It must have taken a great deal of gumption, not to mention youthful hubris, for Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek to name their band America - as if three teenaged army brats abroad in England could have possibly captured the spirit of their home country in all its complexities.  Yet, capture that spirit the trio did, and today, some 47 years after they first entered the studio, America is still making music.  Yet Beckley and Bunnell have happily been looking back on recent releases such as Archives Vol. 1 and Lost and Found, and now with their latest vault title.  Heritage: Home Recordings/Demos 1970-1973 has arrived from Omnivore Recordings (OVCD-240), and like the first Archives, it flashes back to the band's early days, when anything was possible and the band's soon-to-be-familiar folk-rock style wasn't yet fully formed.

Any trip through the America vaults is a pleasurable one, and this set is no exception as it journeys through the group's earliest days that yielded three classic studio albums: America (1971), Homecoming (1972) and Hat Trick (1973).  (One track on this set, however, didn't appear in finished form until 1977's Harbor.)  All but six of the collection's tracks are previously unreleased, with the previously released material culled from Rhino's out-of-print 2000 box set Highway: 30 Years of America as well as two songs reprised from Archives Vol. 1.

"Riverside," the Dewey Bunnell-penned opening track off America, is as rhythmic and inviting as ever in the 1970 demo recorded at London's Chalk Farm Studios.  Seven demos have been plucked from those sessions.  Gerry Beckley's dreamy "Here" soars as presented with just three voices and six-string guitars blissfully joining together.  These demos are rawer, and less polished, than the eventual studio versions, but strikingly capture the essence of the songs.  "Where will we be tomorrow," they wonder in song on "Here."  Could he have possibly predicted the longevity of the band at one of their first sessions?  Also previewing their debut album are demos of Peek's soulful "Rainy Day" and imploring "Donkey Jaw," the latter in its working title of "Satan" and in greatly stripped-down form but with searing electric guitar from Peek.  A hidden track preserves the band's a cappella vocals for the chart-topping "Horse with No Name," one of the most goosebump-raising moments on this set.  (It's also extended, so listen all the way through!)

Only one song on Heritage made it to sophomore album Homecoming, but it was a doozy.  Bunnell's impressionistic "Ventura Highway" is still one of America's signature songs, and it's a thrill to hear this early take of the top 10 hit taped at the Record Plant in 1972 with the Wrecking Crew's Hal Blaine and Joe Osborn on drums and bass, respectively.  (They played on the final version, as well.)  The tempo and background harmonies aren't nailed yet, and the inclusion of studio chatter furthers the fly-on-the-wall experience of listening to this embryonic reading of a future classic.

Three songs made the cut for third LP Hat Trick.  Beckley's piano-and-vocals demo of the wistful ballad "Goodbye" in its 1972 Buzz Studios demo is truly lovely without drums, percussion and the fuller instrumentation and production afforded its subsequent album version.  The same goes for Bunnell's "Wind Wave."  Its unfinished, acoustic performance is crisp and spare, but one can see how the demo's raw power inspired the subsequent, fleshed-out version.  Another Bunnell tune, "Rainbow Song," is engaging in its down-home demo, even without the light bossa guitar-piano-and-percussion sound that graced the album version.

Beckley's "Monster," heard here in a solo demo, was held until 1977's Harbor to make an appearance on an America LP, but a number of songs on Heritage didn't make it to any of the band's albums at all.  From the Chalk Farm demo sessions, Peek contributed the story-song "James Holladay."  Bunnell penned the funky, uptempo "How Long" and the evocative if seemingly not fully developed "Mitchum Junction."  An unknown drummer supports the trio on this track from Los Angeles' Buzz Studios in 1972.  Beckley authored "Sea of Destiny," a haunting relationship drama which, like many of America's best songs, juxtaposes ballad sections with rock.  Perhaps more than anything else, it's the band's tight interplay and already-crisp musicianship that shines through on these early performances.  Beckley's natural gift for beautiful harmonies is in evidence on the tantalizing, brief fragment "When I Was Five" featuring his own multi-tracked vocals, and on his solo demo of "Man of Pride," co-written with longtime musician and onetime Lost in Space star Bill Mumy.

Heritage, lovingly curated by Omnivore's Brad Rosenberger and singer-songwriter-America associate Jeff Larson, has been mastered by Michael Romanowski, and all of these rough-hewn demos sound stellar.   The compact disc is housed in a digipak attractively designed by Greg Allen.  Brief liner notes by a reflective Dewey Bunnell are included in the insert.  Much has been made of the comparisons between early America and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; while some comparisons are certainly valid, it's also clear from the material on Heritage that both bands drew from the same well of inspirations.  This illuminating trip down Ventura Highway is not to be missed.

Heritage: Home Recordings/Demos 1970-1973 is available at Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada!