Three US Air Force kids whose fathers were stationed in England, Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek and Gerry Beckley, went to the same London Central High School and after graduating they formed a trio. That's pretty much it in a nutshell. They had been playing in different bands at school but their harmonies and musicality lent itself to joining forces and playing together. Not wanting to be thought of as a British group trying to effect accents they called themselves America to make their backgrounds clear. The irony is that Dewey Bunnell, although born of an American father, had an English mother and was born in my home town of Harrogate, Yorkshire !!
I bought this compilation album when it came out in 1975, but let's go back to 1972 when America released their first single 'A Horse With No Name'.
In '72 I was still in the Australian Army, sharing a flat on the Queensland Gold Coast with a couple of other guys from my unit, 109 Transport Company in Canungra. One of those guys was originally from Sydney. He owned a little red VW Beetle. He wanted to go to a party in Sydney one weekend but didn't want to be tired when he got there, so I volunteered to drive him. A trip of around 550 miles each way and for most of it he slept and I listened to 'A Horse With No Name' on every radio station that I picked up on the journey.
When Americas eponymous debut album was first recorded and released in the UK it didn't include 'Horse ..'. It was only when it was reissued later in the USA that the track was included. The song was written by Dewey Bunnell and originally called 'Desert Song'. He played it at studio rehearsals at Arthur Brown's house (Crazy World of Arthur Brown reviewed VV 5 Nov 2020) and a few days later it was played in public for the first time at the Harrogate Festival in the hometown shared by me and Dewey. After a bit of promo and a title change the song became a #1 in the US, Canada and France and charted around the world. One guest musician on the track was famed percussionist Ray Cooper. Apart from 'Horse ..' that first album spawned 2 other charting songs, 'Sandman' also written by Bunnell, which was actually the b-side of 'Horse ..' but gained recognition under it's own steam and 'I Need You' which was a Gerry Beckley composition.
Between 1971 and 1974 they released 2 more albums, 'Homecoming' and 'Hat Trick' which between them put out 6 more singles, amongst them the ever popular 'Ventura Highway' and the slightly offbeat 'Muskrat Love'. Fortunately 'Muskrat Love' became a bigger hit in 1976 for Captain & Tennille so many people don't associate it with America. Both versions were covers of the Willis Alan Ramsey original entitled 'Muskrat Candlelight'.
The 'Hat Trick' album wasn't as popular as their first two and so by 1974 when they recorded their 4th album 'Holiday' they'd grown in reputation to the point where George Martin (the fifth Beatle) came onboard as producer. Not only did he produce the album, he also played piano on stand-out #1 single 'Tin Man'. Because of the chorus ...
"Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn't, didn't already have"
... the song on the surface seems to be some sort of Wizard of Oz thing, but it runs deeper than that. Written by Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek says of the song ""quintessential Dewey, easy stream of consciousness" and when you realise that the Oz/Tin Man lyric is a double negative and that 'the Tropic of Sir Galahad' doesn't make any sense at all then the whole song takes on a strange and intricate meaning - go figure.
George Martin went on to produce a few more of America's albums and when this compilation was released the first 7 tracks had been recorded before he took over as producer, so he took those tracks and remixed them. That gives the whole album a fresh take and a bit of extra magic.
The other striking thing about this album is the cover. It was designed by Phil Hartman (named Hartmann on the liner notes) who had his own graphic arts business at the time. He did over 40 album covers including the iconic album 'Aja' for Steely Dan. (VV review 15 Oct 2020). Phil is more commonly remembered for his long run on 'Saturday Night Live', his TV sitcom 'News Radio', voiceing characters on 'The Simpsons' and his tragic death after being shot by his wife in 1998.
After their heights in the mid-70s, America went through a bit of a dry spell. They were still releasing albums and singles, but not getting the same level of success. In 1977 Dan Peek left the group - there are conflicting accounts of exactly why he left - but that meant Beckley and Bunnell carried on as a duo. In 1979 they had moderate recognition with a cover of The Mamas & The Papas 'California Dreamin'', but it wasn't until 1982's 'You Can Do Magic' that people remembered who they were. Having always written their own songs, after Peek left and the duo failed to get a hit they began taking songs from other writers. This track was a Russ Ballard composition and he deliberately put in a vocal break that was reminiscent of the CSN track 'Suite Judy Blue Eyes'.
Dan Peek passed away in 2011 at the age of 60, but Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell continue as a duo backed by a variety of touring musicians. In line with singing other people's songs, in 2011 they released an album called 'Back Pages', 12 cover tracks as diverse as Rod Argent's 'Time of the Season', Mark Knopflers 'Sailing to Philadelphia' and Dylan's 'My Back Pages' (hence the album title).
You can revel in the past glory of America's music or keep up with some later works, either way, you will be rewarded.
No comments:
Post a Comment