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126 of 128 found the following review helpful:
 An Impressive Collection From Folk Pop Rockers - America! Sep 17, 2004
By highway_star
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.
84 of 91 found the following review helpful:
Excellent overview for the casual fan Sep 27, 2001
By The Scenario
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.
37 of 38 found the following review helpful:
This is the America compilation I have been waiting for. Mar 21, 2005
By Ryan A. Rigg
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.
18 of 18 found the following review helpful:
A new classic Aug 30, 2001
An excellent compilation plus two brand new songs! It contains all their charted singles and some of their album classics that received a lot of airplay and were hits in their own rights! If you are a new or casual America fan, this is the CD to start with. It is the most complete single CD compilation available. And if you are a hardcore fan, you will have to buy this for the two new songs (and you know Rhino planned it that way). The sound quality and packaging are first class, but Rhino always seems to do everything first class. Highly recommended!!!
26 of 28 found the following review helpful:
An Underrated band--an above average collection of songs Aug 05, 2003
By Jeff Edwards
"RadioJeff"
I'm re-discovering a LOT of 70's bands lately and realizing that this decade produced an incredible amount of really good music (disco notwithstanding). America was definitely in the running as one of the high points of this era of music exploration. A truly exceptional collection by a really great group of musicians. Anyone doubt me? Check it out for yourselves. 'Sister Golden Hair' can hold its own today as well as it did almost 30 years ago. But let's not stop there, how 'bout 'Tin Man', 'Ventura Highway', 'A Horse With No Name', 'I Need You', 'You Can Do Magic', 'Lonely People' and MANY more. Not just good music, but GREAT music. The ability to hold up well over the years is something that THIS particular generation of music listeners I believe will never truly understand because the bulk of songs produced over the past decade (or so) are almost all throw-away tunes. What is great today will be yesterdays fodder within a few weeks, and almost NONE of it sounds good after just a few spins. Will Britney Spears EVER stand up to 'Satisfaction' by the Stones? Does Eminem even have a prayer of selling millions of albums 30 YEARS after he stops making music like The Beatles? No feakin' WAY. However, America IS a band that can and DOES stand up well after several decades. IF you count yourself a fan of the 70's and you would count a life without disco as a GOOD thing, give America a chance and let them impress you for several more decades to come. An above average collection of songs by a truly underrated band.
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