June 4, 2021 —– Chart #94
Hello Musical Friends,
Welcome to Friday and the 94th edition of Chart of the Day. Today I have decided to go with s very popular band in the 70’s and beyond with a long list of hits. “I Need You,” released in 1972, is the second single by the band America from their eponymous debut album America. The song was written by Gerry Beckley.
It appears on the live albums Live (1977), In Concert (1985), In Concert (King Biscuit), Horse With No Name – Live! (1995), and The Grand Cayman Concert (2002). The studio version is included on the compilation albums Highway (2000) and The Complete Greatest Hits (2001).
George Martin remixed the studio recording for inclusion on History: America’s Greatest Hits (1975) with the pitch brought down a quarter tone and the bass guitar brought up further in volume from the original release. An alternate mix from 1971 (otherwise based on the George Martin mix) appears on the 2015 release Archives, Vol. 1.
For you guitar players, America is a great band to focus on. Excellent song structure and creative use of chords and transitions. They have lots of hits so it was hard to choose. Hope you like this one.
TRIVIA: If you have been following my Chart of the Day for a while you might remember this history of America: America is a rock band that was formed in London in 1970 by Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek, and Gerry Beckley. The trio met as sons of US Air Force personnel stationed in London, where they began performing live. Achieving significant popularity in the 1970s, the trio was famous for its close vocal harmonies and light acoustic folk rock sound. The band released a string of hit albums and singles, many of which found airplay on pop/soft rock stations.
The band came together shortly after the members’ graduation from high school, and a record deal with Warner Bros. Records followed. Its debut 1971 album, America, included the transatlantic hits “A Horse with No Name” and “I Need You”; Homecoming (1972) included the single “Ventura Highway”; and Hat Trick (1973), a modest success on the charts that fared poorly in sales, included one minor charting song, “Muskrat Love”. Holiday (1974) featured the hits “Tin Man” and “Lonely People”; and Hearts (1975) generated the number one single “Sister Golden Hair” alongside “Daisy Jane”. History: America’s Greatest Hits, a compilation of hit singles, was released the same year and was certified multiplatinum in the United States and Australia. Peek left the group in 1977 and their commercial fortunes declined, despite a return to the top 10 in 1982 with the single “You Can Do Magic”. The band’s final Top 40 hit was “The Border”, which reached no. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. The group continues to record material and tour with regularity. Its 2007 album Here & Now was a collaboration with a new generation of musicians who credited the band as an influence.
America won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist and were nominated for Best Pop Vocal Group at the 15th Annual Grammy Awards in 1973. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2006 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.
And still doing it well in 2013: https://youtu.be/re4JG_tueo0
Keep rockin’ my friends,
Stan