An email hit my inbox earlier this week saying my annual website subscription is getting renewed next month, and you know what that means? Iz FM is coming up on two years old. What started as a weird obsession with Tory Lanez’s Alone at Prom has led me down one odd road. We’ve jumped from 21 Savage to Pink Floyd, Naked Eyes to The Sound of Music, and what a time it has been.
So how must we continue this madness today? With a band we all know and love… and that is America! More specifically, we’ll be looking at the guitar strums that cross borders and break down social barriers. The tune that has been featured in Breaking Bad, Django Unchained, AND the Grand Theft Auto soundtrack. It is none other than “A Horse with No Name.” This song just scratches the surface of all things good and well with America, so let’s dive in.
Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley, and Dan Peek make up the core of this pond-hopping band. Sons of U.S. Air Force parents stationed in London, these boys came together to form a group named after a continent they didn’t even live on. Their spectacular repertoire began right as they left high school and is mostly dispersed from 1972 to 1982. Some of their best is compiled in their multi-platinum compilation History: America’s Greatest Hits. To cover that album today would be unfair. It has too many of their greats like “Ventura Highway” and “Tin Man.”
So instead it’s time to start at the beginning and look at their self-titled debut studio album America. Released in January of 1972, this bad boy got them “Best New Artist” at the 15th Annual Grammy Awards in 1973—beating out the Eagles and Loggins and Messina. What a damn feat. Not even “Witchy Woman” could sway the judges in favor of the Eagles.
America, the album, delivers one 46-minute vibe. The opening track, “Riverside,” starts with 60 seconds of back-and-forth guitar melodies that honestly could’ve inspired some tracks on Paul Simon’s Graceland, in my opinion. Known for their soft harmonies and “folk-pop classic” vibe, as written by music critic David Cleary, this track did a great job introducing the rest of the album and simply the band as a whole.
With “Sandman” and “Three Roses” to follow, they continue the acoustic and easy melodies. They make me think this is not an album to appreciate in big groups. It’s no Ambrosia, that can easily be talked over. Take it in alone, while at peace. On top of that, these two songs also make me question how this band even formed in the UK. It’s like if you told me Pure Prairie League was actually from Paris. These songs were not made for bustling European streets but more like the middle of nowhere, United States. It’s no wonder the writers of Breaking Bad thought they’d be perfect for Walter White.
Which brings me to the fourth track on the album, “A Horse with No Name.” First released in Europe in 1971, THEN brought to the U.S., it was originally not even included on the album. But after receiving loads of well-deserved attention, America re-released the album, this time with this song on it. If anyone knows America, they know this song. Those hypnotizing strums were some of the first things I tried learning on the guitar (and I don’t think I’m alone in that). It is shoulder-rockable, late-at-nightable, and unskippable. This and Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” sit on a pedestal, and nothing can take them off it.
Moving on, even though it’s hard to follow that… my next favorite is a song with three different melodies: “Donkey Jaw.” You start slow and simple, not far from the Doobie Brothers’ “Black Water,” then pick up into
All across the nation,
People don’t understand.
Does it take the children,
To make a better land.
I realized this song is about 80% guitar and 20% anything else. If you can work with that, then this is a great song for you. They pick you up, then put you down, then pick you right back up again. It takes talent to play with someone that much.
Some of the others I’ve liked off the debut album are “Here” and “Never Found the Time.” The entire release is perfect background music for crafting in the kitchen and pairs nicely with some Bread or Crosby, Stills & Nash. However you’d like to enjoy some of America’s tunes, go for it—because these hippie boys have a lot going for them.
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