America - Albums (1971 - 2011)
Biography:
The first half of the 1970s was the heyday of introspective songwriting and close-harmony singing. The band America lay at the commercial end of this movement, releasing a string of singles that earned radio play for years. The trio's debut was A Horse with No Name, a Neil Young-derived, hallucinatory story-song that hit number one in the U.S. and became a worldwide smash. Further hits I Need You and Ventura Highway helped them win the Grammy Award for Best New Artist of 1972. A string of Top Ten singles and albums followed in the mid-'70s (Tin Man, Lonely People, Sister Golden Hair), and they scored a latter-day hit in 1982 with You Can Do Magic. Vocalists/guitarists Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek, and Gerry Beckley met while they were still in high school in the late '60s; all three were sons of U.S. Air Force officers who were stationed in the U.K. After they completed school in 1970, they formed an acoustic folk-rock quartet called Daze in London, which was soon pared down to the trio of Bunnell, Peek, and Beckley. Adopting the name America, the group landed a contract with Jeff Dexter, a promoter for the Roundhouse concert venue. Dexter had America open for several major artists and the group soon signed with Warner Bros. By the fall of 1970, they were recording their debut album in London with producers Ian Samwell and Jeff Dexter. A Horse with No Name, America's debut single, was released at the end of 1971. In January 1972, the song -- which strongly recalled the acoustic numbers of Neil Young -- became a number three hit in the U.K. The group's self-titled debut album followed the same stylistic pattern and became a hit as well, peaking at number 14. Following their British success, America returned to North America, beginning a supporting tour for the Everly Brothers. A Horse with No Name was released in the U.S. that spring, where it soon became a number one single, pushing Neil Young's Heart of Gold off the top of the charts. I Need You became another Top Ten hit that summer, and the group began work on their second album. Ventura Highway, the first single released from this collaboration, became their third straight Top Ten hit in December of 1972. In early 1973, America won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist of 1972. Homecoming was released in January of 1973, becoming a Top Ten hit in the U.S. and peaking at number 21 in the U.K. America's essential sound didn't change with this record; it just became more polished. However, the hits stopped coming fairly soon -- they had only one minor Top 40 hit in 1973. Hat Trick, the group's third album, was released toward the end of 1973 and failed to make it past number 28 on the American charts. Released in the late fall of 1974, Holiday was the first record the group made with producer George Martin. Holiday returned America to the top of the charts, peaking at number three and launching the hit singles Tin Man and Lonely People. Sister Golden Hair, pulled from 1975's Hearts, became their second number one single. That same year, the group released History: America's Greatest Hits, which would eventually sell over four million copies. Although America's 1976 effort Hideaway went gold and peaked at number 11, the group's audience was beginning to decline. After releasing Harbor to a lukewarm reception, Peek left the group, deciding to become a contemporary Christian recording artist. The band continued as a duo, and their last Martin-produced record, Silent Letter, was released in 1979 to little attention. America returned to the Top Ten in 1982 with You Can Do Magic, an adult contemporary pop number that featured synthesizers along with their trademark harmonies. The Border became their last Top 40 hit in 1983, peaking at number 33. After releasing America in Concert in the summer of 1985, the group continued to tour successfully into the '90s, re-surfacing in 1998 with Human Nature. The early part of the new millennium saw America release not only a handful of live albums and a holiday-themed studio recording, but also the exhaustive, career-spanning box set Highway, released in 2000. On the heels of this renewed interest, America were tempted back into the studio in 2006 by longtime fans and musicians Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins. Although encouraging Bunnell and Beckley to stick to America's core sound, producers Schlesinger and Iha brought in younger musicians influenced by America to guest on the album. Released in early 2007, Here & Now featured new material by America as well as covers written by bands heavily influenced by the soft rock pioneers including Ryan Adams, Nada Surf, and others. The duo of Bunnell and Beckley returned with the independently released covers album Back Pages in July 2011. That very same month, the duo's former bandmate, Dan Peek, died at his home in Missouri at the age of 60. Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell continued to perform as America throughout the rest of the 2010s, celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2019 with a tour and an accompanying compilation called 50th Anniversary: Golden Hits. Heritage II: Demos/Alternate Takes 1971-1976, a sequel to the 2017 set Heritage: Home Recordings/Demos 1970-1973, appeared in April 2020. Willie Leacox, who had been America's drummer on the road and in the studio for over 40 years, died on February 2, 2022 at his home in Stockton, California at the age of 74.
