★★★★★
Supple, vocally splendid harmonies and intriguing, if sometimes puzzling lyrics have been the blueprint of America's folk-rock sound since their inception. Peter Clifton's visually dynamic and sonically awesome new DVD Live In Central Park 1979 expertly captures everything about the music of Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley that fans love and detractors hate...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2013-04-25
★★★★★
In the 1970s America were the darlings of pop and rock radio. The trio (which became a duo) had a vocal blend and sound that were less threatening than the Eagles', and they were enjoyed by teenage girls and middle-aged mothers alike who wouldn't listen to Led Zeppelin. They even somehow even attracted the involvement of George Martin, who had produced such monsters as the Beatles and Jeff Beck. They always sounded like pretty nice guys, and they probably were and probably still are...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2011-08-01
★★★★★
Sound: You either have to be completely self-confident or should have enough reasons to release a two-disk album. With their new album Here & Now the kings of '70s soft-rock sound America should have a bit of both. The release follows the number of quite successful albums by their colleagues, re-united rock bands of the past century...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2009-11-15
★★★★★
Scan the guests on Here & Now (Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha and Fountains of Wayne'sAdam Schlesinger co-produced; Ryan Adams, and members of My MorningJacket and Nada Surf turn up) and you might imagine the "VenturaHighway" riders are in store for some serious rock cred. Well, no. Thesound and sentiments are frozen in wimpy Me Decade amber, as if theassisting hepsters approached it as a nostalgic art project...
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
Getting the band back together is not a good idea. Late-career reunion albums long ago passed into the realm of Really Bad Idea, right up there with Jäger shots on New Year's. The past few years have seen serious stumbles from the Who, the Zombies, and Big Star, to name just a few of many dud attempts to revive the cult or popular brand and reclaim a little glory...
- pitchfork.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
Harbor contains a good measure of the expected. This time, "Horse with No Name" has been reworked into an offbeat, vaguely admonitory number called "Political Poachers" as well as the merely vague "Are You There." The rest consists largely of leavings from such California neighbors as the Eagles, Neil Young and the Beach Boys, plus the usual determinedly vacuous lyrics, harmonies that would soar if they could, and impeccable pop production by George Martin...
- www.rollingstone.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
I.GIFt wouldn't be going too far out on a limb to say that '70s mush-rock masters America are the last group I'd expect to release an album drenched in hipster cred...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2009-06-08
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