The United States Of America

Oh yey another 60s album but this one over an hour long, starts badly and slowly gets going but ends up being nothing substantial

crazy that this album was so ahead of its time that even now, 60 years later, it's still complete shit

Woah... this is very easily one of the best albums I've ever heard in my entire life. When I saw the cover and name of the band I had originally assumed it would be another rock record from the late 60's that would come and go for me but I was so wrong. The way this self titled record of a band named after The United States Of America is targeting all the government corruption, problems with this system, and speaking on the general evils of the nation hits really hard. What's crazy is how well this album from 1968 stands up to this day. Sonically, this project has some of the trippiest elements in it. Easily one of the best pioneering psychedelic albums out there for sure.

1001 albums to ragebait you before you die of an aneurysm listening to them

Really cool that this album made the cut. I actually came across this a few years ago and have been loving it ever since. It is the exact amount of weirdness I want in a psychedelic album. I get why people rate this low, but if you are ready for a trip then you'll have a great time. Music doesn't always need to be 'pleasant.' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This album was definitely weird (mostly psychedelic, some rock and electronic elements). There was a lot going on, and it was very eerie and unsettling for the most part. I guess I liked that part of it, the mystery and unease of it all. For example, "The American Metaphysical Circus" started off kind of cheesy with a circus-style instrumental, but then the vocals kicked in and they were dark (it was probably my favorite part of the whole album). I would say the music was interesting and unique and is another level of psychedelia.

3.4 Peaches and Lump must be on their other album\. A bit of a tough start but I got into this. Pretty cool psychedelic album (avant-garde in spots?)

Insufferable

Not an album I needed in my life.

wow so experimental, such avant-garde... actually kind of underrated. the first track isn't that awful, maybe a bit annoying in the vocals, which some later tracks make up for imo. i may not listen again but did not hate listening to this

Sloppy, nothing definitive. Some good moments, but their sound is best suited for ambient tracks. This is a bloated listen

Didn’t really feel it on this one. Some of the songs were like a temu version of Jefferson airplane, and the others were just trying to do too much

Although I’ve often read about this album, I’ve never actually listened to it before. This is a wild mix of electronic music, psychedelic rock and folk. I can immediately see why the album was only moderately successful at the time yet went on to become a cult classic and prove extremely influential. There’s so much going on that it will take you a long time to tire of listening to it. Therefore, this rating should be regarded as provisional.

Psych!!!!!!!

whatttt

First couple of tracks are a slog and I double checked I was listening to the right thing. Got slightly better in the middle but didn’t amount to much.

thought I would just see this as a foundational album based on the Wikipedia but the more I listened the more I actually liked it

This was pretty good! I liked all the varieties of instruments and how different some of the tracks sounded from each other. I will say I wasn’t a huge fan of the singing but it wasn’t too bad. I also feel like this record does not feel like it’s from the 60s tbh I thought it was late 2000s until I looked at the release date. Anyway I liked it I think I would listen again, 3.233/5

The american metaphysical circus - 3 Hard coming love - 3 Cloud song - 2 The garden of earthly delights - 3 I won't leave my wooden wife for you, sugar - 2 Where is yesterday - 3 Coming down - 3 Love song for the dead che - 2 Stranded in time - 3 The american way of love - 2

The first couple of tracks are awful, but it gets slightly better. I'm never going to listen to it again but if people are talking about it well I'm glad I can input to the conversation that I don't like it.

Listened before? No Familiar with the artist? No Thoughts: - After the first couple of songs this was going to be a 1 or 2. Thankfully it got better, or at least less offensive to the ears, as it went along. - Still not something I'm interested in listening to again, though I did like a lot of the lyrics.

An interesting introduction but the psychedelic (background-)sound destroys it for me completely. 1,5

It's hard to appreciate an experimental album when it leans a little too hard into the experimental side. This would have been better if they had tried to balance things out more with more pop-y, conventional sounds.

