Jesse Colin Young always provided a portrait of his personal viewpoint and a reflection on the overall state of things on his albums, and
American Dreams was his musical statement circa the late '70s, which meant that several of its songs were set to a disco beat, and
Young's listeners were alerted that he had moved to Hawaii. The album's second side purported to be an ambitious musical piece, the 17½-minute "American Dreams Suite," but turned out to be a series of song fragments conflating
Young's musical autobiography ("City Boy") with a mini-history of recent times including the optimism of the '60s ("Music in the Streets"), the uncertainty of the '70s ("Can We Carry on the Dream"), and such contemporary political issues as the fight against nuclear power ("Sanctuary"), ending with an appeal to responsibility ("What If We Stay"). Doubtless it was all sincerely intended, but
Young lacked the writing and performing talent to sustain such a large work, and it came off as a group of engaging and earnest, if vague, songs.