America with Christopher Cross - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 3-24-2005

Here's another episode of the great TV series "PBS Soundstage." This one features the band America.

Note that there's a guest star on this, like there are on many episodes of this show. This time, it's Christopher Cross. However, his role is relatively minor compared to other guest appearances on the show. He didn't sing any songs on his own. Instead, he helped sing two big America hits, "Lonely People" and "A Horse with No Name."

When the band was formed in 1970, it consisted of three singer-songwriters: Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek. But Peek left in 1977 never to return, concentrating on a career with Christian music instead. So by the time of this concert, the band was a duo of Beckley and Bunnell. By 2005, their hits were long behind them and they'd turned into a well-honed oldies act. They would have a comeback with a well-received new album in 2007, but that hadn't happened at the time of this concert.

So one gets all the expected hits from the band's heyday in the 1970s and 80s. Although this show is unreleased as an audio album, it has been released on DVD, which is why this episode is longer than the show's usual one hour time. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and 16 minutes long. 

01 Riverside (America)
02 Ventura Highway (America)
03 You Can Do Magic (America)
04 talk (America)
05 Don't Cross the River (America)
06 Daisy Jane (America)
07 talk (America)
08 The Last Unicorn (America)
09 I Need You (America)
10 Head and Heart (America)
11 Till the Sun Comes Up Again (America)
12 Tin Man (America)
13 talk (America)
14 Muskrat Love (America)
15 talk (America)
16 The Border (America)
17 talk (America)
18 Woman Tonight (America)
19 Only in Your Heart (America)
20 talk (America)
21 California Dreamin' (America)
22 talk (America)
23 Lonely People (America with Christopher Cross)
24 Sandman (America)
25 Sister Golden Hair (America)
26 All My Life (America)
27 A Horse with No Name (America with Christopher Cross) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/2xwcW7Gx

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/EeqBz8ePGjYm0CA/file 

The cover image is from this exact concert. 

Freedonia - The Secret Side Project of Christopher Cross, 2018-2021- Freedonia (2018-2021) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

With my big VH-1 Storytellers project done, this is a good time for another Mike Solof guest post. He actually has a handful of albums that he's getting ready, but this is the first one to be finalized.

Do you remember singer-songwriter Christopher Cross? He had some big hits in the early 1980s, like "Sailing," "Ride like the Wind," and "Arthur's Theme (Best You Can Do)." His commercial sales declined quite a lot after that, but he kept putting out new music and touring. In 2018, he joined a local band in Austin, Texas, called Freedonia. This band put out a studio album in 2018, another one in 2019, and an EP in 2021 (though it was actually recorded back in 2018 and 2019). Mike has noted this has basically been a secret side project for Cross, because he hasn't put his name on the record covers (even though he does all the lead vocals and most of the songwriting), and the band apparently only performs concerts in the Austin area. It seems to be a labor of love.

Mike has put together a compilation of what he considers the best of Freedonia's music. So if you haven't heard of this band, and you probably haven't, this is a good way to check them out. It's a kind of jazz rock that sounds a lot like Steely Dan. As usual, Mike has included a PDF file that gives his thoughts plus some photos.

Oh, and there's an interesting bonus track. Most people don't know that Cross is actually a really talented lead guitarist too. His 1980 hit "Ride like the Wind" has a ripping guitar solo at the end of the song that was buried deep down in the mix. But with advances in audio software, that solo has been brought up in the mix. So that's the bonus track. (By the way, there's a whole YouTube video by Rick Beato taking about that very solo that you should check out.)

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 Enjoy the Show (Freedonia)
02 Leaving It Up to the Moon (Freedonia)
03 Firefly (Freedonia)
04 Bring Back the Dinosaurs (Freedonia)
05 The Lost River [Instrumental] (Freedonia)
06 Gone So Long (Freedonia)
07 The World Is Broken (Freedonia)
08 Van the Bluesman (Freedonia)
09 Westeros [Instrumental] (Freedonia)
10 When All is Said and Done (Freedonia)
11 You'll Go It Alone (Freedonia)
12 Soweto (Freedonia)
13 FBI (Freedonia)
14 Ride like the Wind [Remix] (Christopher Cross)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17209091/CHRISTPHRCRSS2018-2021ScrtSdePrjctFredna_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/gH1tkEuk

The cover photo was taken from a Christopher Cross website. It shows the Freedonia band playing in a small club. Cross is the one wearing the hat.