with the accretion of musical styles in the intervening decades, but I much prefer this version, with its many additional guitars and added vocals, to the slightly ethereal arrangement on the band's initial album. Somewhere, I'm sure, a fan has published a "secret decoder ring" to the song's cryptic lyrics, but I like them as they are: dreamy, elliptical, still galloping after all these years.

The complete song list follows; the six songs marked with an asterisk were not included in the original Soundstage broadcast, according to the program's website:

1. Riverside
2. Ventura Highway
3. You Can Do Magic
4. Don't Cross the River
5. Daisy Jane
6. The Last Unicorn
7. I Need You
8. *Head And Heart
9. Till The Sun Comes Up Again
10. Tin Man
11. *Muskrat Love
12. The Border
13. *Woman Tonight
14. *Only In Your Heart
15. *California Dreamin'
16. Lonely People (with Christopher Cross)
17. Sandman
18. Sister Golden Hair
19. *All My Life
20. A Horse With No Name

America: Live in Chicago Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Image's 1080i, AVC-encoded Blu-ray of America: Live in Chicago is generally consistent with the rest of its Soundstage series to date, although the video suffers from minor video noise more frequently than other entries I've reviewed. One factor may the light show designed to accompany this particular concert, both overhead and on the video displays behind it; it's considerably more active than is typical during the Soundstage concerts I've reviewed to date, and rapidly changing light conditions can create issues for image capture. An occasional (very occasional) shot reveals source-based interference, suggesting that one of the hi-def recording units suffered from interference during the concert, but the problem is fleeting. As is customary with this series, there were no obvious interlacing artifacts while the image was in motion. (Screencaps are another matter.) Black levels and resolved detail are consistently good, and colors are rich and well-saturated. Soundstage continues its practice of fully illuminating the audience along with the performers, which no doubt contributed to the quality of the image capture.

America: Live in Chicago Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is up to the usual standards met by director Joe Thomas and the technical crew at HD Ready. As per the typical mixing approach for Soundstage concerts, the viewer is placed in the position of an audience member with the sounds of cheering and applause directed to the surrounds, while the band and vocalists remain spread across the front soundstage, with some degree of presence in the surrounds to create a sense of space and depth. The quality of the recording and mixing is especially effective in the substantial portion of the set that relies on acoustic guitars, which, even though they're being amplified for a concert hall, still retain some of the light, airy quality that made America's early sound especially distinctive. As I have said in previous reviews, Soundstage and Image continue to set a high standard in simulating the feel of a live performance in the home environment, as much as such an experience can be reproduced.

(Note: A PCM 2.0 track is also available for all selections.)

America: Live in Chicago Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Koch Vision disc reportedly contained an interview with Beckley and Bunnell, and the Blu-ray's disc jacket lists the same interview. However, no such item appears on the disc, which has no extras.

America: Live in Chicago Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I hadn't heard most of these songs in a long time, and I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy the experience, but this concert surprised me. That's a tribute, I think, to the passion that Beckley and Bunnell continue to bring to their music and the professionalism they exhibit in their performances. The special contribution of Soundstage to American popular song is its ability to capture some of the spark that happens between live performers and their audience and present it to a home audience. Highly recommended.