Post by Swamp Gas on Jan 20, 2004 17:28:03 GMT -5
One of the two bands (White Noise being the other) to start ensemble electronic bands in 1967.
Very trippy!
Recommended, especially "Garden of Earthly Delights"
home.earthlink.net/~tfronauer/united_states.html
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002Y3P/ref=cm_rev_next/102-7883282-6880917?v=glance&s=music&vi=customer-reviews&show=-submittime&start-at=11
Here's a few reviews of perhaps THE most psychedelic music ever:
Very trippy!
Recommended, especially "Garden of Earthly Delights"
home.earthlink.net/~tfronauer/united_states.html
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002Y3P/ref=cm_rev_next/102-7883282-6880917?v=glance&s=music&vi=customer-reviews&show=-submittime&start-at=11
Here's a few reviews of perhaps THE most psychedelic music ever:
When I bought this early in '68, after seeing an ad in Eye magazine [for it and the first albums by Spirit, the Electric Flag, and Blood, Sweat & Tears], I found it
immediately appealing. Though the USofA wasn't the most listened to album in my collection, I always looked forward fondly to the next session. Dorothy
Moskovitz's voice makes you feel like you are being held in the arms of someone who loves you, and whom you are loving back. That's very rare for a performer. I
can't explain it, and didn't really figure it out 'til now, 30 years later, but it's always been that kind of feeling. It's perfectly matched by all the poetry generated by the
musical instruments and the lyrics [no matter what the emotional tone or meaning]. Some of this is absolutely heart-melting stuff.
Even the hard satire is gently tempered by the music . . . it was a big help, really, to be able to handle it, and all the real-life equivalents like the war, race riots,
rednecks hating hippies, seeming social and political duplicity everywhere, and so on. This music [in some undiscoverable way?] served as a kind of sanctuary.
The introductory song "American Metaphysical Circus" echoes/distills elements found prominently in 'Sgt. Pepper's', as well as Procol Harum's magnum opus "In
Held Was I". It is a fitting introduction, as being exposed to this record is like being at the circus, but also at an art gallery, in a temple, or at a concert or poetry
reading in a large, beautiful auditorium. It's also like watching horrible events on the evening news, or sitting down with the family at dinner under either friendly or
contentious circumstances, or both. It really is all these things at once, skillfully woven into an exquisite musical tapestry.
"Cloud Song" is like spiritual next-of-kin to the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Little Wing" . . . softer, less brazen, but no less moving.
The nearly elegaic "Love Song for the Dead Che" is probably the most beautifully done love song I have ever heard. Somehow loss and love together make for a
powerful mix.
All the [at the time newfangled] synthesizer sounds never seem intrusive. Maybe because they are being played by very expressive classically-trained musicians, they
often outdo their usual acoustic counterparts by a large margin. The all-electronic introduction to "Cloud Song" is full of unbelievable warmth and other [probably]
unnamable qualities. Both this song, and "Che" make a person feel more glad to be alive.
Words can't really do justice to any of the songs, nor how they have all been put together. It's funny, the album always seemed like it had so perfectly, completely made its statement that there would be no need for a follow-up
immediately appealing. Though the USofA wasn't the most listened to album in my collection, I always looked forward fondly to the next session. Dorothy
Moskovitz's voice makes you feel like you are being held in the arms of someone who loves you, and whom you are loving back. That's very rare for a performer. I
can't explain it, and didn't really figure it out 'til now, 30 years later, but it's always been that kind of feeling. It's perfectly matched by all the poetry generated by the
musical instruments and the lyrics [no matter what the emotional tone or meaning]. Some of this is absolutely heart-melting stuff.
Even the hard satire is gently tempered by the music . . . it was a big help, really, to be able to handle it, and all the real-life equivalents like the war, race riots,
rednecks hating hippies, seeming social and political duplicity everywhere, and so on. This music [in some undiscoverable way?] served as a kind of sanctuary.
The introductory song "American Metaphysical Circus" echoes/distills elements found prominently in 'Sgt. Pepper's', as well as Procol Harum's magnum opus "In
Held Was I". It is a fitting introduction, as being exposed to this record is like being at the circus, but also at an art gallery, in a temple, or at a concert or poetry
reading in a large, beautiful auditorium. It's also like watching horrible events on the evening news, or sitting down with the family at dinner under either friendly or
contentious circumstances, or both. It really is all these things at once, skillfully woven into an exquisite musical tapestry.
"Cloud Song" is like spiritual next-of-kin to the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Little Wing" . . . softer, less brazen, but no less moving.
The nearly elegaic "Love Song for the Dead Che" is probably the most beautifully done love song I have ever heard. Somehow loss and love together make for a
powerful mix.
All the [at the time newfangled] synthesizer sounds never seem intrusive. Maybe because they are being played by very expressive classically-trained musicians, they
often outdo their usual acoustic counterparts by a large margin. The all-electronic introduction to "Cloud Song" is full of unbelievable warmth and other [probably]
unnamable qualities. Both this song, and "Che" make a person feel more glad to be alive.
Words can't really do justice to any of the songs, nor how they have all been put together. It's funny, the album always seemed like it had so perfectly, completely made its statement that there would be no need for a follow-up
When I first heard this album in high school back in 1968, I was immediately drawn to its' exotic, experimental sound. The entire album held together with an enjoyable, mind-expanding collage of sounds. The songs "Garden of Earthly Delights," and "Coming Down" obsessed me. Rediscovering the album now, over thirty years later on CD, has reinforced my original opinion of this masterpiece. Interweaving sounds and lyric "tasting of ergot," the album was/is a timeless multi-media production. "Where is Yesterday?" ask these musical geniuses, prophetically writing "Here is something gone you cannot find it anymore." This level of creativity is certainly gone from the current music scene. Hopefully new musical geniuses will hear this CD. It's a kind of futuristic gem, a musical time capsule circa 1968, to inspire a new hope and confidence in what is creatively possible.
