Joe Byrd And The Field Hippies ‎– "The American Metaphysical Circus" (Columbia Masterworks ‎– MS 7317) 1969

After the fine 'United States Of America' project bombed,probably dropped over Cambodia by their bastard of a record company,and kept all the royalties to themselves President of The United States...the band...Joe Byrd, made a similar record,using lots of effects,and a smattering of electronics, named after a USA track,"The American Metaphysical Circus". As political as ever, Byrd unwittingly predicted the Trump years, and their impending end, in the "Four Dreams For A Departing President" section.After Trump could only attract 6224 Morons to a rally in Tulsa,capacity 19000,after he had boasted there were a million applications for tickets only last week on twitter....titter titter.
This bunch of studio bound 'Field Hippies',manage to have made a kind of off broadway Hippie Musical,in the terrible tradition of Godspell,and similar,but blended with the 'United States Of America' album part two.
When i tell you that Joe Byrd received Stanford University's Sollnit Fellowship for graduate study in composition. But chose to 'split' for New York, where he worked as conductor, arranger, teacher, Associate Producer for a record company!???...then that'll go someway to explain why this sounds like a bunch of young 'talented' kids who passed an audition to get in the band.It's an academic's idea of what's cool.It sounds so composed,that it could easily be mistaken for one of those terrible age of aquarius musicals that eventually gave us Andrew Lloyd Webber,and the age of Musical Theatre that has compleatly taken over the worlds' theatres.
Again, there's some of those 'ragtime' moments that Psychedelic America found utterly hilarious,but makes any european wanna smash their record players.
After this I guess Byrd went back to his day job arranging pop hits to sound like James Last.....Phil Ochs accepted....yeah I read the comments section......The Byrd had flown.

Tracklist:

The Sub-Sylvian Litanies
Kalyani 3:50
You Can't Ever Come Down 2:58
Moonsong: Pelog 3:47
American Bedmusic I - Four Dreams For A Departing President
Patriot's Lullabye 2:44
Nightmare Train 3:23
Invisible Man 3:31
Mister 4th Of July 1:46
Gospel Music For Abraham Ruddell Byrd III
Gospel Music 4:28
The Southwestern Geriatrics Arts And Crafts Festival
The Sing-Along Song 4:00
The Elephant At The Door 5:10
Leisure World 1:33
The Sing-Along Song (Reprise) 0:44

DOWNLOAD for a departing president HERE!

The United States Of America ‎– "The United States Of America" (Columbia ‎– CS 9614) 1968

Another group vying to be the first electronic rock group was the ironically monikered, United States Of America.

Their name was of course an provocation—“a way of expressing disdain for governmental policy. It was like hanging the flag upside down,” as the group’s Dorothy Moskowitz explained.The United States of America somehow sounded like a counterculture state-of-the-union address. Their debut album was the work of a group of UCLA students working under the direction of Joseph Byrd,a former student of John Cage,and ,the irony doesn't stop with the group name,a card-carrying Communist (well done you're in the club!?).He envisaged an avant-garde rock band with radical politics at its center, the Psychedelic Crass, and from that combustible starting point came a suite of music that pulls in all directions. Psych-rock and musique concrète leaks into trad jazz and ragtime,a much parodied Psychedelic era genre,and more evidence that Pysch Humour,alongside anyone who is 'stoned' just isn't funny,but with Moskowitz’s beautiful but effectless voice soothing the irritation somewhat.
Never play Ragtime or Dixieland jazz...EVER!

Tracklist:

1 The American Metaphysical Circus
2 Hard Coming Love
3 Cloud Song
4 The Garden Of Earthly Delights
5 I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar
6 Where Is Yesterday
7 Coming Down
8 Love Song For The Dead Ché
9 Stranded In Time
The American Way Of Love
10.I [Part 1] - Metaphor For An Old Man
10.II [Part 2] - California Good-Time Music
10.III [Part 3] - Love Is All
Bonus Tracks
11 Osamu's Birthday
12 No Love To Give
13 I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar
14 You Can Never Come Down
15 Perry Pier
16 Tailor Man
17 Do You Follow Me
18 The American Metaphysical Circus (Alternate Version)
19 Mouse (The Garden Of Earthly Delights)
20 Heresy (Coming Down)

DOWNLOAD the united states of electronica HERE!