America: Original Album Series

If you're a Baby Boomer, then you grew up with the music of the band 'America,' and their brand of mellow folk-rock. From 1972, with 'A Horse with No Name,' until 1982 and 'You Can Do Magic,' they were a staple of top 40 radio.

 

First released by Rhino Records in 2012, America: Original Album Series is a boxed set of CDs representing the band's first five albums: A Horse with No Name (1972), Homecoming (1972), Hat Trick (1973), Holiday (1974), and Hearts (1975). Available from your usual online retailers for under $20, this is a very affordable way to access all the band's bigger hits (only 'Today's the Day' (1976) and 'You Can Do Magic' do not appear here).

I'm not an Audio Snob, so I can't go into detail on the sound qualities of these CDs, but to my ears, they sound fine. America was a stripped-down group in the early years, and their folk sound can be thin and strained at times, so not having a 'high-fi' reproduction quality maybe doesn't matter all that much ?

As far as overlooked gems, well, I've discovered a few: 'California Revisited,' a Dan Peek from Homecoming, is a solid folk-rock tune that probably would've done well as a single. But truth be told, many tracks on these five albums are rather underwhelming; more like demos pressed into service, than fully-fleshed tunes.
 

In any event, Baby Boomers wanting an affordable package of seminal folk-rock rock songs will want a copy of this Original Album Series. And younger folks interested in 70s 'mellow' classic rock sounds (like they hear on the Sirius XM channel 'The Bridge') may want to take a look as well.