America (Official Thread)

snakes&ladders

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Yes the great US/UK band that dished out GEMS like Sister Goldenhair, A Horse with no name, Ventura Highway, etc.

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Discography

America is an English-American folk rock musical band, composed originally of members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek. The three members were barely past their teenage years when they became a musical sensation during 1972, with their main popularity during the early to mid 1970s and early 1980s. Some of the band's best known songs are "A Horse with No Name", "Sister Golden Hair" (both of which reached #1), "Ventura Highway", "Tin Man", and "Lonely People".

Although their music was derided frequently by critics, the band's singles and albums were very successful commercially. They were popular enough to attract the services of famed Beatles producer George Martin for a series of seven albums. The band survived Peek quitting near its apex long enough to see Beckley and Bunnell return the act to the top 10 as a duo with "You Can Do Magic" in 1982. Touring for almost four decades, America maintains fans and performs over 100 shows per year. On January 16, 2007, America released Here & Now, the band's first major label studio album in over twenty years.



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Magic

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Re: Official America thread

200px-America_album.jpg

The debut's original release was 1971, without "Horse With No Name" but was re-released in 1972 with the song included.





I do love this song, but some say it is a rip off from Neil Youngs "Heart of Gold"......could be, the writer of "horse with no name" (Bunnell) idolized Young.

Bunnell had this to say about "Horse With No Name": "I didn't consciously try to affect [Young's] vocals," Bunnell explains. "But subconsciously, I might have."

Quote courtesy of Bad News Beat
 

Gabble Ratchet

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Re: Official America thread

Unfortunately that's the only song I know them by. Might have to update a bit :)
 

Odysseus

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Re: Official America thread

I do love this song, but some say it is a rip off from Neil Youngs "Heart of Gold"......could be, the writer of "horse with no name" (Bunnell) idolized Young.

Bunnell had this to say about "Horse With No Name": "I didn't consciously try to affect [Young's] vocals," Bunnell explains. "But subconsciously, I might have." [/QUOTE]


That's funny because back in Spring of 72, when both those songs were spinning on the AM stations, I thought they were the same artist. Ah, but I was a young lad then, Lol.

America:grinthumb I've always liked much of their output (Ventura Highway, Lonely People) but tend to dig the b sides as well like Riverside, Three Roses, Cornwall Blank, and Today's the Day.
 

annie

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Re: Official America thread

200px-America_album.jpg

The debut's original release was 1971, without "Horse With No Name" but was re-released in 1972 with the song included.





I do love this song, but some say it is a rip off from Neil Youngs "Heart of Gold"......could be, the writer of "horse with no name" (Bunnell) idolized Young.

Bunnell had this to say about "Horse With No Name": "I didn't consciously try to affect [Young's] vocals," Bunnell explains. "But subconsciously, I might have."

Quote courtesy of Bad News Beat

"Horse With No Name" could not have been a "ripoff" of "Heart of Gold" because the former was released at the end of 1971 and the latter in 1972. The claim was that the sound of Bunnell's vocals on Horse is similar to Neil Young's style. Even if true, I do not see anything wrong in that. Incidentally, Horse bumped Heart off the charts in 1972. Personally, I prefer Horse.

BTW, from Bob Dylan - "in about '72 and the big song at the time was "Heart of Gold." I used to hate it when it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to "Heart of Gold." I think it was up at number one for a long time, and I'd say, "Shit, that's me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me."
 

LG

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Re: Official America thread

I only have two CD's the first "History" compilation and the debut, I was never really a big fan of theirs.

Sandman would be my pick for the best song they ever recorded.
 

0000

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Re: Official America thread

I only have two CD's the first "History" compilation and the debut, I was never really a big fan of theirs.

Sandman would be my pick for the best song they ever recorded.

I have the same albums, I'm not sure what happened to the first one though, I had it uploaded to the computer and that is somehow gone, and the hard copy is gone as well:heheh: hmm....
anyways, I love the early sound to this band with the raw acoustics and almost minimalist sound, but later on they started to make it a bit fancier and add some synth strings and bring the sound really into(and beyond) the seventies and it was still great... it updated their sound without losing it which is what a great band needs to do if they are going to be around for more than a few albums, My favorite song is either "Sandman", "Don't Cross the River", or "Ventura Highway" I can decide between those three
I love that intro on Ventura Highway its so "nice" I love it
 

snakes&ladders

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Re: Official America thread

I see America like I see the Eagles.....great sound, great arrangements :):)
 

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