America - Homecoming

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 32:55
Size: 75.4 MB
Styles: Soft rock, Pop-folk
Year: 1972/1995/2008
Art: Front

[3:30] 1. Ventura Highway
[3:10] 2. To Each His Own
[2:29] 3. Don't Cross The River
[3:40] 4. Moon Song
[3:17] 5. Only In Your Heart
[2:09] 6. Till The Sun Comes Up Again
[4:17] 7. Cornwall Blank
[3:46] 8. Head And Heart
[3:02] 9. California Revisited
[3:30] 10. Saturn Nights

Homecoming, America's finest album, refines and focuses the folk-pop approach found on their debut release. The songs here are tighter and more forthright, with fewer extended solo instrumental sections than before. The sound quality is clear and bright; the colorful arrangements, while still acoustic guitar-based, feature more electric guitar and keyboards. The performance quality is more assured, among the most urgently committed the group would ever put on vinyl. Verses are still sometimes banal and clunky ("You can't disregard your friends/But life gets so hard when you reach the end") or cryptic ("Sorry, boy, but I've been hit by purple rain"), but a number of the song subjects here exhibit a yearning sense of wanderlust and love of the outdoors that proves to be highly evocative and compelling (particularly on "Moon Song," "Ventura Highway," "California Revisited," and "Cornwall Blank"). Chordal progressions are sophisticated and contain many subtle surprises. A few new style wrinkles can be seen in the country-influenced "Don't Cross the River," the drivingly gutsy "California Revisited" (perhaps the hardest-rocking song the group would ever produce), and the hushed yet mildly funky "Head & Heart." Chart hits from this release include "Ventura Highway," "Only in Your Heart," and "Don't Cross the River," but each song here has something to recommend it. This top-flight album is a very rewarding listen. ~David Cleary

Homecoming     

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America - The Complete Greatest Hits

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 63:11
Size: 144.7 MB
Styles: Soft rock, AM Pop
Year: 2001/2005
Art: Front

[4:08] 1. A Horse With No Name
[5:05] 2. Sandman
[3:04] 3. I Need You
[3:02] 4. Everyone I Meet Is From California
[3:30] 5. Ventura Highway
[2:29] 6. Don't Cross The River
[3:15] 7. Only In Your Heart
[3:03] 8. Muskrat Love
[3:18] 9. Another Try
[3:26] 10. Tin Man
[2:27] 11. Lonely People
[3:17] 12. Sister Golden Hair
[3:03] 13. Daisy Jane
[2:20] 14. Woman Tonight
[3:12] 15. Today's The Day
[2:49] 16. Amber Cascades
[3:49] 17. You Can Do Magic
[3:49] 18. Right Before Your Eyes
[3:56] 19. The Border

The Complete Greatest Hits is an awkward title, but it's more or less accurate. Less because there are two new recordings here ("World of Light," "Paradise") at the end that couldn't qualify as hits. More because it does contain all of the group's greatest hits, from their Warner recordings from the '70s ("A Horse With No Name," "Tin Man," "Ventura Highway," "Lonely People," and "Sister Golden Hair") to their smooth recordings for Capitol in the early '80s ("You Can Do Magic," "The Border"). Not counting Rhino's superb box set, Highway, this is the first collection to do this, and it makes for an excellent listen and a great, succinct summary of their strengths. ~Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Complete Greatest Hits

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America - Holiday Harmony

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 45:10
Size: 103.4 MB
Styles: Holiday
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[3:11] 1. Winter Wonderland
[2:42] 2. Let It Snow
[3:50] 3. White Christmas
[3:51] 4. A Christmas To Remember
[3:40] 5. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
[3:58] 6. Sleigh Ride
[4:49] 7. Silver Bells
[3:21] 8. Christmas In California
[2:33] 9. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
[3:40] 10. Winter Holidays
[2:27] 11. Frosty The Snowman
[4:35] 12. Silent Night
[2:26] 13. The First Noel

Although Dan Peek left America in 1976, the remaining members--Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley--recapture the magic that put the folk rock trio atop the charts 25 years ago on Holiday Harmony, their first Christmas album. Much of the credit must go to seminal 1970s figure Andrew Gold, who not only produced and engineered the record, but played all the instruments (save Beckley's and Bunnell's guitars) and added his own soaring background vocals to the 13 songs. Gold also cowrote "Christmas in California," one of the three originals on the disc, which, with its tight harmonies and breezy subject matter, could have been lifted off The Beach Boys' Christmas Album. In an unusual twist for a holiday album, America's newly penned songs are the best tunes on the collection. Beckley and Bunnell haven't lost their chemistry and homespun imagination, conjuring images of Yuletides past on the excellent "Christmas to Remember" and the witty "Winter Holidays." When the duo cover Christmas classics, they seem to bend them to their will, adding background harmonies on "Winter Wonderland" that recall the ones they used on "A Horse with No Name." On their version of "White Christmas," Beckley and Bunnell incorporate the melody line from "Tin Man," with surprisingly good results. ~Jaan Uhelszki

Holiday Harmony

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