The Road to Albertane is a 1998 documentary that follows the American band Hanson on their first major tour.
Since bounding into the pop mainstream in 1997, Tulsa-bred Isaac, Taylor, and Zachary Hanson have proven their own abundant musical talent even as early detractors assumed (mistakenly) there were unseen strings controlling the three videogenic teens. Granted Hanson and their record label drafted some well-connected producers, writers, and session players to beef up their platinum debut, Middle of Nowhere, but the brothers themselves were already comparatively seasoned live performers. This 73-minute concert souvenir, shot during their 1998 Albertane tour, underscores that ambition--it was produced and directed by the group, with an assist from their father.
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.