An interesting record. It has its own mood and time though.

can we have negative stars? That is really bad

Quite busy, gives one a feeling of walking through a festival or tivoli

Nice album, pretty weird as everything psychedelic from that era...

I have never listened to this record but have seen it pop up a few times here and there. Reviews seem to be either love it or hate it. That kind of thing is always exciting to hear for the first time. Definitely interesting. I sort of question the idea of making the opening track sound like a circus because I feel like that give you the wrong impression for the rest of the album. It's actually a lot less weird that you'd think after reading some of the reviews. I don't get the one star reviews, it's actually pretty standard psychedelic rock from the 60s. Sure the last song kind of goes off the rails a bit, the Number 9 comparisons are apt but at least this keeps some sort of semblance of structure to it. The electronics used were certainly novel at that point and they are well used for what they were in the 60s. I feel like they made a good album here and succeeded at what they were trying to accomplish. Overall I feel like this is a good album to include on this list because it is unique enough to sort of stand out but it isn't so weird that it is unrepresentative of the time or genre. 3.75/5.

This is what is played when a sad clown has an axe and a penchant for murder.

The United States of America is a strange amalgamation of musical experimentation where nobody seems to know what they’re playing, let alone how to play it, while simultaneously riding the coattails of their last LSD trip. I can’t imagine anyone intentionally putting this album on their record player. But hey, it was the psychedelic ’60s. Far out, man!

Typical 60's psychedlia with experimentation peppered throughout. Not sure why this is here with so much other unnecessary 60's psychedelic music available on this list.

Not vibing with this 2.4/5

First, I was disappointed because I thought it was The Presidents of the United States of America, and the noticed it's from the late 60s. Great, trippy hippy stuff... and tried to keep an open mind. The 1st track was WTF!? Glad to know that the whole album isn't a murder clown soundtrack. By track 4 I was kind of starting to dig it. It's a weird album, and I prefer the female vocalist but it's an interesting listen.

I you chose to open an album with atonal, and non-rythmic, fake, badly tuned radio sounds for that long, you really, really, need to provide something of value for the rest of the album. These guys did not. A mix between experimentation and even worse The Beatles immitations. Apparently avant-garde, but closer to tuneless.

Not really any songs as such. More performances. Very stroppy. I guess this is best consumed whilst chomping on a mushroom contemplating life

Movin' to the country, I'm gonna eat a lotta peaches...oh wait, different band. This isn't The Presidents of the United States of America, but The United States Of America still made some cool music before they dipped forever.

I was hoping for the Presidents of the United States of America, this is nothing like that, and it sucks

Somehow a really interesting album with some real bangers and also intensely annoying at other moments

I hate when Spotify lists all the songs from modern reissues because then it makes it seem a lot longer when in reality this album is just under 40 minutes. And those 40 minutes are really fun and creative, I definitely felt like I was tripping listening to this album and is a great example of psych rock. This album has aged a bit with production choices giving it an older sound especially with some of the vocal recordings and it did start a bit slow, but all in all fun listening

Both weird and good, but mostly weird. Nowhere near bad and I kinda get why it’s still listened to considering it came out well before similar sounding genres. Even then, can’t give more than a 3 at best

What an interesting album! So much variety in the songs, from rock to "circus" music to religious-like choir! And yet they all form a cohesive whole; leitmotivs are repeated throughout the journey in an intelligent fashion so as not to bore the listener. I'm very pleasantly surprised!

