America – History: America’s Greatest Hits

History: America’s Greatest Hits is the first greatest hits album by American folk rock trio America, released by Warner Bros. Records in 1975. It was a big hit in the United States, reaching number 3 on the Billboard albums chart and going multi-platinum. It also went 6x platinum for shipments of 420,000 copies of the album in Australia. On July 20, 2019, the album re-entered the US charts peaking at #50 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums.

By the end of 1975, America had released five commercially successful studio albums and a string of hit singles, including two No.1 hits. Their second number one hit, “Sister Golden Hair”, topped the charts that summer. So Warner Bros. Records decided to capitalize on the group’s commercial momentum as well as its growing catalog of releases by issuing a greatest hits album.

So this particular compilation, released in November 1975, contained all eleven of America’s singles up to that point, along with a more reworked version of “Sandman”, a popular track that had never been released as a single from their the debut album.

The album actually has two names: History, to keep with the group’s tradition of releasing albums with names beginning with the letter “H”, and America’s Greatest Hits, to indicate that it is a compilation of their hits.

The album’s first seven tracks, recorded prior to producer George Martin’s involvement with the band, were remixed by Martin for this release, with several notable differences from the original recordings. Some of the remix tracks, such as “A Horse With No Name” and “I Need You”, feature a more prominent bass. A voice can be heard briefly in the background of “A Horse With No Name” about two minutes into the track – this voice is not on the original recording. The tempo on “I Need You” is a quarter tone slower than the original version. “Sandman” lasts about a minute less than the original track. On “Ventura Highway”, Dewey Bunnell’s lead vocals are doubled and the guitars sound more resonant. In “Don’t Cross The River” there is a violin that is not heard on the original recording. In addition, many of the tracks are mixed together with no gaps between them.

Due to the commercial success and enduring popularity of this album, over time, remix versions of the tracks have become as recognizable as the original singles.

The cover features tracks from America’s previous albums. The drawing by Dan Peek and Dewey Bunnell is from a poster photo included in the Hat Trick album. The image of the car and trees is taken from the album cover of Holiday. The Golden Gate Bridge and pine trees are adapted from the Hearts cover. Although the images of Big Ben and the double-decker bus are not found on any other American album, their inclusion symbolizes the band’s origins in England. All of this cover art was by a then unknown artist named Phil Hartman, who later became a famous actor and comedian, and was the brother of the group’s then manager, John Hartmann.

Through this amazing collection I select the track “A Horse With No Name”.

Tracklist

1. A Horse With No Name 4:10
2. I Need You 3:04
3. Sandman 5:03
4. Ventura Highway 3:32
5. Don’t Cross The River 2:30
6. Only In Your Heart 3:16
7. Muskrat Love 3:02
8. Tin Man 3:25
9. Lonely People 2:27
10. Sister Golden Hair 3:16
11. Daisy Jane 3:07
12. Woman Tonight 2:19