Marking
it’s 55th anniversary today is the “one and done” eponymous album by
‘60s psychedelic rebels, The United States of America, which was
released on March 6th, 1968. Though the group only released this single
LP, it has become one of the most revered cult records to come from the
psychedelic era.
In 1963, aspiring avant-garde composer and
musician, Joseph Byrd, was in New York, studying music and participating
in the Fluxus experimental music movement along with contemporaries
such as John Cage, Morton Feldman, LaMonte Young, David Tudor & Yoko
Ono. While there, he met vocalist and fellow music student, Dorothy
Moskowitz. The two began a personal and professional partnership which
would see them relocate to LA later that year.
After a time,
Byrd, who was rather politically motivated and had joined the Communist
party, decided that popular music, specifically the more psychedelic
rock of the late 1960s, would be a suitable vehicle for him to express
his musical visions while also communicating his radical political
views. To this end, he recruited 3 additional band members to augment
his various electronic keyboards and Dorothy’s vocals. The band
coalesced with the addition of Gordon Marron (electric violin, ring
modulator), Rand Forbes (electric bass) and Craig Woodson (electric
drums, percussion).
Byrd chose the name of the band for
deliberately provocative purposes, reasoning that it was similar to
hanging the flag upside-down, as a symbol of distress and to draw
attention to the problems facing the country. The band’s structure was
unusual for the time not only for the emphasis on the then emerging new
electronic instruments (synths, percussion and ring modulators, etc),
but also for its lack of guitars. With no real experience creating
“rock” music, Byrd went into composing and arranging the album with the
sensibilities of a contemporary, experimental classical composer,
something he later regretted due to his naivety. However, the resulting
recordings were striking in their strangeness and unique approach to
the genre.
At the time of its release, the album gained little
traction and the group quickly disintegrated in a frazzle of personality
clashes and musical differences as they each pulled in different
directions. This even went as far as petty instances of “volume wars”
between musicians on stage and fisticuffs after shows. The group duly
disbanded and it’s members pretty much all went on to more rewarding
careers. Byrd initially regrouped as Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies,
releasing the LP, The American Metaphysical Circus (1969). The album
revamped a number of songs and themes from the USA album, even taking
those ideas further in some cases, but he then went on to do film and TV
scores and teaching. Moskowitz also took up teaching and making
children’s music while the remaining members went on to have moderately
successful session musician careers.
It would be years later
that the album would be recognized for its truly pioneering approach and
incorporation of cutting edge electronic instrumentation, along with
groups like Silver Apples. Personally, I discovered a vintage copy of
the LP in 1983, shortly after moving to Vancouver. I was sharing a
rental house with some band mates and the manager of the property had a
small garage in the backyard which was filled with his massive record
collection. It was wall to wall, floor to ceiling, packed with shelves
full of thousands of albums. He took a liking to us being musicians and
gave us free access to search through and borrow records. The United
States of America stood out for me immediately when I looked at the
cover and saw pictures of the electronics. I was not disappointed by
what I heard. I recorded a few songs from it on reel to reel, but it
wasn’t until 2004 that I finally got a CD copy and had a chance to enjoy
the album in all its remastered glory. That reissue also featured
numerous alternate takes, outtakes and demos. I wouldn’t discover
Byrd’s 1969 Metaphysical Circus album until 2019, however.
Today,
it persists as a distinct product of a strange time. For it to continue
to stand out against the backdrop of so many other musical achievements
of that era is truly remarkable.
