{"id":39806,"date":"2006-06-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/heart-of-gold-dvd\/"},"modified":"2006-06-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-06-20T00:00:00","slug":"heart-of-gold-dvd","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/heart-of-gold-dvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart Of Gold (DVD)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Few albums, documentaries or movies can be called
\n“instant classics.” Usually, the classic status is bestowed upon a
\nwork of art after a certain amount of time and debate elapses.
\nMovies and music initially panned, such as The Beach Boys’ Pet
\nSounds<\/i> and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner<\/i>, became
\nstandard-bearing classics years after their release.
\nCoincidentally, works that were given that “instant classic” rating
\nwhen they were initially released sometimes fall under the weight
\nof their own hype (see R.E.M.’s Monster<\/i> or Dances With
\nWolves<\/i>).<\/p>\n

Still, with one viewing of its initial theatrical
\nrelease and the DVD release, it’s safe to put Neil Young’s concert
\ndocumentary Heart Of Gold<\/i> on the short list for “best
\nconcert movies of all time,” right up there with the Talking Heads’
\nStop Making Sense<\/i> (both documentaries were directed by
\nJonathan Demme).<\/p>\n

Demme knows when to get the production out of the way
\nand let the story tell itself. With Heart Of Gold<\/i>, he almost
\nhas a perfect concert movie setup handed to him: a rock legend
\nrecords what many critics consider one of his best albums before
\ngoing in for surgery for a potentially fatal brain aneurysm — and
\non one glorious night, he gathers up a group of musical legends and
\nperforms the album in the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
\nTo add to the perfection, the moon gave off almost a heavenly
\nreflection that night.<\/p>\n

Of course, great directors make it look like anyone
\ncould direct a movie like Heart Of Gold<\/i>. Demme relies on
\nclose-ups and campfire-warm lighting to give the movie an intimacy
\nthat few dramas can reach. As the camera pans in on Neil Young and
\nSpooner Oldham’s weather worn faces, you can’t help but imagine the
\nstories they could tell you of their heyday in the 1960s and
\n1970s.<\/p>\n

Emmylou Harris’ vocals are as beautiful as Neil
\nYoung’s are distinctive throughout Heart Of Gold<\/i>. Though
\nmuch of the documentary draws from Neil Young’s Prairie Wind<\/i>
\nalbum, old standbys such as “Harvest Moon” and “Old Man” are also
\nperformed.<\/p>\n

Nostalgia runs heavy throughout Heart Of Gold<\/i>.
\nFrom the traditional, almost frontier-like dress of the backup
\nsingers to Emmylou Harris’ wish that the developers of a high rise
\nin Nashville be arrested because when built, the high rise will
\nblock out the skyline view from the Ryman Theater, Heart Of
\nGold<\/i> romanticizes a bygone era. Baby boomer haters may sneer at
\nthis type of nostalgia, but Heart Of Gold<\/i> is a movie that
\nproudly refuses to be for everyone. Watching Heart Of Gold<\/i>,
\nviewers do have to surrender a bit of cynicism and believe in the
\ntranscendence of music.<\/p>\n

Those viewers who wisely wait until their favorite
\nmovies come out with deluxe or director’s editions needn’t worry
\nwith Heart Of Gold<\/i>: The movie comes packed with extras. The
\nsecond disc contains revealing interviews from the players and Neil
\nYoung. In one interview, Neil Young looks around at some of the
\nnoted landmarks around Nashville during the world movie premiere of
\nHeart Of Gold<\/i> and says:<\/p>\n

“I’m getting smaller and smaller \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I’m not as
\nhuge anymore. I felt like a leaf on a river.”<\/p>\n

While that may be true, Heart Of Gold<\/i> captures
\nthe power of an album that few critics may have dismissed as
\nanother “artist facing their mortality” record. And true to Neil
\nYoung spirit, he has ridden the folksy momentum from his album and
\nthis documentary and released an amped-up protest album, Living
\nWith War<\/i>. During Heart Of Gold<\/i>, Neil Young wondered
\naloud what Hank Williams Sr. would think if he saw the development
\noutside of the Grand Old Opry. If he’d been in the audience that
\nnight, guesses are Williams would have been pretty proud.<\/p>\n

[Editor’s note: The good folks at Special Ops
\nMedia<\/a> also provided us with a link to this nifty
\ne-card<\/a> promoting the DVD.<\/i>]<\/p>\n

<\/review><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5692],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-39806","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-neil-young","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39806"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}