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The Definitive Pop Collection

America - The Definitive Pop Collection Audio CD

A fair review of the America "The Definitive Pop Collection" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all America reviews here, or go back to the America tabs.

Band: America
Title: The Definitive Pop Collection
Rating:

Release Date: 2006-09-12
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Horse with No Name 2: I Need You 3: Riverside 4: Sandman 5: Everyone I Meet Is from California 6: Ventura Highway 7: Don't Cross the River 8: Only in Your Heart 9: To Each His Own 10: Cornwall Blank 11: Muskrat Love 12: Green Monkey 13: She's Gonna Let You Down [Single Edit] 14: Rainbow Song 15: Tin Man 16: Another Try 17: Lonely People 18: Hollywood 19: Baby It's Up to You 20: Old Man Took 21: Sister Golden Hair 22: Daisy Jane 23: Woman Tonight 24: Today's the Day 25: Amber Cascades 26: Jet Boy Blue 27: Watership Down 28: God of the Sun 29: Sergeant Darkness 30: Sarah

Where is "You can do magic"?
But how come "You can do magic" is not included? That was a major hit. This is a great double cd set, don't get me wrong. .

The Definitive America Anthology
If you own this collection, you can get rid of all of the original albums except for the self-titled debut and HOMECOMING, as well as the skimpy best-of HISTORY. THE DEFINITIVE POP COLLECTION is the definitive anthology of 70s folk-rockers America, featuring all of their best songs from their years on Warner Brothers, leaving out the lesser Capitol work. There are many great songs here, including "A Horse With No Name", whose last verse's final line is an environmental message; "Sandman", which describes the feelings of someone afraid of danger; "Ventura Highway", which evokes taking your paid vacation time in someplace exotic; "Don't Cross The River", which has a cautionary message against making rash judgements that could harm you, and helps account for my statements regarding looking good for a number of pretty actresses; "Cornwall Blank" and "Green Monkey", both of which have a slightly dark, ominous tone; "Tin Man", which says that everyone has potential in themselves; and "Lonely People", a song that has the basic theme of "don't give up. " The bandmembers' opposition to Indonesia's trumped-up 2005 drug-smuggling conviction of a young Australian tourist makes this double-disc set an essential purchase for both your ears AND your conscience.

Perfect summary of the original trio known as America
They were young and inspired and it really shows when you consider that during this same time the pop music scene was exploding with singer-songwriter combinations. From 1972 to 1977 Dan Peek, Dewey Bunnell, and Gerry Beckley made seven studio albums of original (only one cover, Willis Alan Ramsey's - "Muskrat Love")material that were organic, well-written, and above all a pleasure to listen to. At the same time Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" was ascending the charts, America's first single, "A Horse With No Name" sung by Dewey Bunnell was also making its run up the charts. Many people confused Bunnell's voice with that of Neil Young. "Heart of Gold" was sitting at the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 on 18 March 1972 where it was bumped by "Horse With No Name" the following week. The self-titled debut album produced a second hit single with "I Need You" and "Sandman" became an album FM radio hit. The debut album is like that of so many other singer-songwriter acts of the era. (The Eagles, CSN, Jackson Browne) It is near perfect.

America continued to score hits with their self-produced second (Homecoming) and third albums (Hat Trick). When the latter failed to produce a top forty hit, America turned to George Martin for their remaining tenure with Warner Brothers Records. The four albums he produced retain the folksy charms of the earlier albums, but with an added sophistication to the arrangments. Tracks like "Tin Man", "Lonely People" and especially "Another Try" have string and horn arrangments that are reminiscent of "Penny Lane" or "Eleanor Rigby". With the fifth album, Hearts, America would score their second #1 single with "Sister Golden Hair". "Daisy Jane" and "Company" are lovely tracks that again benefit from Martin's beautiful arrangments and very fine vocal performances from Beckley and Bunnell respectively.

In 1975 Martin assembled a premature greatest hits (History)album for Warner Brothers. In the process, he remixed seven tracks from the first three albums which he did not produce. The remixes are for the most part subtle when compared to the original versions, but for purists it should be noted that technically those tracks are not the hit versions. For many of us, History is/was our introduction to America. Even with the remixes, it was the defintive hits package until this new collection from Warner/Rhino.

