America (band)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by MortSahlFan, Aug 7, 2018.

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  1. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    GREAT song...
     
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  2. pocofan

    pocofan Senior Member

    Location:
    Alabama
    I like them. I went to make a com cdr and it ended up being two full discs. Plenty of great songs that were not hits.
     
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  3. SurrealCereal

    SurrealCereal Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    I'm not really a fan of theirs, but they do have some songs I really like, including "Ventura Highway" and "Sister Golden Hair."
     
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  4. AveryKG

    AveryKG Sultan of snacks

    Location:
    west London
    I would imagine those that he wrote, OTOH from the first five records (apologies if I miss any):
    America: Rainy Day, Never Found the Time, Donkey Jaw
    Homecoming: Don't X the River, Saturn Nights, California Revisited
    Hat Trick: Hat Trick (parts), It's Life, Willow Tree Lullaby
    Holiday: Lonely People, Glad to See You, You, In the Country
    Hearts: Story of a Teenager, Half a Man, Woman Tonight, Old Virginia, Tomorrow

    ...and whatever he wrote on 'Hideaway' and 'Harbor' (dying to spell that with the British 'U' but it looks wrong!). I think it was after 'Harbor' that he left the band, is that right?
     
  5. AveryKG

    AveryKG Sultan of snacks

    Location:
    west London
    As a lyric, Plants and birds and rocks and things is undeniably not great, but how many not great lyrics have gone on to be an album title?

    The Loud Family
     
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  6. Malcolm Crowne

    Malcolm Crowne Forum Habitue

    Location:
    Portland OR
    plants and birds and rocks and things
    great line!
    They were like the Eagles to me w/o those lame Henley rockstar songs. Tin Man is amazing, I don't know the non-hit songs too much but those chart toppers were some perfect 70s mellow gold smash hits for sure!!
     
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  7. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    They were huge for a while, and I recall that at least one of their albums, maybe more, was quite good sonically. A friend wanted to see them in their heyday, so I took her- we had great seats. They are kind of mellow, but there were some good acts that did mellow from that era. I don't know what kind of recognition they have today--except perhaps on classic rock stations and some audiophiles who like the sound quality of their records. I have copies here, haven't listened to them in a thousand years. Maybe I should!
     
  8. Socalguy

    Socalguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA
    Agree, it’s a phenomenal album title
     
  9. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    and he put some great harmony down as well as his bass playing...he belonged.
     
  10. davers

    davers Forum Resident

    "The Heat Was Hot" is my all time favorite goofy lyric to throw out for chuckles! That said, I really do love Horse With No Name...it has an irresistable acoustic strum groove and great harmony vocals.
     
  11. JonUrban

    JonUrban SHF Member #497

    Location:
    Connecticut
    I also like some of the songs on "View From the Ground" and "Your Move". "You Can Do Magic" with an exceptional bridge, "Right Before Your Eyes", "Inspector Mills", "Jody", "The Border", "Your Move", "Love's Worn out Again", "She's A Runaway".

    For some reason I listened to those albums quite a lot when they came out and those songs, to me, are just as good as some of their core WB tunes. YRMV
     
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  12. RandyP

    RandyP Forum Resident

    I got into their back catalog a few years ago after I saw them in concert and got to meet them at the meet and greet beforehand. Nice guys. Autographed a CD for me. I showed them the picture sleeve for "Lonely People" and they told me the late Phil Hartman did the artwork. I put together a homemade compilation of their singles, deep cuts and rarities sometime after this.
     
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  13. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    One that seldom gets mentioned is their title track from the animated film The Last Unicorn. I like it a lot
     
  14. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    Two of my favorite deep cuts of Beckley’s are Submarine Ladies from Hat Trick and Sargent Darkness from Harbor.

    I saw them on the Hideaway tour, with Boz Scaggs and IIRC Eric Carmen as opening acts. Boz was not appreciated by the top 40 oriented crowd.
     
  15. snowman872

    snowman872 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wilcox, AZ
    America's Greatest Hits was so ubiquitous in '75, it eclipsed the rest of their catalog. I'm guilty of listening only to their compilations, which I enjoy very much. I really should explore the original albums. Lots of good suggestions in this thread.
     
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  16. Batears52

    Batears52 Senior Member

    Location:
    Near Baltimore, MD
    When Audio Fidelity announced that they would be releasing America a few years ago, I was so psyched! It is some of Steve's finest work ever IMO.

