Customer Reviews

Best Of: Centenary Collection

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This is a different edition of the Premium Gold CD. It has the same songs, but slightly different packaging. This is a collection of hits and album cuts from their albums released on the Capitol label (from 1979 through 1985). While they were past their commercial peak, this CD still has some strong material and several songs produced by legendary Beatles producer, Sir George Martin. The hits include You Can Do Magic, The Border, and Right Before Your Eyes. The six earlier hits (Horse With No Name, Ventura Highway, Sister Golden Hair, Tin Man, etc...) are all live performances taken from the 1985 In Concert CD, and are not the original hits. All-in-all, not a bad collection.

America didn't have many hits in their Capitol era, the three they did have are here - namely 'You Can Do Magic', 'The Border' and 'Right Before Your Eyes', along with songs such as 'Survival' and 'The Last Unicorn' which were hits in Europe. And then the CD closes with 6 pleasant but far from definitive live versions of most of the Beckley and Bunnell-penned hits from their 70s heyday.

All of which leaves plenty of room for a load of their best album cuts from this underrated era of their career. Unfortunately, rather than really seeking out the 'best' songs from these albums it seems the gaps were filled completely randomly - how else to explain the inclusion of, say, 'Honey' or 'One in a Million' over 'She's A Runaway' or 'Might Be Your Love'?

The tracks that are included are all pleasant enough, and there are a few real gems scattered amongst them, but the 'best'? No chance! (The third disc of the 'Highway' boxed set features a far better representation of this era, and is well worth purchasing for any America fan)

A nice collection from the Capitol albums.