America (America album)

America
Studio album by America
Released December 29, 1971
Recorded 1971 in Trident and Morgan Studios, London, U.K.
Genre Country rock, folk rock
Length 46:14
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Ian Samwell, Jeff Dexter
America chronology
America
(1971)
Homecoming
(1972)
Singles from America
  1. "A Horse with No Name"
    Released: January 12, 1972
  2. "I Need You"
    Released: April 26, 1972

America is the eponymous debut album by America, released in 1971. It was initially released without "A Horse with No Name", which was released as a single in late 1971. When "A Horse with No Name" became a worldwide hit in early 1972, the album was re-released with that track.

The album went to No. 1 on the Billboard album chart in the United States and stayed there for five weeks.[1] It produced two hit singles; "A Horse with No Name" spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart in 1972 (it peaked at No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart), and "I Need You" hit No. 9 on the Billboard singles chart and No. 7 on the AC chart.[2] Several other songs received radio airplay on FM stations playing album tracks, including "Sandman" (long-rumored to be about the United States Navy VQ-2 air squadron formerly based in Rota, Spain) and "Three Roses". The album was certified platinum by the RIAA for sales in excess of one million units in the U.S.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[3]

In his Allmusic review, music critic David Cleary called the band's debut album a "folk-pop classic" and concluded, "In spite of its flaws, this platter is very highly recommended."[3]

Track listing

Side 1
No. TitleWriter(s)Lead vocals Length
1. "Riverside"  Dewey BunnellGroup 3:03
2. "Sandman"  BunnellBunnell 5:08
3. "Three Roses"  BunnellBunnell 3:54
4. "Children"  BunnellGroup 3:07
5. "A Horse with No Name" (Bonus track on 1972 reissue, also included on all subsequent reissues)BunnellBunnell 4:10
6. "Here"  Gerry BeckleyBeckley 5:30
Side 2
No. TitleWriter(s)Lead vocals Length
1. "I Need You"  BeckleyBeckley 3:05
2. "Rainy Day"  Dan PeekPeek 2:55
3. "Never Found the Time"  PeekPeek 3:50
4. "Clarice"  BeckleyBeckley 4:01
5. "Donkey Jaw"  PeekBunnell 5:17
6. "Pigeon Song"  BunnellBunnell 2:18

Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1971 US 1[1]
AUS 3
NOR 22
UK 14

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1972 "A Horse
with No Name
"
US[4] 1
US AC 3
AUS 2
NL[5] 12
UK 3
"I Need You" US 9
US AC 7
AUS 81

Personnel

Credits are per back cover of 1972 vinyl issue.

References

  1. 1 2 America – America > Charts & Awards > Billboard Album at AllMusic. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
  2. America – America > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles at AllMusic. Retrieved May 31, 2008.
  3. 1 2 Cleary, David. America > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  4. "America : Allmusic : Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  5. "dutchcharts.nl - Dutch charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
Preceded by
Harvest by Neil Young
Billboard 200 number-one album
25 March – 28 April 1972
Succeeded by
First Take by Roberta Flack
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