American hearts

Last Sunday's car boot sale was a busy one (despite the cold) but unfortunately I came home empty-handed.  There were no gems to found hidden away amongst the usual piles of Mantovani, James Last and Englebert Humperdink and so today I thought I'd talk about a particular favourite used-vinyl find.

A couple of years ago I was in a local charity shop when I found a filthy-looking record in a scruffy plain card sleeve - so of course I had to take a look!

It turned out to be an album called 'Hearts' by America; a band I'd heard of but then only knew the song 'A Horse With No Name' (not on this album).  Once cleaned up, the LP was in fine condition and I played it a lot over the next few days.  I can't tell you how much I now love this.  It's the record I reach for when I'm feeling a bit frazzled, tired or stressed and it never fails to stop my teeth from grinding or my brain from twitching.  It almost always leaves me feeling calm and clear-headed.

America - Hearts (1975)

Like most of America's output it's fairly light folk/country rock.  Their fifth studio album, and the second to be produced by George Martin, it reached no.4 in the US in 1975 and produced three singles; the fantastic Sister Golden Hair, Daisy Jane and Woman Tonight.

I'm always on the look out for more of their records at boot sales and charity shops - I mentioned their album Hat Trick last year here.


The CD version was never released in the UK so I bought a US import via eBay, as it's a record I don't ever want to be without!  Top tracks:

America – Daisy Jane         America – Half A Man         America – Company  

America – Woman Tonight      America – Seasons




The guitar intro to Sister Golden Hair was apparently unashamedly nicked from George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord'.  I forgive them.