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Rating: They don't have the country rock flair of the Eagles, nor the lyricism of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. They lack the delicate grand melodies of the west coast of James Taylor or perhaps the depth of Joni Mitchell's lyrics. The problem in the end, I discovered much later, is just one: they are called America but they are English. It's this discrepancy that has lasted 50 years that makes this musical anomaly have a history that's fascinating in its own way. Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek are children of American military personnel stationed in England. Two were born in America, but well, they don't even remember it. One was actually born in England.
It goes without saying that for three young students trying to write great melodies of American spaces in the English countryside around Watford High School in the early '70s wasn't all that easy. And if in those particular years, you make the timeless choice of not wanting to include current or political themes, the undertaking becomes even more difficult. In those years, perfidious Albion was the homeland of the hard rock triumvirate par excellence. The proto-metal tirades of Deep Purple, the doom gloom of Black Sabbath, the electric blues of Led Zeppelin were emerging. In short, trying to make songs with vocal harmonies and little road movie stories wasn't easy. However, I came across America at the end of their second life. The first, that of great success, almost inexplicable, spans from 1971 to 1977.
It coincides with the contract with Warner Bros. It's the series of albums that all start with the letter H (except for the first self-titled one), which sees them collaborating with none other than Sir George Martin, who produced a couple of their albums. A story that started with a stroke of luck. Because the first album, America, initially came out without the hallmark song. Yes, because "A Horse with No Name" had been ignored. Actually, it was just a draft, and it was titled "Desert Song". It was a little tune all based on an E minor and D 6/9 strumming, two very simple chords. It was Ian Samwell, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer of the first album, who understood the piece's potential and reissued the failed debut with the song, changing the three guys' history, who quickly hit number 1 in America (kind of like returning home, to a home never seen, indeed the second album would be titled Homecoming). A bit like what happened with "Sound of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel, but that's another story.
And another story is also how I came to America, falling in love with perhaps one of their most useless albums. That In concert, released in 1985 to honor the end of the contract that marked their second life, the Capitol contract, that with two voices instead of three, because they had lost Dan Peek along the way, who had kept a promise made to God and turned to Christian music. The fact is that America, not having a real country throughout their history, had bursts of success here and there around the world. In Germany, for instance, with the soundtrack of The Last Unicorn, it was quite a success. But between 1982 and 1984, success smiled at them in Italy. The reason is quite simple. Two songs, truly beautiful, were used by Mamma Rai as themes for television programs. One is "You can do Magic," which was their real last success even in the United States, and the other "Survival," which was the main track of Alibi, their 1980 album, which perhaps made its biggest impact in Italy. It must have been pressed in hundreds of thousands of vinyl copies in the beautiful country. There's no used vinyl stall where you don't find it for a few euros, often consulted by users with that cover that wants to be unsettling but is only kitsch, a doll's head detached in the foreground in a great desert.
That's where I stumbled upon America. When they were acting as themes for evening programs on Rai 2 hosted by Sammy Barbot, the "Aria di casa mia" guy, yes him. Programs that also used "Every little thing she does is magic" by The Police as a theme at one point. In 1985, to close the contract with Capitol, they released this useless In concert. A live album I found on cassette at an illegal vendor's stall. A very short record, 33 minutes. Recorded at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara on June 1, 1985. It has a couple of peculiarities, it's the first America album to be released on CD but also their first release since 1971 not to enter the American charts. No single was extracted from the album, and it doesn't even feature the entire concert in question, leaving out at least one song that should have been included: "Sandman". Ten tracks. The two that introduced me to America, the Warner Bros era hits like "A Horse with No Name", "Ventura Highway" (another iconic track, which gives its name to their website), the catchy "Sister Golden Hair". And then the beautiful and delicate "Tin Man", "Company", "I Need You", and "Daisy Jane" and finally the adrenaline-pumping (speaking of America naah) "The Border", which was at the center of a case with their producer at the time, Russ Ballard, who co-signed the track. The producer, in fact, got carried away and wrote a large portion of the tracks that were supposed to comprise Your Move, a 1983 album.
But especially in "The Border", like a good Englishman, he strung together a series of clichés about the American myth, forcing Bunnell to rewrite the lyrics. Even the album cover was quite anonymous. A series of red stripes, like concert hall neon lights, forming the background for America's characteristic logo, the band's name traced in an ellipse with a swooping A and the title In concert written at the top in small print.
