Editing America (band) (section)

===Return to basics (1985–1998)===
Beckley and Bunnell spent the latter half of the 1980s focusing on their live show, performing well over 100 times a year around the world. While America remained a hot ticket on the touring circuit, they were unable to land a recording contract in the years after they left the Capitol label.

By the early 1990s, the development of compact discs led to the reissuing of many older popular albums, providing acts such as America with revived sales. During 1991, America was able to offer four new tracks as part of a collection issued by [[Rhino Records]] called ''[[Encore: More Greatest Hits (America album)|Encore: More Greatest Hits]]'', which was designed to complement the group's original 1975 retrospective.

America's resurgence caught the eye of [[Chip Davis]] of [[American Gramaphone]] Records, who signed the group to his label. In May 1994, America released its first new studio album in a decade, ''[[Hourglass (America album)|Hourglass]]''. Produced primarily by Beckley and Bunnell, with help from [[Hank Linderman]] and [[Steve Levine]], the album featured an eclectic group of songs. Despite garnering generally positive reviews, the album was a commercial failure.

During 1995, Beckley delivered his debut solo album. Entitled ''Van Go Gan'', the album experimented with various styles and sounds. Comedian [[Phil Hartman]] (who during his career as a graphic artist had designed several America album covers) was featured as the voice of a [[televangelist]] preacher on ''Playing God''. Although it was named as one of the top-10 music CDs of the year in Japan in 1995, the album was not released outside Japan until four years later.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accessbackstage.com/america/album/album22.htm |title=Album Tracks: Van Go Gan |publisher=Accessbackstage.com |date=1 September 2008 |access-date=26 August 2015}}</ref>

America fans were also treated to a concert album in 1995. Released by the King Biscuit Flower Hour Records, Inc., the concert was actually taken from a 1982 instalment of the ''[[King Biscuit Flower Hour]]'' radio show. Known as ''[[In Concert (King Biscuit) (America album)|In Concert]]'' (not to be confused with the [[In Concert (1985 America album)|1985 Capitol release]] of the same name), King Biscuit experienced modest success with the album (though America themselves did not; it failed to break the charts).

This success resulted in a new record deal with King Biscuit's subsidiary label, Oxygen Records. After rumours that [[Steely Dan]] producer [[Gary Katz]] would produce the project came and went, the album eventually reached stores in September 1998. The new album, entitled ''[[Human Nature (America album)|Human Nature]]'' after the name of Beckley's home recording studio, was accompanied by a modest commercial blitz. The first single, Beckley's ''From a Moving Train'', featured a strongly acoustic style. The track received considerable airplay and moderate success in [[adult contemporary music|adult contemporary]] formats. Reports{{by whom|date=July 2022}} claimed that the song was a major success in the popular charts in Spain. A second attempt at a single in ''Wednesday Morning'' was somewhat less successful. The album failed to garner the sales that Oxygen was expecting and America was once again without a record deal.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}