Nice

not terrible definitely quite strange though

I kind of liked it. Wild to create these sounds before there was proper electronic equipment. It's a bit hit and miss, but overall a positive experience and something that I would have never found without this list

Lejm, lejm, lejm. 1/5, 1/10

Oh, wow, I didn’t expect to see this one on the list. Back when I was a teenager burning holes in my pockets buying CDs, I was constantly hunting for anything worth hearing from the ’60s. This album kept showing up on “essential” lists online, so I bought it. What a weird journey that was, and today, not much has changed! It’s still a dark, wicked, odd bird of an album. So much about it is quintessentially ’60s. Leader Joseph Byrd was a member of the Communist Party USA, and his approach was basically to attack the image of America (the band’s name was deliberately provocative). The band didn’t last long: during their only tour, three members were busted for marijuana possession, leaving Byrd and singer Dorothy Moskowitz to play the show alone, and the group fell apart soon after. The end, except that the band’s impact on the foundations of electronic music and psychedelic rock was profound. Politics and image aside, that’s the part I like most. Byrd was a real innovator, using whatever he had on hand (homemade oscillators, ring modulators, electric drums and not a single guitar) to manipulate and completely whack out the sounds and vocals. Sometimes it’s obnoxious, but it usually works. I like these weird sounds on “Hard Coming Love”, even if the song is like an uglier version of early Jefferson Airplane. The experimental tracks are fine: a bit unsettling, but unlike anything their peers were doing. (Clown murder music, though? Someone hasn’t heard the real thing.) Some work better than others. “The American Way of Love” is pretty out there and captures the decay of American society well, while “The American Metaphysical Circus” is iconic, if a bit dated. Hilariously, the most memorable novelty here is the Dixieland jazz/vaudeville parody “I Won’t Leave My Wooden Wife for You, Sugar”. That’s even funnier considering Byrd was dismissive of Zappa, since this song recalls some of his nastier novelty tracks. (Byrd was apparently difficult to work with and a total control freak about his vision for the band.) It’s a shame, because they were capable of writing tender, unusual ballads like “Cloud Song” and “Love Song for the Dead Ché”, as well as awesome rockers like “The Garden of Earthly Delights”. I’d also like to give a shout-out to Moskowitz’s chilling vocals, which I really enjoy, and to Rand Forbes and Craig Woodson, who make a pretty killer rhythm section. Gordon Marron plays some wild licks, but his electric violin makes the songs more atonal than they need to be. Either way, it’s definitely a curious record: difficult, and often weighed down by some very stereotypical aspects of the ’60s (at least by today’s standards). But it must have sounded far ahead of its time when it came out, especially with all that modulation. It gets a 4 for innovation, but for listenability, it’s more like a 3. Glad I got to revisit it after all these years.

It’s like Stereolab before Stereolab! Broadcast before Broadcast! Not what I expected at all, strong start that doesn’t follow through as much all the way, but the highs are high.

Would have liked it better if the female vocalist had sung all the songs.

Probably won't put this on again, but a long, strange, trip of an album. 3/5

The United States Of America - интересный проект в истории музыки. Человека пришедшего не из мира рок'н'ролла, а скорее из мира академа, авангарда и считай научно-студенческих кругов. Оттого его музыка не опирается на блюзовую структуру и потому и звучит так причудливо! Ох, попадись мне этот альбом в детстве... Как же бы я зафанател. Это, буквально, эталон кислотной психоделии! Насколько мне известно, альбом частенько рассматривают на музыковедении и культурологии, как один из первых музыкальных альбомов с применением электронной музыки. Но не дайте себя обмануть, это не просто "музейный экспонат" для книжки, а вполне себе крутая работа! Некоторые вещи звучат тут нарочито "гимново" и помимо этой чудной, барочно-ярмарочной, цирковой атмосферы, альбом словно слегка подстёбывает собственное название "The United States of America" - поскольку, я почти уверен, что участники группы были довольно опозиционно настроены, учитывая коммунистические мотивы на пластинке. "Love Song For The Dead Che" В общем, это совершенно уникальная и крутая штука, очевидный бенгер тут "I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife Sugar" - я думаю, если бы не авангардная направленность всей пластинки, это вполне бы вписалось в чарты шестидесятых (чего там только не было в те годы) Мой персональный фаворит "The American Way Of Love" - шикарная композиция. Ну и да, Джозеф Бёрд что был, по сути, руководителем этого проекта (и к слову, ученым) особо не стал задерживаться в музыкальном бизнесе и музыке, и оставшуюся жизнь преподавал теорию музыки в университете... Ну что за чэд. How much fun it's been ... How much fun it's been ... How much fun it's been ...