And yet years later, when I found the worn-out vinyl at a used stall, I picked it up on the fly as if it were a collector's pearl, in reality, the stall guy handed it over to me for 5 euros, quite happy to get rid of it (making sure to let me find more of their records on subsequent visits... cunning). I listen to it very often. The idea for the review came from listening to it these days, alternating it with the 1975 compilation that brings together all the Warner period hits. The band's career continued, amidst deaths, falls, and comebacks, very anonymous albums, various record contracts. The last studio album is titled Lost & Found and it's a collection of discarded tracks from the 2000s albums.
You always find them touring in venues of a few hundred seats in the States, and anyone who has picked up a guitar has attempted to strum the two basic chords that make up "A Horse with No Name", often not even knowing whose song it was. A curse that befalls those who write songs that go beyond the true reach of the author. That of never really being remembered.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Tin Man (03:44)
Sometimes late when things are real
And people share the gift of gab between themselves
Some are quick to take the bait
And catch the perfect prize that waits among the shells
But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn't, didn't already have
And cause never was the reason for the evening
Or the tropic of Sir Galahad
So please believe in me
When I say I'm spinning round, round, round, round
Smoke glass stained bright colors
Image going down, down, down, down
Soapsud green like bubbles
Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn't, didn't already have
And cause never was the reason for the evening
Or the tropic of Sir Galahad
So please believe in me
When I say I'm spinning round, round, round, round
Smoke glass stained bright colors
Image going down, down, down, down
Soapsud green like bubbles
No, Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn't, didn't already have
And cause never was the reason for the evening
Or the tropic of Sir Galahad
So please believe in me
02 I Need You (02:29)
We used to laugh
We used to cry
We used to bow our heads then
Wonder why
But now youre gone
I guess I'll carry on
And make the best of what you've left to me
Left to me, left to me
I need you
Like the flower needs the rain
You know, I need you
Guess I'll start it all again
You know, I need you
Like the winter needs the spring
You know I need you
I need you
And every day
I'd laugh the hours away
Just knowing you were thinking of me
Then it came
That I was put to blame
For every story told about me
About me, about me
I need you
Like the flower needs the rain
You know, I need you
Guess I'll start it all again
You know, I need you
Like the winter needs the spring
You know I need you
I need you, I need you
03 The Border (03:53)
The Border
America
Written by Russ Ballard and Dewey Bunnell
You must be lost in a faraway land
I searched forever your footprints in the sand
I feel you need me, I have to answer
That desperate call that I do not understand
A burning bridge, a lonely highway
Another dark night thinking alone
What could've happened, am I just dreaming
It doesn't matter but there's one thing that I know
If I could make it to the border
If I could make it to the coast
If I could make it to the border
I'd be in the arms of the girl I love the most
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
Make it to the border
So on and on I keep on running
To make the border before the light
Just one more river, then I can make it
Again you'll be in my arms tonight
If I could make it to the border
If I could make it to the coast
If I could make it to the border
I'd be in the arms of the girl I love the most
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
Make it to the border
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
Make it to the border
If I could make it to the border
If I could make it to the coast
If I could make it to the border
I'd be in the arms of the girl I love the most
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
Make it to the border
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
Make it to the border
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
Make it to the border
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
Make it to the border ...
04 Sister Golden Hair (03:21)
Well I tried to make it Sunday
But I got so damned depressed
That I set my sights on Monday
And I got myself undressed
I ain't ready for the altar
But I do agree there's times
When a woman sure can be a friend of mine
Well, I keep on thinkin' 'bout you
Sister Golden Hair surprise
And I just can't live without you
Can't you see it in my eyes
I've been one poor correspondent
And I've been too, too hard to find
But it doesn't mean you ain't been on my mind
Will you meet me in the middle
Will you meet me in the end
Will you love me just a little
Just enough to show you care
Well I tried to fake it
I don't mind sayin'
I just can't make it
Well, I keep on thinkin' 'bout you
Sister Golden Hair surprise
And I just can't live without you
Can't you see it in my eyes
Now, I've been one poor correspondent
And I've been too, too hard to find
But it doesn't mean you ain't been on my mind
Will you meet me in the middle
Wwill you meet me in the end?
