album photos

Heard
Home-Rolled 1997

Don't Cross the River (Live)
I Need You (Live)
Look Up, Look Down (Live)
Three Roses / Comin' Into Los Angeles (Live)
Submarine Ladies (Live)
The Winter Of Our Love (Live)
Living Isn't Really Giving (Live)
The Rain Song (Live)
How Long Must This Go On (Live)
Riverside (Live)
Twist And Shout (Live)
My American Dream (Live)
California Dreamin'
Hark, The Herald Angels Sing

This album is a "home-rolled" compilation of several live tracks from the early 70's and mid 80's. Most of the live tracks are from a 1972 New Year's concert in Holland. The CD cover lists track 9 as "Ain't It A Shame (About The Rain)" but the real title is "The Rain Song". Riverside is from a 1972 concert in Los Angeles. Twist and Shout and My American Dream are from a 1986 Dan Peek concert. Also included are the title track from the California Dreamin' soundtrack and one selection from a Christmas album.

For a time John Corbett made the CD available to America Fans for $15 (to cover his costs). However, John has moved to the United Kingdom to continue his education and he no longer has time to make the CD's. Your best bet for now is to find another fan that already has it and see if they'll make a copy for you.

California Dreamin' was released as a single in 1979 and reached #56 in April of that year.

Here are some ponderings from John Corbett concerning this album:

The majority of the first ten tracks were taken from the 1972-73 period when America was at the peak of its popularity, although some of the non-album tracks seem to have come from early in 1972 before "Horse With No Name" broke the charts, most likely from a radio show somewhere in Europe. My guess is that the early shows generally come from clubs. America started off in a lunchroom in Ontario on their first U.S. tour in the summer of '72, and didn't really graduate to arenas until around 1973. My guess is much of that material comprised their pre-America (the album) days when they were an opening act in London with a growing reputation. Word has it that not only did they open for Elton John once, but that they were also featured on the first episode of "The Old Grey Whistle Test" TV concert series in 1971. I have inquired to BBC about getting a hold of that show, but they say it's locked up due to copyright obligations (pity). The only tracks from the first ten which seem to come later than early 1972 are "Don't Cross The River" and "Submarine Ladies", which didn't surface until early and mid-1973, respectively. Tracks 11 and 12 are excerpted from a tape of a 1986 concert by Dan Peek. Track 13 is the original version of "California Dreamin'" taken from the 1979 film of the same name. It was their only charted hit between 1976 and 1982 in the U.S. Track 14 was taken from a Christmas compilation from the early 1980's which was re-released in 1995 on a Christmas Classics album that was a charity CD, with the proceeds going to benefit the Children's Miracle Network and City of Hope pediatrics. While the quality of the first 12 tracks leaves a lot to be desired, it's the best quality that we currently have available. I'm trying hard to get more material from this time period, and as I do, I'll make it available to everybody else who frequents Steve's website. Keep your eyes open, too, and let me know if you stumble across anything.

Regarding whether or not those early extra tracks were famous in any way, they probably were well-known among watchers of the group. I recall reading an early 1972 review of an America performance in which it was noted that they had a good rendition of Arlo Guthrie's "Coming Into Los Angeles", which of course appears on this album. Apparently, this and the other songs received fairly regular concert exposure before America developed its own repertoire of commercially successful favorites like "Horse", "I Need You", "Riverside", "Here", etc., to captivate the audience. What would be interesting to see is what songs they made and covered in the 1970-71 period, but understandably, recordings from this period ought to be sparse. That's why the "Old Grey Whistle Test" show seems to me of critical importance in giving us the flavor of some of their earliest, post-Daze material.

Although Heard is distributed by John Corbett, the songs were actually compiled by Mark Cole and this is what he had to say about the album:

The first nine tracks are from a 1971 New Years Eve concert in Holland. This is probably the earliest America concert recording in circulation. The concert is totally unplugged and includes songs that never made it on an America album and early versions of some latter America classics. Riverside is from a 1972 concert and contains an additional verse not found on the America album. Twist and Shout is from a 1986 Dan Peek concert in Coco Beach, Florida. My American Dream was a country demo single that Dan recorded in the late 1980s and promoted in Nashville. California Dreamin' was from the 1977 movie soundtrack and Hark, The Herald Angels Sing was found on several Christmas compilation CDs in the early 1990s.