    Then Homecoming - another superb release! I re-discovered Hat Trick at that time also and remembered why I bought the vinyl all those years ago. I hoped AF might license it, but was not surprised that it was skipped. I did order a CD copy from the UK.

    I was concerned enough when Hearts was released ahead of Holiday that I sent Marshall an email. He told me they were trying hard to get it and was confident that it would come out. Sadly, it was not to be. I did order a CD copy from Amazon UK and may do the same for Hideaway.
     
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  17. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    Hat Trick is an embarrassment of riches all on it's own for non-single songs.

    Wind Wave
    She's Gonna Let You Down
    Rainbow Song
    Submarine Ladies
    Hat Trick
    Molten Love
     
  18. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    Um...sorry. But, contextually, you asked for it.

    What’s with you touchy guys that can’t admit to being wrong?

    Sorry, not this time!

    :)
     
  19. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    LOL...
     
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  20. Batears52

    Batears52 Senior Member

    Location:
    Near Baltimore, MD
     
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  21. Batears52

    Batears52 Senior Member

    Location:
    Near Baltimore, MD
    I tend to think that the problem with Hat Trick is that there wasn't a bona fide radio hit on it. (i.e. Horse, Need You & Ventura)

    I also think that WB started to relax their promotion push during Homecoming - maybe figuring that they had become established. Homecoming should have had at least 3 Top 10 hits....and this probably carried over.
     
  22. Natvecal.

    Natvecal. JUST A LOW- FI GUY WHO LOVES A GREAT MASTERING

    Location:
    Oceanside,CA.
    When I first learned to play guitar (late '70s)I had no choice but to learn/practice on a trashed 12 string guitar with horribly high action on the fretboard & fret buzz on certain frets LOL.

    But, this made me listen to more of the acoustic leaning artists and really appreciate it more since I couldn't bang out Blackdog Or Warpigs to much "effect" on a "12 string" like I really wanted to instead. This opened new doors to acoustic bands. I bought America's S/T by '78 and loved it.That was the start to "branching out" for me in this genera. Of course I had Led Zep III in '74 and JP's acoustics wowed me back then before ever thinking of playing guitar. So, America,CSN (&Y) ,DF,NY, were the second wave of acoustic influence for me by the late '70s. I love the "Hits" but, agree that America has a very nice body of "Non-Hit" songs that are as good (some better depending on what your tastes are of course) Acoustically highly recommended!

    What's funny to me is by 12th grade '79/'80 I was writing (what we thought were "brilliant")songs with a buddy from school and we would play these songs at lunch time (or break time,before or after school) since we would bring our crappy guitars to school with us. Most people liked it(it appeared) and I'm laughing to myself now cringing at what we were playing & singing in front of people back then.Man oh MAN. We thought we were just like CSN & America!NOT!:laugh:
     
    Last edited: Aug 9, 2018
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  23. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Years ago, I did an experiment. I had three GH albums that I adored and wanted to further explore each artists music. The GH in question were Eagles, America and Cat Stevens.

    I chose the non-hits from the albums used to create those compilations and made a CD-R for each. In Cat Stevens and America, I discovered that I liked the album tracks at least as much as the hits. The Eagles didn't fare so well.

    But yeah, in the case of America, I listened to that CD-R over and over again, until I knew the songs almost as well as the hits. So much great stuff there.
     
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  24. adad

    adad Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego
    Love there first album. I use to listen to it all the time. I always felt more people should give it a spin. I will have to check out Hat Trick.
     
  25. Natvecal.

    Natvecal. JUST A LOW- FI GUY WHO LOVES A GREAT MASTERING

    Location:
    Oceanside,CA.
    I think whether a band/artist "makes (Or NOT) " in R'nR HOF inclusion had no bearing on my perspective. Any Music awards and the irk just don't play out well in my world.The should or shouldn't be included or nominated or win is always going to disappoint more than satisfy(at least for me).If I dig a band/artist whether they get "due respect/recognition" from the "Mainstream" over someone else is too "contest-like"(even sorta corny to a degree) for me.It is what it is and I blow it off.:)

    BTW, I have no clue who's in or not as I just learned on here this morning America isn't & Tupac and The Pistols are.Validates my stance on avoiding these this events IMHO.

    But, in the end I "get it". We just want our esteemed musicians to get their due because of how much they impact us in our lives .
     
    Last edited: Aug 9, 2018
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