America - The Complete Greatest Hits

America

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2001)
• Original Release Date: August 21, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00005MLVA
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #275 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #9 in	Music > Folk > Contemporary Folk
  #12 in	Music > Pop > Soft Rock
  #17 in	Music > Rock > Folk Rock

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Impressive Collection From Folk Pop Rockers - America! , September 16, 2004

By	highway_star (Hallandale, Florida United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

America formed in 1970 in England as the sons of Air Force military men. The trio wrote some of the seventies most beautifully crafted songs, merging both elements of folk and rock. Their first hit "A Horse With No Name" became a huge hit in 1972, soon to be followed by "Sandman" and "I Need You" all of which were on their debut top selling album "America". Their second album "Homecoming" again became a top selling album and produced the hits "Ventura Highway" and "Don't Cross The River". America continued to release numerous albums throughout the seventies and into the eighties. This collection gives one a good retrospective of the band's output (with only a few minor deletions) including such hits as "Muskrat Love", "Tin Man","Lonely People", "Sister Golden Hair", "Daisy Jane", "You Can Do Magic" plus more . Their big hits are all here and the entire collection is beautifully remastered by Rhino Records. There's also an excellent booklet enclosed with interesting information about the band and it's songs. If you enjoy listening to groups such as Bread, Three Dog Night, Steely Dan, The Eagles (to name just a few) then this collection will not disappoint.

67 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview for the casual fan, September 27, 2001

By	birddogger5150 (Roseville, MN USA) - See all my reviews

America was basically riding the crest of the Crosby Stills & Nash sound, but they did it quite well without coming off as a mere copycat band. This remastered compilation includes every track from the very popular "History: America's Greatest Hits" CD and expands from there with later chart singles and notable in-between tunes. I was happy to see that they weren't shy about including their so-sappy-it's-good 80's hits "You Can Do Magic", "The Border" and the excellent "Right Before Your Eyes". These songs obviously pale by comparison to their more politically charged and psychedelic 70's output, especially in the lyrics department (of the three, only "The Border" was co-written by any band members), but they're great ear candy regardless. America fans of all intensities now have three levels of compilation extensiveness to choose from - this single disc of all their chart hits, or get "History" combined with "Encore: More America's Greatest Hits" to expand on their latter year output, or get the box set for a 3 CD overview! I personally would recommend this one for its pristine sound.

An additional note on the song "Daisy Jane" - I've always been a big fan of Janet Jackson, and one of my favorites of hers is the ballad "Let's Wait Awhile" from 1986. I never realized until picking up the America CD that her and her co-conspirators Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis basically pilfered parts of the melody from "Daisy Jane" for that song! In fact, Janet (Ms. Jackson if yo' nasty) must be a closet America fan, seeing as how she also sampled the riff from "Ventura Highway" for her own "Someone To Call My Lover" last year.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the America compilation I have been waiting for., March 21, 2005

By	Ryan A. Rigg - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For those of you out there who like a Greatest Hits compilation that contains all of the songs by an artist to chart on Billboard's Hot 100, this CD is for you. I have been waiting for a compilation that contains all of their hits, yet does not include a bunch of other songs that I am not interested in. Previously they have released "History: Greatest Hits" which just focused on the early 70's hits. Then they released "Encore: More Greatest Hits" which focused on the late 70's early 80's hits. Then they released "Highway: 30 Years of America", which was a box set bloated with non-hits. For the America fanatic, I am sure all of the previous compilations were great. However, for the casual listener like me who just wants the hits, this is the CD to get. And you get all of the songs on one disc, which saves space in a CD collection like mine that numbers over 1,000 CD's. Another bonus, this CD plays the songs in chronological order of when they were hits, which I really appreciate. The liner notes are also good with a 20 page booklet with lots of full-color photos, a history of the band, and a track listing that tells where the songs peaked on both the Pop and Adult Contemporary charts.

Some reviewers have commented on how the band turned to shlocky AC in the early 80's. I think the songs from that period were just as vital as the 70's hits. And a lot of people have made negative remarks about "Muskrat Love". At least this version is less embarassing than the Captain & Tenille version with all of the keyboard chirping sounds. I recommend this CD highly for anyone who enjoys 70's and 80's adult pop music.