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Long before MTV unplugged, America wed innocuous West Coast folk à la
CSNY to post-British invasion pop (
Beatles producer George Martin twiddled the knobs on many of their most enduring hits) with just a hint of psychedelic madness, managing to create something uniquely, well,
American. Though many detractors may question whether a three-disc, 30-year retrospective is necessary or even palatable, it can be argued that
Jane's Addiction,
Cowboy Junkies,
Counting Crows,
Edie Brickell, and
Joe Pernice's vaguely psychedelic acoustic rock wouldn't have found a toehold had their audiences not cut their teeth on the airwave ubiquity of "Horse with No Name." Sure, the lyrics were often banal ("Like the winter needs the spring / I need you") or absurd ("Seasons crying no despair / alligator lizards in the air") But Gerry Beckley, Dan Peek, and Dewey Bunnell wrote lovely songs, with beautifully interwoven harmonies and complex, interlocking acoustic guitar alchemy. It's a heavy heart indeed that can't be lightened by the guitar cascade that opens "Ventura Highway."
Though the first disk contains many of the band's most recognizable moments from their first three albums, disk 2 contains most of the box set's surprises and enjoyable moments. With George Martin, they found their Svengali, and he drove the band to write much more solid songs, fleshing them out beautifully in the studio. "Sister Golden Hair," "Daisy Jane," and "Tin Man" stand at the top of the America ouevre. Add to that the rediscovered joys of "Muskrat Love" (go ahead and laugh--it's a great song), "Woman Tonight," "Watership Down," "God of the Sun" and the dark-horse gem, "Sergeant Darkness." Disc 3 may give anti-Americans ammo as the group (minus Dan Peek) slide into the morass of adult contemporary pop (though charting surprising hits with "You Can Do Magic" and "The Border"). But the addition of early demos of "Ventura Highway" and "Riverside" and other early tracks saves it from the no-play stack. --Tod Nelson
