America

[ForeverAutumn]

Our office is closed today due to the big snow storm that I'm sure many of you have already, are currently, or are about to experience. I was flipping through the multitude of TV channels showing crap, looking for something...anything...decent and found an America concert being shown on TreasureHD. I forgot how much I used to love this band! Every song that they've played is a great tune from my past or a great tune that I'm hearing for the first time.

Gerry Buckley's voice isn't what it used to be. But Dewey Bunnell still sounds pretty good and the harmonies of the rest of the band easily make up for Buckley's tone. And from a female perspective, both of these guys have aged very nicely.

What a nice surprise this concert is. A great reminder of a band that I had all but forgotten about. I was too young to really notice the band when they were in their heyday. But I later fell in love with their best of album and saw them perform a few times in the 80s. I'd like to explore this band more outside of their hits. Any recommendations of what CDs I should be ordering?

[Luvin Da Blues]

Sandman makes it to a few playlists of mine. Probably the heaviest of all their songs.

[3LB]

I remember when I was a wee lad, I thought Neil Young did the song Horse With No Name.

I was gifted their first Greatest Hits album as a kid and I wore it out. I had it on LP and tape. I did hear some whole albums years later, but I doubt I could fill a CD-R with America tunes. Kinda like Little River Band, the 'best of' CD is plenty.

If you like the style, try some current acts plying the same trade, like Guster (I love them) and the last couple of Teenage Fanclub albums are very America-esque. Both do the vocal harmony thing and both sound as though George Martin produced them (he did produce America for one album).

[Smokey]

I was gifted their first Greatest Hits album as a kid and I wore it out. I had it on LP and tape. I did hear some whole albums years later, but I doubt I could fill a CD-R with America tunes. Kinda like Little River Band, the 'best of' CD is plenty.

Same here. I had couple of America albums on LP too which were alright, but their greatest hits CD is probably best bet unless you are a hard core fan.

[Mike]

Although it’s suffered with massive overplay Horse With No Name is still up there for me. I remember at the time it just struck a chord, it sounded so different with the interplay of acoustic guitars and harmonies. Overall I would recommend the first self titled album and a greatest hits package, some of the other albums I had on vinyl I never replaced on CD they sound a tad twee at times, and all are short in length. But the first album still sounds good. I think Jim did me a copy of the greatest hits which I still play.

Good call on Guster for an updated acoustic vocal harmony sound, I would recommend Keep it Together, Goldfly, Parachute, Lost and Gone Forever. I’d be happy to put a comp together for you if you like.

But a recent band you must hear if you like that warm, acoustic harmony, rock/soul, 70s Crosby Stills sound is The Duke and The King. They have just 2 albums out and both are gems. The latest came out in 2010 and I only discovered them last month, earlier I posted about my top albums of 2010 and this would now be very high on my list.

Cheers
Mike

[thekid]

I remember when I was a wee lad, I thought Neil Young did the song Horse With No Name.

3LB

funny you should mention that because I read once that Rolling Stone Magazine referred to them as CSNY lite. If you listen to a lot of their songs including some arrangements that is an apt comparison. Having said that I still like a lot of their stuff and you sometimes forget how many hits they actually had. Not sure if the concert that started this thread is the same one I saw a couple of years back during a PBS fund drive but they kept cranking out hit after hit.

[3LB]

Yes, CSNY lite. On a par with The Hollies. I mean, the Greatest Hits album has the attrocious Muskrat Love on it. Carpenter-clones Cap'n & Tineal(sp?) covered this dreck. Even as a kid I had to skip that track. If I had a dremel back then, that track woulda been gone.

[Swish]

Our office is closed today due to the big snow storm that I'm sure many of you have already, are currently, or are about to experience.

A little rain and then a dusting of snow tonight, but the 10 day forecast looks great after that. Lots of sunny days and seasonably mild temps. I freakin' hate winter and this one has been miserable thus far, so I'll be happy for some sunshine.