The United States of America was, along with the Doors and Jimi Hendrix, one of the most played "alternative" rock albums when alternative rock meant something. After the 60's, some of these albums made it into the classic pantheon, others, just as good, like USA, are obscure.
In 1968, 99% of the rock stations refused to play this because it was too good, too topical, too loud, too literate, too weird and, well, too psychedelic. Only low power college stations played it and boy, did they ever! Over and over all night!
Dorothy Moskowitz had (has?) a voice with the beauty and power of the Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick. Dorothy, it's good to hear from you. You were great, why did you stop?
USA, with their synthesizer and distortion violin and without lead guitar goes where no album had gone before and few since. The first rock album to make extensive use of synthesizer as a lead instrument. This was the first and as far as I know the ONLY rock album ever released on the prestigeous classical Columbia Masterworks label.
Commander America said, "The US of A was...the most successful attempt to simulate the mental and bodily sensations of certain popular intoxicants of the Sixties".
To be appreciated it MUST BE HEARD THROUGH HEADPHONES. "Hard Coming Love" hops around your head like a rattlesnake on a skillet in an attempt to simulate an orgasm between your ears!
Full of musical and literary references, Byrd often sounds like late Charles Ives repeatedly quoting "Columbia the Gem of the Ocean". "Steppenwolf" (the book by Hesse, not the band) "the cost of one admission is your mind". "Winnie the Pooh". The visions of Hironymous Bosch's, "Garden of Earthly Delight" where Bryd descibes what he sees inside his girlfriends eyes.
"Song for Dead Che" a beautiful ballad, "Agnus Dei" which compares the aftermath of love and memory to a nuclear blast "shadows on the pavement but no bodies do you find". "Coming Down". Don't be scared by Byrd's lead-off vehement anti-war diatribe about the military industrial complex, the "American Metaphysical Circus".
From beginning to end a lost classic of the sixties. Alternately lyrical, thought provoking, excessive, paranoid, beautiful, raucous, US of A is a classic with a short half-life which repeatedly appears and disappears from the marketplace. This is the real sixties, not the "Peace and Love - Flower Power" you usually hear about.
get it while you can. five stars, my highest rating. a classic
In 1968, 99% of the rock stations refused to play this because it was too good, too topical, too loud, too literate, too weird and, well, too psychedelic. Only low power college stations played it and boy, did they ever! Over and over all night!
Dorothy Moskowitz had (has?) a voice with the beauty and power of the Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick. Dorothy, it's good to hear from you. You were great, why did you stop?
USA, with their synthesizer and distortion violin and without lead guitar goes where no album had gone before and few since. The first rock album to make extensive use of synthesizer as a lead instrument. This was the first and as far as I know the ONLY rock album ever released on the prestigeous classical Columbia Masterworks label.
Commander America said, "The US of A was...the most successful attempt to simulate the mental and bodily sensations of certain popular intoxicants of the Sixties".
To be appreciated it MUST BE HEARD THROUGH HEADPHONES. "Hard Coming Love" hops around your head like a rattlesnake on a skillet in an attempt to simulate an orgasm between your ears!
Full of musical and literary references, Byrd often sounds like late Charles Ives repeatedly quoting "Columbia the Gem of the Ocean". "Steppenwolf" (the book by Hesse, not the band) "the cost of one admission is your mind". "Winnie the Pooh". The visions of Hironymous Bosch's, "Garden of Earthly Delight" where Bryd descibes what he sees inside his girlfriends eyes.
"Song for Dead Che" a beautiful ballad, "Agnus Dei" which compares the aftermath of love and memory to a nuclear blast "shadows on the pavement but no bodies do you find". "Coming Down". Don't be scared by Byrd's lead-off vehement anti-war diatribe about the military industrial complex, the "American Metaphysical Circus".
From beginning to end a lost classic of the sixties. Alternately lyrical, thought provoking, excessive, paranoid, beautiful, raucous, US of A is a classic with a short half-life which repeatedly appears and disappears from the marketplace. This is the real sixties, not the "Peace and Love - Flower Power" you usually hear about.
get it while you can. five stars, my highest rating. a classic
How else can you explain the sheer brilliance and vision of this album? Way before Portishead, Broadcast and the whole trip hop revolution, this album managed to perfectly combine lush orchestral pop with experimental electronics and beautiful song writing. I won't go into details about how every song is great and why, but suffice it to say that the album is a real "trip". You start out at one place and end up in another and aren't quite the same. The last few minutes of the album are truly modern. The entire album sampled and played back to an lush filmic score as an end credit dream sequence.
Political footnote:
This album is a true product of it's time. I was watching a documentary last night on "the 60s" and just thought "My God, what has happened to America?" Where has all that passion and experimentation gone? When did we all get so passive and uninspired? 2,000,000 Americans marched to protest Vietnam. All the great social movements grew out of this time. People changed the future. You can hear that in this album.
Political footnote:
This album is a true product of it's time. I was watching a documentary last night on "the 60s" and just thought "My God, what has happened to America?" Where has all that passion and experimentation gone? When did we all get so passive and uninspired? 2,000,000 Americans marched to protest Vietnam. All the great social movements grew out of this time. People changed the future. You can hear that in this album.