Little America - Anthology

[Stefan]

 

From MelodicRock Classics:

MelodicRock Classics is thrilled to partner with LITTLE AMERICA, one of the label’s favourite American rock acts of the late 80s, to deliver a career spanning release simply titled ‘Anthology’. Featuring all the songs from their two acclaimed studio albums, the set also includes a whole range of previously unreleased tracks - several live tracks from the band’s first tour; 3 Alt-Versions of tracks from the debut and a handful of unreleased tracks from the band’s second album recording sessions.

The complete Little America recording sessions in one place for the first time.

Little America, a four-piece group from Los Angeles, cranked out two of the best AOR albums of the eighties: The self-titled “Little America”, which had the top-ten hit “Walk On Fire”, and their second album, “Fairgrounds”, which also yielded a top-ten track “Where Were You”.

Signed to Geffen in late 1985, the band began recording in the spring of 1986, and released “Little America” in February of 1987.

The immediate success of “Walk on Fire” surprised the label, and Geffen stepped up the promotion on it. An extensive U.S. tour followed, though sales suffered in some regions of the country because despite many packed houses, there weren’t sufficient (or in some cases, any) product in the stores.

Nevertheless, “Little America” sold nearly 100,000 units. The band was particularly big in the Midwest, and caused quite a stir in Dallas, thanks to Little America’s biggest fan, KTXQ’s Redbeard.

The second album was not to fare as well. Though the material was as strong (the band felt) as the tracks on the first album, things were starting to unravel. Due to some internal strife at Geffen, the band was dealt a new A&R person, who immediately removed several of the band’s favorite songs from the album (“Caught in the Rain”, “She Moves like Lightning” and “Now and Forever”) and teamed Andy and Mike up with Diane Warren, who penned most of “Where Were You” while Mike and Andy watched. (The guys wrote the bridge). Morale didn’t exactly hit an all-time high, songwriting being a bit of a vanity point.

“Fairgrounds”, released in Winter 1989, did yield a top-ten hit “Where Were You”, but didn’t sell well, and the band was dropped. RCA quickly showed interest, but Mike decided to leave, wanting to pursue his own musical direction, and the band dissolved.

When Geffen was sold to MCA in the early 90’s, much of the Geffen catalog never got re-released. As of this writing, neither of Little America’s albums has been in print until this collection, which includes not only the first two albums in their entirety, but bonus material as well.

Songs were recorded between February 1985 and May of 1988 in Los Angeles, CA.

 

Little America:

Mike Magrisi - Lead Vocals, Bass

Andy Logan - Lead And Rhythm Guitars, Lead Vocals

John Hussey - Rhythm And Lead Guitars, Vocals

Kurt Custer - Drums, Percussion, Vocals

 

The 2CD set LITTLE AMERICA ‘Anthology’ will be released by MelodicRock Classics March 25, with Pre-orders and advance digital delivery available in February.

 

Track Listing:

Disc 1:

01. You Were Right

02. That’s The Way It Stays

03. Walk On Fire

04. Perfect World

05. Lost Along The Way (Original Version)

06. Lies

07. Walk The Land

08. Heroes

09. Underground

10. Out Of Bounds

11. Conversations

12. Standin’ On Top (Original Version)

13. You Were Right (Live)

14. Heroes (Live)

15. Perfect World (Live)

16. That's The Way It Stays (Live)

17. Walk On Fire (Live)

Disc 2:

01. Do You Feel

02. Where Were You

03. The Cast Shadows

04. Save Me

05. MaryJane

06. Never Be Alone

07. Fairgrounds

08. I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better

09. Changing Tune

10. I See Your Face

11. It’s Not Me

12. Walk On Fire (Alternative Version)

13. Standin’ On Top (Album Version)

14. Lost Along The Way (Album Version)

15. We Can Overcome (Previously Unreleased)

16. Visions Never Ending (Previously Unreleased)

17. Can’t You See (Previously Unreleased)

18. Returning (Previously Unreleased)

19. Caught In The Rain (Previously Unreleased)

20. Now And Forever (Previously Unreleased)

21. She Moves Like Lightning (Previously Unreleased)

 

 

 

Edited February 10 by Stefan

[CureTheSane]

Excellent
Have never been able to get Fairgrounds digitally
I still have the LP (one of only a few)

[Crazysam]

Nice, they lean a little more on the pop rock side, kind of along the lines of a band like The Outfield.  I always thought they had several good songs across those two albums.  I especially enjoyed the debut, which I believe Paul Sabu had some involvement with.  This looks like a nice set too with some unreleased material included.

[melodicrock]

Sabu produced the second album in full. He produced the band's debut single, Walk On Fire too. He produced 2 more tracks from the debut, which was dumped for a different versions on the final album. All tracks included on this set!

[Whatever Happened To Fun?]

Excited for this. There good songs are great. Others I can do with out. Tend to like the 2nd album more than the first.

[Stefan]

Another unreleased song.

 

 

[CureTheSane]

I was always pretty closed minded to unreleased songs.
There were always a few - Maiden's Rainbows Gold and Reach Out for example. Or Europe's On BRoken Wings, Bon Jovi's Edge Of A Broken Heart - by generally, if they didn't make the cut in the first place, they were pretty average songs.

Then Mike Tramp released Songs I Left Behind, and that was an amazing collection of stuff that should never have been skipped, so now I'm more open to unrelesed stuff, but still a bit wary I guess.

[Stefan]

Another 'new' song 'We Can Overcome'.