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Language available : english
Any Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fan who thought the smooth soft rock of 1978's The Dirt Band was a fluke was proven wrong by the following year's American Dream, which took the template of its predecessor and improved it with a streamlined production and some very strong material. Chief among these, of course, was the title song, a winningly polished take on Rodney Crowell's clever "American Dream" that became a hit, climbing all the way to 13 on the pop charts and thereby establishing the band in the public's eyes as the soft rock act they'd become. It's a brilliant single, one of the best Californian soft rock songs of its era, and American Dream the album delivers at least on the level of sound -- sonically, it's a sleek and appealing collection of mid-tempo pop songs, ballads, and lazy jams. It's the latter that hurt the momentum of the album; although the instrumental "Jas'moon" works better than "White Russian" on The Dirt Band, there are some really silly good-time numbers -- "New Orleans," "Happy Feet" -- that deflate the mellow vibe of the record (as does the reggae-fied cover of "Wolverton Mountain" that closes the LP on a sour note). Though these are stumbles, they don't hurt the record, since the rest of American Dream glides by on its smooth surfaces -- all electric pianos, slick guitars, saxophones, and glistening polish -- and songs as light but appealing as "In Her Eyes," "Take Me Back," "Dance the Night Away," "Do You Feel the Way That I Do," and "What's on Your Mind." This won't win over the fans lost on The Dirt Band -- it would be some time before they returned to the progressive country that made their reputation -- but this is another small late-'70s soft rock gem.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
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Rodney Crowell, ComposerLyricist - Bob Edwards, Producer - Jeff Hanna, Producer - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, MainArtist
(C) 1979 Nashville Catalog ℗ 1979 Capitol Records LLC
R. Roberts, Composer - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, MainArtist
(C) 1979 Nashville Catalog ℗ 1979 Capitol Records Nashville
Jimmie Fadden, Composer - Jeff Hanna, Composer - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, MainArtist - Richard Hathaway, Composer
(C) 1979 Nashville Catalog ℗ 1979 Capitol Records Nashville
Jeff Hanna, Composer - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, MainArtist - Al Garth, Composer - Richard Hathaway, Composer - BOB CARPENTER, Composer - Merle Bregante, Composer
(C) 1979 Nashville Catalog ℗ 1979 Capitol Records Nashville
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, MainArtist - BOB CARPENTER, Composer - David James Holster, Composer
(C) 1979 Nashville Catalog ℗ 1979 Capitol Records Nashville
FRANK GUIDA, ComposerLyricist - Joseph Royster, ComposerLyricist - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, MainArtist
(C) 1979 Nashville Catalog ℗ 1979 Capitol Records Nashville
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, MainArtist - Al Garth, Composer - Merle Bregante, Composer
(C) 1979 Nashville Catalog ℗ 1979 Capitol Records Nashville
Jeff Hanna, Composer - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, MainArtist - J. Fadden, Composer
(C) 1979 Nashville Catalog ℗ 1979 Capitol Records Nashville
Jeff Hanna, Composer - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, MainArtist - Richard Hathaway, Composer - Merle Bregante, Composer
(C) 1979 Nashville Catalog ℗ 1979 Capitol Records Nashville
MERLE KILGORE, ComposerLyricist - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, MainArtist - Claude King, ComposerLyricist
(C) 1979 Nashville Catalog ℗ 1979 Capitol Records Nashville
Albumbeschreibung
Any Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fan who thought the smooth soft rock of 1978's The Dirt Band was a fluke was proven wrong by the following year's American Dream, which took the template of its predecessor and improved it with a streamlined production and some very strong material. Chief among these, of course, was the title song, a winningly polished take on Rodney Crowell's clever "American Dream" that became a hit, climbing all the way to 13 on the pop charts and thereby establishing the band in the public's eyes as the soft rock act they'd become. It's a brilliant single, one of the best Californian soft rock songs of its era, and American Dream the album delivers at least on the level of sound -- sonically, it's a sleek and appealing collection of mid-tempo pop songs, ballads, and lazy jams. It's the latter that hurt the momentum of the album; although the instrumental "Jas'moon" works better than "White Russian" on The Dirt Band, there are some really silly good-time numbers -- "New Orleans," "Happy Feet" -- that deflate the mellow vibe of the record (as does the reggae-fied cover of "Wolverton Mountain" that closes the LP on a sour note). Though these are stumbles, they don't hurt the record, since the rest of American Dream glides by on its smooth surfaces -- all electric pianos, slick guitars, saxophones, and glistening polish -- and songs as light but appealing as "In Her Eyes," "Take Me Back," "Dance the Night Away," "Do You Feel the Way That I Do," and "What's on Your Mind." This won't win over the fans lost on The Dirt Band -- it would be some time before they returned to the progressive country that made their reputation -- but this is another small late-'70s soft rock gem.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 10 track(s)
- Total length: 00:37:37
- Main artists: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Capitol Nashville
- Genre: Blues/country/folk Country
© 1979 Nashville Catalog ℗ 1979 Capitol Records Nashville
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