机翻：20世纪70年代上半叶是内省歌曲创作和紧密和声演唱的鼎盛时期。美国乐队处于这场运动的商业端，发行了一系列单曲，赢得了多年的广播播放。三人组的首秀是《无名马》，这是一首由尼尔·杨衍生的幻觉故事歌曲，在美国排名第一，并在全球范围内大卖。更进一步的热门歌曲《我需要你》和《文图拉高速公路》帮助他们获得了1972年格莱美最佳新人奖。在70年代中期，一系列十大单曲和专辑紧随其后（《铁皮人》、《孤独的人》和《金毛妹妹》），他们在1982年凭借《你可以做魔术》获得了现代流行歌曲。声乐家/吉他手Dewey Bunnell、Dan Peek和Gerry Beckley在60年代末还在高中时相识；这三人都是驻扎在英国的美国空军军官的儿子。1970年他们完成学业后，在伦敦组建了一个名为Daze的原声民歌四重奏，很快被精简为Bunnell、Peek和Beckley三人组。该乐队以“美国”这个名字与圆形大厅音乐会场地的推广人杰夫·德克斯特签订了合同。Dexter让美国对几位主要艺术家开放，该组合很快与华纳兄弟签约。到1970年秋天，他们与制作人Ian Samwell和Jeff Dexter在伦敦录制了首张专辑。《无名马》是美国的首张单曲，于1971年底发行。1972年1月，这首歌强烈回忆了尼尔·杨的原声数字，在英国成为第三名。该组合的同名首张专辑遵循了同样的风格模式，也成为了热门歌曲，最高排名为第14名。继他们在英国取得成功后，美国回到北美，开始了对埃弗里兄弟的支持之旅。那年春天，《无名马》在美国发行，很快成为冠军单曲，将尼尔·杨的《金牌之心》推下排行榜榜首。那年夏天，《我需要你》成为另一首十大热门歌曲，乐队开始制作第二张专辑。1972年12月，合作发行的第一首单曲《Ventura Highway》连续第三次成为他们的十大热门单曲。1973年初，美国获得了1972年格莱美最佳新人奖。《同学会》于1973年1月发行，成为美国十大热门歌曲，在英国排名第21。美国的基本声音并没有随着这张唱片而改变；它只是变得更光滑了。然而，这些安打很快就停止了——他们在1973年只有一支小的40强安打。该组合的第三张专辑《帽子戏法》于1973年底发行，未能在美国排行榜上超过第28位。《假日》于1974年深秋发行，是该组合与制作人乔治·马丁共同制作的第一张唱片。Holiday让美国重新登上排行榜榜首，最高排名第三，并推出了热门单曲《铁皮人》和《孤独的人》。1975年《红心大战》中的《金毛姐姐》成为他们的第二首冠军单曲。同年，该组织发行了《历史：美国最受欢迎的歌曲》，最终销量超过400万册。尽管美国1976年的《Hideaway》获得了金牌，并在第11名达到顶峰，但该团体的观众人数开始下降。在发行《Harbor》后反响平平，Peek离开了乐队，决定成为一名当代基督教录音艺术家。乐队继续作为二人组，他们最后一张马丁制作的唱片《无声的信》于1979年发行，几乎没有引起人们的注意。1982年，美国凭借《You Can Do Magic》重返前十，这是一个以合成器及其标志性和声为特色的成人当代流行音乐。《边境》于1983年成为他们最后一首40强单曲，最高排名为33位。在1985年夏天发行《美国演唱会》后，该组合继续成功巡演到90年代，并于1998年与《人性》一起重新亮相。在新千年的早期，美国不仅发行了几张现场专辑和一张以节日为主题的录音室录音，还发行了2000年发行的详尽的、跨越职业生涯的盒式专辑《Highway》。在这种新的兴趣之后，美国在2006年被韦恩喷泉乐队的长期粉丝和音乐家亚当·施莱辛格和粉碎南瓜乐队的詹姆斯·伊哈吸引回到了录音室。尽管鼓励Bunnell和Beckley坚持美国的核心声音，但制作人Schlesinger和Iha还是邀请了受美国影响的年轻音乐家来客串这张专辑。《Here&Now》于2007年初发行，收录了美国的新材料，以及深受软摇滚先驱影响的乐队创作的封面，包括Ryan Adams、Nada Surf等。Bunnell和Beckley二人组于2011年7月携独立发行的封面专辑《Back Pages》回归。就在同一个月，两人的前乐队伙伴Dan Peek在密苏里州的家中去世，享年60岁。Gerry Beckley和Dewey Bunnell在2010年代余下的时间里继续扮演美国的角色。
Album List:
1971 - America
1972 - Homecoming
1973 - Hat Trick
1974 - Holiday
1975 - Hearts
1975 - History: America's Greatest Hits [Compilation]
1976 - Hideaway
1977 - Harbor
1977 - Live
1979 - Silent Letter
1980 - Alibi
1982 - View From The Ground
1983 - Your Move
1984 - Perspective
1991 - Encore: More Greatest Hits [Compilation]
1994 - Hourglass
1998 - Human Nature
2002 - Holiday Harmony
2006 - Here & Now
2011 - Back Pages
Media Report:
Genre: rock, folk rock, soft Rock
Country: UK/USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
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发表于 2024-6-5 15:04:42
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