Comments for America, Holiday

This album is cool, because of the feeling that it maintains from beginning to end. All songs are consistantly great.

They got back on track with this one. Great job by George Martin (The Fourth America-n). The whole album has a great, "up" sound. If there was justice in the world, "Another Try" would have been a #1 song. America are the masters of mid-tempo 70's pop, and this album is them at their best.

Their finest work since their debut album. George Martin reaaly brought their sound together. Although the first half is more commercial ("Another Try" would have been a top 5 hit), the second side really stands out.

A great album! If "Baby It's Up To You" or "Another Try" had been released as singles they would have been big hits!

It's a travesty this CD is so hard to find. It was huge when it came out. The hits were obviously Tin Man and Lonely People, but the underrated second side was equally as good. Old Man Took is fascinating.

I recall an interview Gerry gave in which he said that the songwriting was becoming more of a burden on him in particular around this time. If so, it's pretty obvious from "Holiday"that Gerry was mostly exploring his Paul McCartney fixation. I love both "Another Try" and "What Does it Matter?" but both tones, particularly the latter one, are right from the Paul McCartney music hall school. There are echoes of "Your Mother Should Know" throughout. Elsewhere, we can hear McCartney's influence on "Mad Dog" as well. That said, all of the aforementioned cuts are really engaging, as is Gerry's country-rocker "Baby It's Up to You." Dewey, though, really stole this album as far as I'm concerned. "Old Man Took," "Hollywood" and of course "Tin Man' in its full, orchestrated version, are masterworks. I know "Lonely People" was the big hit, but "Glad to See You" was also a solid track. In fact, the only real clinker here - and its one of their crummiest, from my view - is "In the Country." I just think it doesn't belong. That one incongruity aside, "Hearts" is a beautiful, cohesive record. I don't think it so much improves on "HatTrick" as veers off into another direction that makes comparisons unfair. I made this record, along with, oddly, Aerosmith's "Get Your Wings," the sountrack to my summer of '74. Today, at age 41 with two kids, I still listen to it all the time. I was just playing it in the car yesterday. I agree it's time the record was made readily available on CD. This was huge at the time. I remember it getting play on both AM radio and FM and DJs raving about the LP. Seamless, melodic, emotionally-engaging and summer-esque, this is another essential piece for any America collection - or pop music collection, for that matter.

I screwed up in my previous comment. I meant to say "Holiday" and inadvertently wrote "Hearts." Hopefully folks knew what I meant from the context. By the way, has anyone ever heard whether there are outtakes from these sessions that might one day see light in some kind of boxed set? America really has been the victim of an incredibly shoddy repackaging treatment during the CD era, a time when bands like Uriah Heep are getting a four-disc box set. Perhaps a letter-writing campaign to warner Bros.?

First America album produced by George Martin. Excellent!

Some of the songs off this album never made it into the mainstream... and I'm glad. "Tin Man" was over played on the radio, and so was "Lonely People"... which is my favorite of all America's songs. I remember listening to this album on my Toshiba Boston nearly 30 years ago... I detected slight hints of the Beatles tucked into the tracks... then I read the liner and saw that George Martin had produced it. "Old Man Took" is another favorite... Great Album!!

Holiday is the premiere America musical experience. Probably the richest arrangements and deepest feeling music they created. And, I lost my copy. Help.

If not the very best,very close. George Martin's influence is a big plus. Tin Man, Hollywood,Old Man Took ans Baby It's Up To You have been my favorites for 35yrs.Was lucky enough to have Holiday and Hideway autographed last summer at Atlantic City. They were blown away by the site of an LP!