The last two studio albums on Warner Bros by America were Hideaway (1976) which contained their last top 40 hit as a trio, the lovely "Today's The Day". This was a love song by Dan Peek with the signature George Martin orchestral backing. The second single, "Amber Cascades" from Dewey is an uptempo track that should have been a bigger hit, but sputtered out at #75 in the summer of 1976. America would retreat to Hawaii to record their final album with Dan Peek, Harbor (1977) In my opinion, Harbor was a stronger album than Hideaway, but its singles failed to make the charts. Two of Gerry's finest compositions, "Sergeant Darkness" and "God Of The Sun" opened sides one and two of the vinyl. Either one seemed like a natural for a hit, but it didn't happen. Dan's "Slow Down" and "Don't Cry Baby" also seemed prime for hits. For whatever reason, the fickle public seemed to be through with America.

Dan Peek left shortly after Harbor as he had recently had a major religious epiphany. (On a personal note, I met Dan Peek once in 1986 after a solo concert, and you couldn't meet a nicer person. I had in my car all of his America albums and his two (at the time) solo albums, and I asked him if he would consider autographing them for me, and he didn't hesitate to say yes. He wrote a personal message on each one, and told me I was the first person to present his entire recorded output for an autograph) By the way, Dan's first solo album, All Things Are Possible, feature Gerry and Dewey on two tracks, and is a fine record in its own right.

This two disc Definitive Collection is exactly as the title states -- defintive. Gerry and Dewey would continue as a America, and even though they made some fine records [noteably Silent Letter (1979) and Alibi (1981)], the trio had a synergy that was missing from the duo or from Dan alone. I have always hoped they would make a new record as a trio someday, but reunions rarely seem to be very satisfying at least on record. I would urge anyone who really likes History or this Definitive Collection to seek out the original seven albums. You won't be disappointed.

Excellent Warner Brothers Summary
It stops at 1977 and the final Warner Brother album "Harbor" and it's the year Dan Peek left the group. This entry into Rhino's Definitive series should have been subtitled "The Definitive Warner Brothers Pop Collection" since it contains every single released for that label and each Warner album is represented. The space left on disc one could have been filled with more album tracks, but what is here is the absolute essential. The mastering of this set is superb, America's Capital work and beyond is well represented on the previously released boxed set, the only "hit" missing from that excellent collection is "Right Before Your Eyes" which found a home on the cross-licensed "The Complete Greatest Hits" which dropped the hit "Can't Fall Asleep To A Lullaby" for a new track, but I'm picking at straws here. Stylistically, this set represents the early folk-rock sound of America before going commercial in all it's shimmering glory.

AMERICA- 1972 through 1977 The WB Years
(The only bands that I put up on this level were the Doobie Brothers, Chicago, and Seals and Crofts. America was my favorite band from 1972 through 1977, and this collection covers just that. )
Getting to this latest collection of America, I think that Warner/Rhino did an adequate job of selecting the best songs of this period. I do have a couple minor complaints, first being the time of each disc. The first disc had the potential of five or six more songs. It only clocked out at approximately 50 minutes or so. I would have loved to seen "SATURN NIGHTS" on the CD, from the "HOMECOMING" album and also a few more songs from the "HEARTS" album. Of course, adding "YOU CAN DO MAGIC", "ALL MY LIFE", "ONLY GAME IN TOWN", "THE BORDER", "SURVIVE" and a couple other Capital hits would have been the ultimate!!
But, I bought the disc for $15. 88 which is reasonable for 30 fantastic songs. If you really want to spend some cash, purchase the "Thirty Years of America" boxed set. That is an amazing collection of America's entire career.
This new definitive set offers a better overview than the single CD collections that are available on the market. "HISTORY" is a skeleton version of this Definitive Collection but a great piece for the casual fan of early America. The Rhino collection that came out four or five years ago is a tremendous CD that even includes some of the Capital songs. But, when you compare the price, for a couple extra dollars you get 10 more songs and it is songs from the hey day of America!
The non-hit highlights are: "Sergeant Darkness", "To Each His Own", "Old Man Took", "Baby It's Up To You", "Watership Down" and "Another Try". (It sounds like I might favor Gerry Beckley a bit. )
The WEA Definitive sets are Coming out by the dozens now and many of them are just a rehash of a million other collections. (You might say that WB is looking to make a quick buck. ) The BREAD collection is overpriced and has nothing new from any other Bread collection and there are others in the series that are quite redundent.
This AMERICA collection seems to hit the spot for the more serious AMERICA fan.

You can see a complete list of all America discography, or go back to the America tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.