The United States of America

Sadly the UK is better at prog rock than the USA.

Sounds like a mix of early Jefferson airplane/hot tuna and other 60s psychedelic.

Lite roligt med psych-rock!

really cool distinct sound, sticks out from this era

An odd one, but I kinda liked it.

I didn't enjoy listening to that although I can appreciate its innovative elements.

i appreciate the amount of risks they took and how individual it sounds, but the sound they made surely wasn't anything great

Some of this is very good but uneven. I like the female vocalists but I do wish psychedelic music didn’t keep shoving fairground music into songs… 3.5 rounded up so I remember it exists.

I genuinely don’t know how to describe this because I was constantly left wondering what I was actually listening because of how avant garde it is with its pioneering use of early electronic music in rock and the bizarre ways in which the songs themselves are arranged. However, it’s never too much to the point of it being bad but it’s not so tame as to not provoke any shock and awe of what’s happening. This is something you just gotta hear to understand and what happens when a communist starts a band named after communisms greatest enemy.

Not my thing.

Some solid bass work saved this from one-star territory.

Strange album, many of the songs sounded like a children’s toy that was low on batteries.

Not bad but to my ears, nothing special.

experimental scheis

I was initially excited for a band from 1968 that I hadn't heard of.... and then suddenly very not.

I understand the want to make weird music, experiment with sound and make avant-garde music, but I felt a serious lack of musical flow and correlation between songs in this album. Felt like a lot of random noise that my ears didn't like very much.

Had its moments but also much noice pollution. Fav track:”Stranded in time”

Wait kind of a vibe

There were elements that were interesting but ultimately this just suffered from lack of focus. Also, incorporation of circus music was very distracting. Not sure I would revisit this.

No me gustó en lo más mínimo. Sólo me pareció divertido que samplearon algunas marchas. Después, nada.

Was ok - all felt a bit banal. Suspect I may have missed something - maybe one to revisit

I'm in a bad mood and this album is making it worse. My God it's horrible. Make it stop

Album is way too long, not horrible songs but just way too long

I don't know if this album grew on me, or that the second half of the album was SIGNIFICANTLY better. Either way, the second half bought it an extra star from me. The first half had me thinking "This is what Jefferson Airplane would sound like if they sucked." Fortunately, that didn't last, and when they started doing something unique to their own band, I really enjoyed it ⭐⭐⭐

Bit harsh for me.

You're not Jefferson Airplane, you're rubbish. The atonality, production values and disinterested vocals really bored me so much I found myself skipping through this fairly short album

what the hell was that?! - that was a wild ride

I guess pure psychedelic music is just not for me.

An amuse bouche to a wider menu of psychedelic bands and sounds. It has so many flavors packed into the rather large bite.

A fascinating album that looks backward and forward in equal measures - ragtime and dixieland to anyone who would rediscover analog synths in the 90s all through a uniquely 60s era psychedelic lens. Like catching a wave - it can take a listen or two to understand where they are coming from. Not for the faint of heart but they live up to the name and makes me proud to be American. How much fun it's been... Be mindful that Spotify has the reissued album with an additional 10 songs. while interesting probably a but much for those struggling to just make it through the album proper.

Interesante

This was a pleasant surprise. Not something I'd listen to all of the time but some really interesting stuff. 4/5

Kind of whatever

Malo

6/10

They do an amazing job at being insufferable. Points for trying to do something different. 4/10

For anyone into experimental and 60s psychedelic music, this is definitely one of those top tier albums when it comes to forward thinking and innovation. While there are plenty of traditional instruments, the band really pushed the envelope by incorporating cutting edge electronic equipment like synthesizers and modulators. The production is where the real experimentation shines, with electronic effects, tape manipulation, layering, and anything else they could think of at the time.

Interesting for sure. Very experimental. A roller coaster of an album.

