Holiday
by America (1974)
Albums category pick for the week of 6/30/08
Holiday by America is a nice combination of mellow AM Gold and topical classic rock. It’s what you imagine the not quite as hip kids who didn’t quite want to rock out on the boat zoned out to on summer afternoons in 1974. There’s some cheesiness here, like the soft “Glad To See You” but it’s just so nice, it makes you want to fall in love over summer vacation with long hair, bell bottoms, drenched in the hazy sunshine of old photographs.
There are a few recognizable hits like The Tin Man and Lonely People, but kind of surprisingly, a lot of the other songs like Another Try and Hollywood, which you might expect to be filler are just as catchy and likable. It's a strong album from a band that gets moderate respect in the grand scheme of classic rock. I've never been a huge fan of their greatest hit "Horse with No Name" (though I might be convinced), but Holiday sounds more like their later song "Sister Golden Hair", and that sounds really good to me.
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