The United States of America (1968)

The United States of America is the only studio album by American psychedelic rock band the United States of America. Produced by David Rubinson, it was released in 1968 by Columbia Records. The album combined rock and psychedelia with then-uncommon electronic instrumentation and experimental composition, along with an approach reflecting an anti-establishment, leftist political stance.

The United States of America received limited attention on its initial release and charted at number 181 on the Billboard 200. The band broke up shortly after the album's release amidst interpersonal disputes. The album has been reissued several times and has garnered widespread critical acclaim in the decades since its original release for pioneering styles and techniques that would later become common in rock music.

Background

Joseph Byrd and Dorothy Moskowitz first met in New York City in 1963. Byrd at the time worked as an assistant to composer Virgil Thomson, and later as an arranger and producer. Moskowitz was a music student at Barnard College, where she was mentored by composer Otto Luening. The two began a "profound musical and personal relationship", and moved to Los Angeles later that year after Byrd received a teaching assistantship at UCLA. While at UCLA, Byrd formed the New Music Workshop, an avant-garde art collective, alongside Moskowitz, jazz musician Don Ellis and others. Byrd left his job at UCLA in 1966 to focus on producing art, music and organizing happenings full-time. Around the same time, Byrd and Moskowitz also contributed to Vocal And Instrumental Ragas From South India, an album of Indian classical music released on Folkways Records, alongside Gayathri Rajapur and Harihar Rao.

In early 1967, Byrd approached Art Kunkin, founder and editor of the Los Angeles Free Press, requesting money with which to form a band, in collaboration with anarchist composer Michael Agnello as organist. By this time, Byrd and Moskowitz had broken up, with Moskowitz returning to New York, but she accepted an offer from Byrd to return to Los Angeles and serve as the lead singer for the band. The other members of the band had also all been involved with avant-garde music and ethnomusicology. The name "United States of America" was intended to be provocative, by appropriating the full official name of the United States as a way to express contempt for the government, and was later described by Moskowitz as "like hanging the flag upside down".

Production

The United States of America was produced by David Rubinson, who also signed the group to Columbia Records. Rubinson previously knew members Joseph Byrd and Dorothy Moskowitz. Creating the electronic sounds on the album was difficult because of the technical limitations. Byrd recalled "the only available functioning keyable synthesizers were Robert Moog's at +$20,000. We were left with whatever sounds I could squeeze from three variable wave shape generators, modulating one another." The oscillators were built for the group by Richard Durrett. Electronic devices were used live and on the album to process other instruments and Moskowitz's voice. Towards the end of the song "The American Metaphysical Circus", for instance, her vocals are distorted to the point of being almost unintelligible.

Music

Style

Joseph Byrd, the band's leader, stated that his aesthetic aim for the band and album was to create avant-garde, political rock music; he envisioned that their music would combine electronic sounds (not electronic music), musical and political radicalism, and performance art. During the 1960s, Byrd was drawn towards the Communist Party USA, explaining that it was "the one group that had discipline, an agenda, and was willing to work within the existing institutions to educate and radicalize American society." The song "Love Song for the Dead Ché" reflects these ideas. Columbia Records originally wanted the song's title changed due to its political implications. Byrd suggested "Julius and Ethel Rosenberg" as a replacement title if the original title had not been used.