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An Impressive Collection From Folk Pop Rockers - America!

highway_star | Hallandale, Florida United States | 09/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"America formed in 1970 in England as the sons of Air Force military men. The trio wrote some of the seventies most beautifully crafted songs, merging both elements of folk and rock. Their first hit "A Horse With No Name" became a huge hit in 1972, soon to be followed by "Sandman" and "I Need You" all of which were on their debut top selling album "America". Their second album "Homecoming" again became a top selling album and produced the hits "Ventura Highway" and "Don't Cross The River". America continued to release numerous albums throughout the seventies and into the eighties. This collection gives one a good retrospective of the band's output (with only a few minor deletions) including such hits as "Muskrat Love", "Tin Man","Lonely People", "Sister Golden Hair", "Daisy Jane", "You Can Do Magic" plus more . Their big hits are all here and the entire collection is beautifully remastered by Rhino Records. There's also an excellent booklet enclosed with interesting information about the band and it's songs. If you enjoy listening to groups such as Bread, Three Dog Night, Steely Dan, The Eagles (to name just a few) then this collection will not disappoint."

Excellent overview for the casual fan

birddogger5150 | Roseville, MN USA | 09/27/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"America was basically riding the crest of the Crosby Stills & Nash sound, but they did it quite well without coming off as a mere copycat band. This remastered compilation includes every track from the very popular "History: America's Greatest Hits" CD and expands from there with later chart singles and notable in-between tunes. I was happy to see that they weren't shy about including their so-sappy-it's-good 80's hits "You Can Do Magic", "The Border" and the excellent "Right Before Your Eyes". These songs obviously pale by comparison to their more politically charged and psychedelic 70's output, especially in the lyrics department (of the three, only "The Border" was co-written by any band members), but they're great ear candy regardless. America fans of all intensities now have three levels of compilation extensiveness to choose from - this single disc of all their chart hits, or get "History" combined with "Encore: More America's Greatest Hits" to expand on their latter year output, or get the box set for a 3 CD overview! I personally would recommend this one for its pristine sound.An additional note on the song "Daisy Jane" - I've always been a big fan of Janet Jackson, and one of my favorites of hers is the ballad "Let's Wait Awhile" from 1986. I never realized until picking up the America CD that her and her co-conspirators Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis basically pilfered parts of the melody from "Daisy Jane" for that song! In fact, Janet (Ms. Jackson if yo' nasty) must be a closet America fan, seeing as how she also sampled the riff from "Ventura Highway" for her own "Someone To Call My Lover" last year."

An Underrated band--an above average collection of songs

Jeff Edwards | Twin Falls, Idaho | 08/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm re-discovering a LOT of 70's bands lately and realizing that this decade produced an incredible amount of really good music (disco notwithstanding). America was definitely in the running as one of the high points of this era of music exploration. A truly exceptional collection by a really great group of musicians. Anyone doubt me? Check it out for yourselves. 'Sister Golden Hair' can hold its own today as well as it did almost 30 years ago. But let's not stop there, how 'bout 'Tin Man', 'Ventura Highway', 'A Horse With No Name', 'I Need You', 'You Can Do Magic', 'Lonely People' and MANY more. Not just good music, but GREAT music. The ability to hold up well over the years is something that THIS particular generation of music listeners I believe will never truly understand because the bulk of songs produced over the past decade (or so) are almost all throw-away tunes. What is great today will be yesterdays fodder within a few weeks, and almost NONE of it sounds good after just a few spins. Will Britney Spears EVER stand up to 'Satisfaction' by the Stones? Does Eminem even have a prayer of selling millions of albums 30 YEARS after he stops making music like The Beatles? No feakin' WAY. However, America IS a band that can and DOES stand up well after several decades. IF you count yourself a fan of the 70's and you would count a life without disco as a GOOD thing, give America a chance and let them impress you for several more decades to come. An above average collection of songs by a truly underrated band."