Search - America :: holiday

Lost Treasure!

Jason P. Gold | Long Beach, CA | 01/16/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was one of the few albums I really wanted on CD but could not find. I even had Tower Records try to order an import, and they failed -- miserably! They never even called me to say they couldn't get it. So, I actually bought software, a SoundBlaster Audigy sound card, and an old receiver with a phono preamp to burn my own copy from vinyl. The merger of the Beatles producer, Sir Geroger Martin, and America produced a pop masterpiece. This album really gives America's first album a run for the money as America's best album. Where America's earlier work fell into the accoustic folk rock category, with this album they moved well towards the realm of accoustic pop.The influence of Sir George is very apparent, particularly in the instrumentation, which includes piano, horns, violins and other orchesteral embelishments which were not incorporated in America's earlier albums. The songs are also more personal and introspective, which gives the album an intimacy lacking in America's earlier works.OK! I have to mention it. The album had two hits -- "Tin Man" and "Lonely People." But, I consider "Old Man Took," "Another Try," and "Hollywood" to be better work.Enjoy! Pop may never get this good again."

Three and a half actually

booboo bear | Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada | 07/28/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"First of all I like it, but there are times I want to bang my head into the wall for just that reason.



This album is a lot of things to a lot of people and there's really good reason for that. Depending on your tastes this album, full of wonderful melodies and harmony, might be the bee's knees or the final selling out to total commercialism by a fine band. I've always been sort of torn about this album and I'll tell you why.



The harmonies and melodies are great and it's kind of like easy listening. It's a very different style (more urban) than the first two. The orchestration/production is a little overdone and I can fully understand why someone who enjoyed their earlier stuff might wonder WHAT HAPPENED?!. Something about this album comes across as too wimpy for me to enjoy with a clear conscience and while America's strong suit was never their lyrics some of these are just stupid. That's really too bad because it can be embarrassing when you find yourself singing along to the dumb things.



On the other hand... it's nice to see a band not be trapped into remaking the same thing over and over and this album is definitely very different from their earlier offerings. George Martin's influence is a little heavy handed in spots but overall the sound of the album (CD) quite enjoyable."