Avant garde but I actually liked it a lot. Whimsical and weird, sugar. Maybe a little heavy on the reprises but I also thought it was interesting. A bit Velvet Underground esque. Favorite tracks: I won’t leave my wooden wife for you, sugar. Coming down

No fav song

I thought this was The Presidents of the United States of America when I first saw it. Imagine my disappointment. Then I listened. It's not the Presidents but this is not bad, weird as shit, but once you get their weird it evens out. Like some song are more normal, my favorite are the ones that seem normal then veer hard into weird, then go back to normal. Not an album for radio basically. It's fun experiment but not one I'll listen to later honestly.

A fascist superpower.

“Mum, mum! Can we have Jefferson Airplane?” “We’ve got Jefferson Airplane at home.”

Bafflingly strange album that’s also surprisingly ahead of its time. While I admit that the first song is truly terrible for an intro, the album itself is very interesting conceptually. It’s very trippy, it’s got some ideas on Electronica that are clearly ahead of its time, and the guitar riffs work in sparse places. It’s very Pre-Prog adjacent, and I love it just as much as I hate it. If I were to discuss this album, it would be in equal terms with praise and criticism. So I’ll just speak whatever comes to my mind first about it. First, it’s too long. After 8 songs I’m already done with it and just want it to end. The singers don’t do much for me either. They’re a little basic and boring. Unrelated to the album itself but it’s shocking and upsetting to me that a better band didn’t take the name of The United States Of America. That could have been legendary. Why is this album on here?? Of all the US albums the Brit writing the book could have selected, I’m unsure why this one is here. I’m interested by this album, and I am glad I listened to it, but I don’t believe I absolutely had to listen to it. When it’s good, it’s just alright. Some trippy chords, some solid guitar, a lot of Prog aesthetics that I do like. But songs like “The American Metaphysical Circus” starting the album?? Just why, who would enjoy that. This is something that would probably work better in the background to listen to without focusing on it too hard. I might have to flip a coin on whether or not it’s a 2 or a 3. All that being said, I appreciate it for being so weird and different. Yes, it tried a LOT here, and yes, a LOOOOT of it did not work, but what did was very new and interesting. For that reason, my gut is telling me to give it a 3, surprisingly. No, I’m unlikely to return to it, but for what it is, sure, it’s interesting enough. It’s not as terrible as the other 2 star albums, besides the god damn circus music. That was unbearable. My favorite song this time was “The Garden Of Earthly Delights”. That was a fun song with legitimately great singing and a sick bass line. Ok, yeah. It’s a 3. I’m not going to overthink it too much and just go with my gut. Next album.

It's not bad I suppose. I wouldn't call it bad. It sure is noisy though.

Not the worst ever, just some odd sounding late 60s psych. Like the Beatles if they sucked. Redeemable for a 2 though

Whooaaaaah, never had heard of these cats and this was really something else, exactly what I am doing this project for, between the electronic innovation and on the nose takedown of square america there's just some good musicianship. Could take a point off for the clear eleanor rigby rip off ,but I won't

Not my cup of tea. Not terrible, but sounded like circus music at times. 2/5

I can appreciate why this album is considered ahead of its time. Some of the electronic sounds are remarkable for 1968, and if I didn't know the year, I could easily imagine a modern band making something like this while deliberately going for a late-'60s psychedelic vibe. But experimental doesn't automatically mean good. The Beatles were incredibly experimental too, but usually remembered that there was supposed to be a song underneath all the experimentation. That's where this album was split for me. The first half was about a 2-star experience. I respected what they were doing more than I actually enjoyed it. Then something happened in the second half: they started leaning more into psychedelic rock and pop with recognizable song structures, and suddenly I was enjoying myself. “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” “Coming Down,” “Where Is Yesterday,” and “The American Way of Love” all worked much better for me. If the entire album had been like that second half, this would have been an easy 3 stars. Instead, it's a fascinating album that I appreciate historically more than I enjoy musically. Still, it finished much stronger than it started.