Hanson - The Road to Albertane [VHS] - Region 0

The resulting portrait is exuberant, optimistic, a little brash, and inevitably a little self-congratulatory. When the brothers kick off the concert footage with "Gimme Some Lovin'," they give props to an earlier blue-eyed soul prodigy, Steve Winwood (who sang and cowrote the original as a member of the Spencer Davis Group), while serving notice that they're capable of playing with the big boys. Backstage interviews and press conference clips reflect Hanson's obvious awareness of time-honored rock personae, with youngest brother Zac inevitably playing the wise guy while his elders knit their brows to provide more thoughtful answers.

The cameras discreetly avoid the band's sidemen to focus on the three stars, and frequent shifts from film to video stock, sudden changes in focus, and telltale vagaries in synching suggest Hanson's desire for credibility hasn't dissuaded them from allowing the sort of post-production sweetening now commonplace for concert tapings. Hanson's fans, however, will focus on the band's hearty, R&B-tinged pop, fleshed out here with performances of 15 songs including their biggest single hits. --Sam Sutherland