Jackson Browne: Going Home Concert DVD - Live Performance & Music Documentary | Perfect for Fans, Collectors & Home Entertainment

This 90-minute documentary/concert film was first broadcast on the Disney Channel in 1994. "I'm Alive" had just been released and it was a perfect moment in Jackson Browne's career for fans old and new to pay a visit, and to take stock. For me, "I'm Alive" represented a coming full-circle for Browne as he, after a decade of focusing his passions and talents mainly on social issues, returned to his greatest gift, that being his ability, through beautiful writing and performances, to probe the highs of Love, the depths of loss and the remarkable resiliency of the human heart. In my opinion, it's what Jackson has always been able to do better than any one of his peers, and it is why he is universally acknowledged to be one of his generation's very finest singer-songwriters...but back to the film. Jackson is captured just as the final touches are being put on "I'm Alive" and it serves as a perfect springboard all the way back, even beyond the beginning of his career. Through rare footage and meticulously interwoven interviews with Browne and many of his contemporaries, we learn of his early interest in songwriting, the strong and sobering impact of his first trip to New York, the reputation he quickly gained as a seminal voice in the Singer/Songwriter movement, his (continuing) altruistic involvement in social issues and, finally, "Going Home" musically, through incredibly moving performances of "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate," "Sky Blue and Black" and "Before the Deluge." The pacing and editing of this documentary are simply perfect. A particularly effective highlight is a seamless 4-minute trip through Jackson's career as he performs "Doctor My Eyes" in three different decades! Finally, the taping of the documentary's exclusive concert footage is absolutely stellar. Remarkably, the cameras seem invisible even as they bring us literally onstage and mere inches from Jackson and his band, who appear to be in a large studio populated with a couple hundred very fortunate fans surrounding the beautifully lit stage, some standing and others seated on couches, overstuffed armchairs and rockers. "Going Home" is a film worthy of its subject, which is the highest praise I can possibly give it. By the time the credits roll past Browne singing "Running on Empty," it's clear that we have witnessed an artist of rare gifts and integrity, and one who has earned the love and respect of fans and peers alike. Fifteen years have passed since Going Home's original release, but if you've seen and heard Jackson Browne lately, as I have, you know that it might just as easily have been produced last week.