America

America is the eponymous debut album by America, released in 1971. It was initially released without "A Horse with No Name", which had not yet been recorded. When "Horse" became a worldwide hit in early 1972, the album was re-released with that track.
The album went to #1 on the Billboard album chart in the US and stayed there for five weeks. It produced two hit singles; "A Horse with No Name" spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard singles chart in 1972 (it peaked at #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart), and "I Need You" hit #9 on the Billboard singles chart and #7 on the AC chart. Several other songs received radio airplay on FM stations playing album tracks, including "Sandman" (long rumoured in the US Navy to be about the VQ-2 air squadron formerly based in Rota, Spain) and "Three Roses". The album was certified platinum by the RIAA for sales in excess of one million units in the US.
In his Allmusic review music critic David Cleary called the band's debut album a "folk-pop classic" and concluded, "In spite of its flaws, this platter is very highly recommended."