Hourglass

Performer: America
Distributor: Fontana Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Dewey Bunnell (vocals, guitar); Hank Linderman (guitar, lap steel, background vocals); Michael Woods (guitar); Gerry Buckley (vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, keyboards, bass, programming); Steve Levine (keyboards, programming); Brad Palmer (bass); Willie Leacox (drums); Joey Gulizia (congas, percussion); John Boylan (programming); Carl Wilson (background vocals). Producers: Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, Steve Levine. Engineers include: Ron Dabbs, Doug Van Sloun, Gerry Beckley. Recorded at Human Nature Studio, Sherman Oaks, California; Sound Recorders, Inc., Omaha, Nebraska; Do Not Erase Studios, London, England; Sound City, Van Nuys, California. Personnel: Gerry Beckley (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, harmonica, keyboards, drums, bass drum, percussion, keyboard programming, drum programming, percussion programming); Dewey Bunnell (vocals, guitar, background vocals); Hank Linderman (guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar, lap steel guitar, background vocals); Michael Woods (electric guitar); Steve Levine (keyboards, programming, drum programming); Brad Palmer (bass guitar); Willie Leacox (drums); Joey Gulizia (congas, percussion); John Boylan (programming); Carl Wilson (background vocals). Audio Mixer: Mark Linett. Recording information: Do Not Erase Studios, London, England; Human Nature Studio, Sherman Oaks, CA; s; Sound Records Inc., Omaha, NE. Photographer: Henry Diltz. Arrangers: Chip Davis; Dewey Bunnell; Gerry Beckley; Steve Levine. This 1994 release by the duo of Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Buckley may sound at first like a "why bother?" but surprisingly, HOURGLASS is not only not embarrassing, it's actually quite good. On their '70s hits, Bunnell sounded uncannily like a sweeter-voiced Neil Young; the decreased vocal resemblance here probably has more to do with the ravages of Young's own vocal cords, but it gives the harmonies much more of their own character. The glistening folk-rock of hits like "A Horse With No Name" and "Ventura Highway" is all over this disc, with Bunnell and Buckley both contributing several surprisingly full-bodied pop songs. The inclusion of a nothing-special remake of their old hit "You Can Do Magic" at the end is an ill-considered exercise in nostalgia, a trap the rest of HOURGLASS admirably avoids.

The first half of the 1970s was the heyday of introspective songwriting and close-harmony singing. The band America was at the forefront of the commercial end of this movement, releasing a string of singles that dominated the radio for years. Following their debut smash, "Horse With No Name," a Neil Young-derived, hallucinatory song-story, America scored again and again with singles and a series of records whose titles for some reason all began with the letter "H." Despite the group's indelible association with soft rock, America's understated pop found an unlikely new legion of fans in the '00s indie world.

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