album photos

Happenstance
Marshall 1998

Live In Los Angeles
Riverside
Sandman
I Need You
Submarine Ladies
Don't Cross the River
Three Roses / Comin' Into Los Angeles
Living Isn't Really Giving / The Rain Song

Live In Holland
Don't Cross the River
I Need You
Look Up, Look Down
Three Roses / Comin' Into Los Angeles
A Horse With No Name
Everyone I Meet Is From California
Sandman


Kevin Alton made me aware of this CD and sent me the photos. It is almost the same as Heard with the addition of "Sandman", "Horse With No Name", and "Everyone I Meet Is From California", and the deletion of "The Winter Of Our Love" and "How Long Must This Go On". It is likely that the Marshall label is a bootleg from Japan.

Here's the promotional material about this hard-to-find import CD: As the sons of U.S. Air Force officers stationed in the United Kingdom, Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek met in the late 1960's while attending Central High School, described as "a little oasis of America" in Watford, England. After graduating from high school, the trio began playing together in several rock groups, including Daze and Swallow the Buffalo. While the groups were short-lived, they brought the future members of America together for the first time. It was after hearing Gerry Beckley's guitar playing at a meeting Dan Peek had with Warner Brothers London scout, Ian Samwell that the executive requested an interview with the young songwriters. Within a year of their meeting the trio was signed to a contract with Warner Brothers records, and after borrowing the name of a cafeteria jukebox, (the Americana II,) America was born. The band's first album, America, was released in 1972 to popular acclaim. When the group's first single, "I Need You" failed to catch on with audiences the band and Warner executives added the new song, "A Horse With No Name" to the LP. The song revealed Bunnell's abstract longing for California, as an American living abroad, and struck a chord with listeners. With the help of heavy radio airplay, the album and single rode to the top of both U.K. and U.S. charts by April of 1972. This retrospective captures the band at the height of their powers on the first American Tour. Great sound. Tremendous art.

The first half was recorded live at the Whisky-A-Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA, November 15, 1972. The bonus tracks were recorded live in Holland in 1972.



Last Revised: 12 February 2006