[2019-07-12] America "50th Anniversary: The Collection" 3CD set (Warner/Rhino)

Linda · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2019 9:25 pm

Description
America celebrates its half-centennial this year with a trio of compilations that follow the iconic Grammy-winning band to the top of the pop charts, across musical eras, and deep into the hearts of innumerable fans. The multi-platinum-selling group--led by founding members Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell and known for their memorable and dynamic live performances--have also announced a series of live dates celebrating the anniversary and are on tour now.

50th ANNIVERSARY: THE COLLECTION will be available from Rhino on July 12 as a 3CD set. A single CD version is also available on the same day.

Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek began in 1970 as a young, wide-eyed trio that parlayed the runaway success of their #1 single "A Horse With No Name" into a string of hits in partnership with legendary producer George Martin.

Fans embraced the group for simply being themselves: three gifted singer-songwriters with a love of soaring melodies, close harmonies, and honest expression. In the collection's liner notes, Bunnell says: "There wasn't any contrivance in what we did." Beckley adds: "We didn't start out with some grand plan - it just turned into a soundtrack for so many people's lives. That's something that I treat with great respect."

The three-disc version of 50th ANNIVERSARY: THE COLLECTION brings the core of America's recorded legacy together with choice rarities like an early studio recording of "Ventura Highway," a live performance of "Riverside," and an unreleased demo for the #1 hit "Sister Golden Hair." All of the band's Top 10 singles are included here: "Horse With No Name," "Ventura Highway," "Tin Man," "Lonely People" and more.

All seven albums that America recorded in the '70s with Warner Bros. Records are represented in the set with tracks from America (1971), Homecoming (1972), Hat Trick (1973), Holiday (1974), Hearts (1975), Hideaway (1976), and Harbor (1977). The set also includes "You Can Do Magic," a Top 10 hit from the album View From The Ground released by Capitol Records in 1982.

The single-disc version has 16 tracks that focus mainly on the band's biggest radio hits.

AMERICA has influenced generations of musicians with their distinctive brand of acoustic-driven, harmony-rich rock, mixed with pop smarts, in soul-searching classic songs that reflected the times they were living in.

The band's huge radio success throughout the '70s and early '80s at times overshadowed the lyrical depth of their songs such as the questing "Horse With No Name" (with its environmental message at the end); the frank romantic politics of "Sister Golden Hair"; the war paranoia of "Sandman" (written in part from conversations with returning airmen from Vietnam); and the cautionary life advice of "Don't Cross The River."

As further testament to the band's staying power and influence, AMERICA's recordings have been licensed for a multitude of placements in films (including American Hustle, The Nice Guys, The Last Unicorn and Girl Most Likely), television shows (among them The Sopranos, Friends, Breaking Bad and Saturday Night Live) and video games (including Grand Theft Auto).

Tracklist
[CD1]
1. A Horse With No Name
2. I Need You
3. Sandman
4. Here
5. Rainy Day
6. Three Roses
7. Riverside (Live On BBC) *
8. Children (Live On BBC) *
9. Everyone I Meet Is From California
10. Ventura Highway
11. To Each His Own
12. Don't Cross The River
13. Only In Your Heart
14. Cornwall Blank
15. Till The Sun Comes Up Again
16. Head And Heart

[CD2]
1. Hat Trick
2. Muskrat Love
3. Green Monkey
4. Submarine Ladies
5. Molten Love
6. It's Life
7. Rainbow Song
8. She's Gonna Let You Down
9. Tin Man
10. Another Try
11. Lonely People
12. Hollywood
13. Baby It's Up To You
14. Old Man Took
15. Mad Dog (Demo) *

[CD3]
1. Midnight
2. Sister Golden Hair
3. Daisy Jane
4. Woman Tonight
5. Old Virginia
6. Company
7. Today's The Day
8. Amber Cascades
9. Watership Down
10. Letter
11. God Of The Sun
12. Political Poachers
13. Sarah
14. Are You There
15. You Can Do Magic
16. Sergeant Darkness (Demo) *
17. Ventura Highway (Early Take 4)
18. Sister Golden Hair (Demo) *
19. A Horse With No Name (Live)

* Previously Unreleased

3CD Set "The Collection" (shown above)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RX2GWM8/?tag=imwan-20

1CD Distillation "Golden Hits"
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S28VTVC/?tag=imwan-20

Greg Carrier · 25 Nov 2006

Picked this up; the sound quality is excellent, probably the best I've ever heard on most of this material.

banzaibid · 05 Aug 2007

Greg Carrier wrote:

Picked this up; the sound quality is excellent, probably the best I've ever heard on most of this material.

Good to know. Thanks for the info. May need to pick this up,

Renny · 26 Jun 2006

when you have everything by them it is hard to pull the trigger for one unreleased demo.....

Jay · 12 Jul 2006

Renny wrote:

when you have everything by them it is hard to pull the trigger for one unreleased demo.....

3 demos and 2 live tracks.

Renny · 26 Jun 2006

Jay wrote:

Renny wrote:

when you have everything by them it is hard to pull the trigger for one unreleased demo.....

3 demos and 2 live tracks.

agreed, but 2 of the 3 demos you already have. sgt darkness and sister golden hair.

when all is said and done you are getting one song you never heard before.

Jay · 12 Jul 2006

True. The demos themselves are different than previously released ones, though.

evillouie · **Joined:** 11 Jan 2012 **Posts:** 217

I ordered mine from Rhino, and it was supposed to come with a CD booklet signed by Dewey and Gerry. Not only did it not come with a signed booklet, but now there is absolutely no trace of this CD on the Rhino website. All searches on there lead to a 404 message, and no response from customer service. Something odd is definitely going on here.

RoyalScam · 04 Oct 2006

Greg Carrier wrote:

Picked this up; the sound quality is excellent, probably the best I've ever heard on most of this material.

Really? Better than the previous 3 CD box?

Greg Carrier · 25 Nov 2006

RoyalScam wrote:

Greg Carrier wrote:

Picked this up; the sound quality is excellent, probably the best I've ever heard on most of this material.

Really? Better than the previous 3 CD box?

Yes. I have that box, and I compared the two. I think this sounds better. You may want to find a second opinion, but it's better that I was expecting.

The other thing I like about this box is that it's almost all about their first 5 albums, which I think are far and away their best. Most of my favorite deep cuts from those albums are here, and not much material after Hearts. That's how I would have picked the material if it had been up to me. That initial 5 album run was really strong.

Jay · 12 Jul 2006

The only non-Warner era track is “You Can Do Magic”, if I recall correctly.

Greg Carrier · 25 Nov 2006

Jay wrote:

The only non-Warner era track is “You Can Do Magic”, if I recall correctly.

Correct.

Renny · 26 Jun 2006

Jay wrote:

The only non-Warner era track is “You Can Do Magic”, if I recall correctly.

IMHO america has a whole lot of good material post warner brothers. a whole lot.

i think their most under-rated album is 'hourglass' which is on american grammaophone label.....i will never figure out how they got on there.

[2019-07-12] America "50th Anniversary: The Collection" 3CD set (Warner/Rhino)

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