Will you love me just a little
Just enough to show you care
Well I tried to fake it
I don't mind sayin'
I just can't make it
05 Company (03:40)
Some can see it's poetry
Come as you are in your broken car
The company
Carousel is wishing well
As a wonder night that spoke delight
To the company
Can you hear the summer calling you
Can you hear him call you now
Can you hear the summer calling you
Can you hear him call you now
Broken dream, just a token scheme
Silver man with a telegram
For the company
Scalding blue, come talk to you
Search the cave for the grave
Of the company
Can you hear the summer calling you
Can you hear him call you now
Can you hear the summer calling you
Can you hear him call you now
Can you hear the summer calling you
Can you hear him call you now
Can you hear the summer calling you
Can you hear him call you now
Can you hear the summer calling you
Can you hear him call you now
Can you hear the summer calling you
Can you hear him call you now
06 You Can Do Magic (03:58)
I never believed in things that I couldn't see
I said if I can't feel it then how can it be
No, no magic could happen to me
And then I saw you
I couldn't believe it, you took my heart
I couldn't retrieve it, said to myself
What's it all about
Now I know there can be no doubt
You can do magic
You can have anything that you desire
Magic, and you know
You're the one who can put out the fire
You know darn well
When you cast your spell you will get your way
When you hypnotize with your eyes
A heart of stone can turn to clay
And when the rain is beatin' upon the window pane
And when the night, it gets so cold, when I can't sleep
Again you come to me
I hold you tight, the rain disappears
Who would believe it
With a word you dry my tears
You can do magic
You can have anything that you desire
Magic, and you know
You're the one who can put out the fire
You know darn well
When you cast your spell you will get your way
When you hypnotize with your eyes
A heart of stone can turn to clay
And if I wanted to
I could never be free
I never believed it was so true
But now it's so clear to me
You can do magic
You can have anything that you desire
Magic, and you know
You're the one who can put out the fire
You know darn well
When you cast your spell you will get your way
When you hypnotize with your eyes
A heart of stone can turn to clay
07 Ventura Highway (03:40)
Ventura Highway
America
(Burnell)
Chewing on a piece of grass
Walking down the road
Tell me, how long you gonna stay here Joe?
Some people say this town don't look
Good in snow
You don't care, I know
Ventura Highway in the sunshine
Where the days are longer
The nights are stronger
Than moonshine
You're gonna go I know
'Cause the free wind is blowin' through
Your hair
And the days surround your daylight
There
Seasons crying no despair
Alligator lizards in the air
Wishin' on a falling star
Waitin' for the early train
Sorry boy, but I've been hit by
Purple rain
Aw, come on Joe, you can always
Change your name
Thanks a lot son, just the same
Ventura Highway in the sunshine
Where the days are longer
The nights are stronger
Than moonshine
You're gonna go I know
'Cause the free wind is blowin' through
Your hair
And the days surround you daylight
There
Seasons crying no despair
Alligator lizards in the air
08 Daisy Jane (02:59)
Flyin' me back to Memphis
Gotta find my Daisy Jane
Well, the summer's gone
And I hope she's feelin' the same
Well, I left her just to roam the city
Thinkin' it would ease the pain
I'm a crazy man
And I'm playin' my crazy game, game
Does she really love me
I think she does
Like the stars above me
I know because
When the sky is bright
Everything's alright
Flyin' me back to Memphis
Honey, keep the oven warm
All the clouds are clearin'
And I think we're over the storm
Well, I've been pickin' it up around me
Daisy, I think I'm sane
And I'm awful glad
And I guess you're really to blame, blame
Do you really love me
I hope you do
Like the stars above me
How I love you
When it's cold at night
Everything's alright
Does she really love me
I think she does
Like the stars above me
I know because
When the sky is bright
Everything's alright
10 Survival (03:23)
I'll survive you, I will survive you
Well, it's too late, I know, to change the way we go
From this day on I want to stay on
Now that I've started learning
And the tides started turning
Well, it's here I want to stay
I'll let the moon announce my arrival
To every eye that cares to see
Just working on the art of survival
Where do we go from here, where do we go from here
I'm alive here, I can survive dear
Though the weather might change
From the wind to the rain
Well, my heart remains the same
I'll let the moon announce my arrival
To every eye that cares to see
Just working on the art of survival
Where do we go from here, where do we go from here
Looked out on a sea of trouble
And I tried to stall for awhile
It's so hard to answer every question
And it's hard to protect your heart anymore
I'll let the moon announce my arrival (I am alive)
To every eye that cares to see
Just working on the art of survival (but I wonder)
Where do we go from here
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