[Jim Clark]

A personal favorite of mine would be America Live. Not only do you get the best songs, you also get a very competently recorded concert. Two birds, one stone.

Now, it does have Muskrat Love so it also serves as a constant reminder that creativity under the influence of illegal drugs isn't always a good thing.

jc

[3LB]

Now, it does have Muskrat Love so it also serves as a constant reminder that creativity under the influence of illegal drugs isn't always a good thing.

I just hope the song is actually about two muskrats.

[Finch Platte]

I remember when I was a wee lad, I thought Neil Young did the song Horse With No Name.

Whaaaaa???!!?? I always thought it was A Horse With Ptomaine!

Makes more sense my way.

[Swish]

Whaaaaa???!!?? I always thought it was A Horse With Ptomaine!

Makes more sense my way.

Lamont gets Chinese takeout and Fred ask him what it was. He replied 'It's lo mein pop', and Fred says 'Ptomaine? I ain't eatin' that. That stuff will kill ya'.

[Finch Platte]

Lamont gets Chinese takeout and Fred ask him what it was. He replied 'It's lo mein pop', and Fred says 'Ptomaine? I ain't eatin' that. That stuff will kill ya'.

Sanford, stealin' my lines, da bastidge!

Ok, A Horse With No Mane?

[rakeford]

Yep, die-hard America fan here. I have, H, H, H, ..., and H, but one of my favorites is "Silent Letter" (hache, h, in Spanish is silent); all in LPs. Buckley and Bunnell hold their own in Silent Letter, perhaps one of their best albums. Ben to a few of their concerts in the, ..., um, ... 70's.

Their "radio hits" are my least favorite songs. Some of my fav songs are

Sandman - America
Old manTook - Holiday
Midnight - Hearts
Jet Boy Blue - Hideaway
Down to the water - Harbor
High in the City - Silent Letter

My high school gal and I liked them lots.

PS: They stack up right next to the Beatles.

Our office is closed today due to the big snow storm that I'm sure many of you have already, are currently, or are about to experience. I was flipping through the multitude of TV channels showing crap, looking for something...anything...decent and found an America concert being shown on TreasureHD. I forgot how much I used to love this band! Every song that they've played is a great tune from my past or a great tune that I'm hearing for the first time.

Gerry Buckley's voice isn't what it used to be. But Dewey Bunnell still sounds pretty good and the harmonies of the rest of the band easily make up for Buckley's tone. And from a female perspective, both of these guys have aged very nicely.

What a nice surprise this concert is. A great reminder of a band that I had all but forgotten about. I was too young to really notice the band when they were in their heyday. But I later fell in love with their best of album and saw them perform a few times in the 80s. I'd like to explore this band more outside of their hits. Any recommendations of what CDs I should be ordering?

[Swish]

[QUOTE=rakeford]Yep, die-hard America fan here. PS: They stack up right next to the Beatles.[/QUOTE


Musically? Not a chance in hell. Sorry.

[bobsticks]

I like America too but I'm worried that vast economic disparities and the murky intractability of our quasi-representational system will erode the basic underpinnings of our civic esprit de corps and lead to the kind of popular dissent/uprising even now occuring in various other nation states.

It's cold here.

[rakeford]

... PS: They stack up right next to the Beatles.

Musically? Not a chance in hell. Sorry.

I confess, the devil made me write this.

The imp in me wanted a double entendre. The true meaning is that America stacks alphabetically right next to the Beatles in my collection. Apparently, you got the impish meaning. Just trying to have a little fun.

I do like America. And I like the Beatles. Perhaps most would agree that the Beatles had more impact on Rock-n-Roll.

[Swish]

I confess, the devil made me write this.

The imp in me wanted a double entendre. The true meaning is that America stacks alphabetically right next to the Beatles in my collection. Apparently, you got the impish meaning. Just trying to have a little fun.

I do like America. And I like the Beatles. Perhaps most would agree that the Beatles had more impact on Rock-n-Roll.

Glad you were being facetious, otherwise...let the testing begin.