America announced an eight-disc box set titled Half Century to mark the band’s 50th anniversary. It will be released in early June.

The collection will include a book, replica posters and memorabilia, along with a series of previously unreleased demos, album outtakes and home movies.

The first disc contains unreleased demos recorded in 1970, before the band secured a record contract; the second disc includes a recording from Bremen, Germany, from 1973, which includes the “unedited studio banter,” according to a press release.

The next three discs contain unreleased tracks from the sessions relating to 1976’s Hideaway, 1982’s View from the Ground, 1994’s Hourglass and 1998’s Human Nature. The sixth and seventh discs feature radio interviews from 1974 to 2000 that offer a “unique overview to their long career” while Disc 8, a DVD, contains “previously unreleased footage from the band’s personal archive” between 1972 and 1975.

“I think that the ingredients of the America sound are the basic fundamentals that translate internationally,” the group's co-founder Gerry Beckley said. “The Italians are huge fans of dance music, but they also love a ballad – they're romantic at heart. It's the same in the Far East. A lot of times in these countries, we see people singing along, and they don't really know what the words mean. Music is truly the international language.”

Half Century set is available for pre-order now. You can watch a trailer for the box below.

America, ‘Half Century’ Box Set Listing
Disc 1: London Demos 1970 (all previously unreleased)
Disc 2: Bremen 1973
Disc 3: The Caribou Sessions (all previously unreleased)
Disc 4: The Poison Oak Sessions 1981 (all previously unreleased)
Disc 5: The Alternative ‘90s Plus (all previously unreleased)
Discs 6 & 7: America on the Radio
Disc 8 – DVD: Home Movies (all previously unreleased)

 

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