Original Album Series

This is, for the price of one CD (thereabout), the first five album releases from one of the pioneering bands in the California/Country Rock genus which greatly influenced American pop/rock in the early to middle nineteen seventies. There are no studio flubs nor previously unreleased live performances, etc. This is one-stop shopping that gets you five very important recordings from an age when the music (for the most part) was pure and honest, as bands like America enjoyed a freedom to create and express themselves in their own way for a brief interval in rock history. America's first album gives testimony to this claim. The entire album is built upon experimental acoustic rock that didn't really hold much promise of being chart-worthy. I'm sure no record producer in the world would have predicted a song like "A Horse With No Name" would leap to great heights on the Billboard Top 40, much less that it would leap to the number one spot and attach itself to the pinnacle position for three full weeks. The only real chart potential the album had (looking back, in retrospect, with all things considered) was in the Gerry Beckley should-have-been-number-one-song, "I Need You". Gerry Beckley told me, in person, that he wrote the song when he was only sixteen years old. (Gerry and Dewey typically hang around after shows to meet with fans - these guys are for real!) I'm not sure that a prettier love ballad has ever been written. I could go on for hours about why this collection is such a gem, but I'll let you take it from here. I already had four of the five CDs (I failed to pick up Hat Trick at any point throughout the passage of many long years), but this five-album set was irresistible! I paid about twenty dollars for something I would have paid much more for! That's the standard, everyday price for this trophy collection (subject to market fluctuations, no doubt)! These are the best works from one of the nineteen seventies' most important and influential bands. And, if I may segue a bit and be so bold, as I will...I just want to make it known that Neil Young WISHES he ever had a voice as beautiful and true as Dewey Bunnell's was - and still is! Let history record my words and know them to be fact! Now, order this set! Do it! Now! Off you go!

Multiple albums for one low price. What's not to like

no comment

This is a nice collection. It is probably worth the money and the music itself is pure gold. I owned the vinyl and some greatest hits CDs, so this was very tempting - but I listened side-by-side with the remastered greatest hits CD I purchased (blue cover.. The Complete Greatest Hits), and this is inferior sound on most tracks. Sister Golden Hair is playing right now and this set does not have the clarity as others and the difference does not manifest as just lower level/amplitude/volume. Too bad - it could have been so much better. The remastered History: America's Greatest Hits has even better clarity on some songs.. e.g. Horse with no Name - the guitar on this one sounds like a real acoustic steel 6-string instead of a muffled studio mix, but does differ from the original intent. On the other hand, Ventura Highway on that (History) collection sounds awful. It is pretty surprising that there are such severe differences in the production of the same songs across these original albums and the greatest hits albums - some good, some bad, but overall the clarity of this set would be improved with remastering (which is probably in the works).

Lots of good songs!

Good bang for your buck if you want to get output from an artist of which you don't have or if you just want to replace your vinyl with compact disc.

I just received this complete Collection of America CDs. Warner did a terrific job in the issuance of these Remastered collection. I must say, that until I recently played an old LP - Greatest Hits album, did I relaize what a terrific Folk /Rock band they were !!! Not only their numerous Hits, but other cuts with excellent guitar (12 string , mind you), and fabulous harmonies.... The CD audio sound quality is so evident. Crystal Clear & Dynamic. So Glad to have received this. Highly recommended for some terrific listening Music.

This is the total package. Great songs and covers a long musical journey. Love it