Holiday is the fourth studio album by the American folk rock band America, released on the Warner Bros. Records label in June 1974. The album was produced in London by George Martin, the first of six consecutive albums he produced with America.
The album was a big hit in the US, reaching number 3 on the Billboard album chart and being certified gold by the RIAA. It produced two hit singles: "Tin Man", which reached number 4 on the Billboard singles chart and went to number 1 on the adult contemporary chart, and "Lonely People", which peaked at number 5 on the Billboard singles chart and also hit number 1 on the adult contemporary chart. Several other songs received radio airplay on FM stations playing album tracks, including "Baby It's Up To You" and "Another Try". The album was also released on Quadrophonic reel-to-reel tape.
History
Band member Dewey Bunnell was thrilled at the prospect of working with George Martin as producer. He was quoted as saying that it "was great working with George. It was like we knew each other. We were familiar with the Beatles, of course, and we had that British sense of humor."[2] In a separate interview, Dan Peek recalled to Circus magazine: "Gerry (Beckley) had been in England, and we'd talked about using George Martin as our producer. He's such a hot arranger, thinking about all the stuff he's done. There were several other people we wanted to use, but that idea sort of flashed and George was available."[3]
Holiday was the recording debut of America's longtime drummer Willie Leacox, who is in the car in the cover photo.
In his AllMusic review music critic Mike DeGagne noted the effect of George Martin's production on the album as well as the rebound from the failure of Hat Trick, writing "this album as a whole ascertained that the group was definitely showing their true potential once more."[4]
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