Hourglass is the thirteenth original studio album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

 duo America

America (band)

America is an English-American folk rock band that originally included members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. The three members were barely out of their teens when they became a musical sensation during 1972, scoring #1 hits and winning a Grammy for best new musical artist...

, released by American Gramaphone

American Gramaphone

American Gramaphone is an American record company, and was formed in 1974 by Chip Davis. It is best-known for releasing Davis' solo and Mannheim Steamroller albums...

 in 1994 (see 1994 in music

1994 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1994.-January–February:*January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so....

). This was America's first new studio album since 1984's "Perspective". Two singles were released from the album, "Young Moon" and "Hope" but neither charted in the US, though they did receive some airplay in Europe. The song "Hope" became a theme song for the TJ Martell Foundation and was recorded by a group of country music stars in a fundraising effort for the Foundation. The recording of "You Can Do Magic" included here is not the hit version but a re-recording that is very similar.

It is the first America album since the departure of Dan Peek

Dan Peek

Daniel Milton 'Dan' Peek was a musician best known as a member of the rock band America from 1970 to 1977, together with Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell...

 to resume the tradition of giving their albums titles beginning with "H", which had been their practice from Homecoming to Harbor. All subsequent America albums have continued this tradition.

Actor/musician Bill Mumy

Bill Mumy

Charles William "Bill" Mumy, Jr. is an American actor, musician, pitchman, instrumentalist, voice-over artist and a figure in the science-fiction community. He is known primarily for his work as a child television actor....

 contributed to this album, co-writing 'Sleeper Train' and 'Greenhouse' and providing additional guitar work.

Reception

Allmusic gave a resoundingly positive review of the album, asserting that it "sounds both familiar and fresh" and that the songs are uniformly excellent, a surprise for a band as old as America. They particularly noted that the opening track "Young Moon" "is as good as any of the group's hits."

Track listing

1. "Young Moon"
2. "Hope"
3. "Sleeper Train"
4. "Mirror To Mirror"
5. "Garden Of Peace"
6. "Call Of The Wild"
7. "Whole Wide World"
8. "Close To The Wind"
9. "Greenhouse"
10. "Ports-Of-Call"
11. "Everyone I Meet Is From California" (Dan Peek) (new recording)
12. "You Can Do Magic" (new recording)