The United States of America (band/album)

[notallwhowander]

In regard to that, have you caught this yet (brand new)?:

Wow that was cool, and very reverent of the HPL version.

[Digital_Man]

[Love this album, but really i want to third the Broadcast recommendation. Always an extraordinary band, sadly no more due to singer Trish Keenan passing away 5 years ago.]

According to wikipedia they are still together.

[Scrotum Scissor]

According to wikipedia they are still together.

Trish Keenan is dead. During the last few years they were essentially a bonafide electronica duo with her and James Cargill alone, and seemingly the latter still persists as Broadcast - possibly due to contractual obligations.

An acquaintance of mine who saw them live back in 2005, told me Keenan was one of the most strangely and ghostly charismatic pop/rock singers he'd ever seen perform. She contracted the swine flu while in Australia touring with Broadcast in late 2010, eventually succumbing to infections a month-or-so later. The following is a radio interview done with her in relation to the tour, apparently just before she went down there and got ill. I think it's a tragic yet peculiarly moving feature:

[loosefish]

Yes, there's meant to be a final album at some point, but the band itself is defunct following the death of Trish. Going by some bootleg live recordings i've heard, if/when it's released it's going to be amazing.

Edit: what SS said.

That interview is really sad. She sounds so hopeful and excited about going to Australia :-(

[Digital_Man]

I guess it will take a little while for wikipedia to catch up then just like with Tangerine Dream.

[Mic Check]

Another one to consider in this context is David Stoughton's Transformer, a wonderfully odd psychedelic one-off, which tries to sell itself to you as a singer-songwriter record, with the guy's face on the sleeve, but in fact is anything but. It has sadly never been reissued legit as far as I know, and Stoughton's whereabouts are unknown.

I had an email from Mr. Stoughton, maybe around ten years ago in response to a review I'd written of Transformer. Actually a couple of emails. IIRC he said he hadn't been doing music but did have a lot more of the experimental tape stuff that had never been released.

[Mic Check]

I'd written something about the drumming reminding me of Don Cherry's Brown Rice album and he said the drummer on his record (Joe Livolsi) was indeed a big fan of Billy Higgins. Hey!

[spacefreak]

Anyone who loves this should checkout Broadcast

Yes, their first albums (before the huge BBC Radiophonic Workshop influence) are a take on a modern pop version of U.S.A.

[spacefreak]

leaves me the impression of inauthenticity.

Fifty Foot Hose's "Cauldron" is in my opinion The example of a non-academic hybrid of avant home-made electronics and psychedelia. Always had the impression that they sounded like Great Society toying with Peter Zinovieff and Dr. Who type of sonic experiments. Give it a try and you may revisit U.S.A. with a different ear afterwords. Both are groundbreaking albums in that they opened countless possibilities to the rock vocabulary, that ended up by popularising deeply academic art structures in a "people accessible" musical idiom in the mid-70s.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Fifty Foot Hose's "Cauldron" is in my opinion The example of a non-academic hybrid of avant home-made electronics and psychedelia. Always had the impression that they sounded like Great Society toying with Peter Zinovieff and Dr. Who type of sonic experiments.

Absolutely. Their electronic applications served solely as enhancements to rather straight-up songwriting; The Great Society is a good reference, there was also the ubiquitous male/female-call/response vox emannating from an Airplane-influence, as with The Loading Zone, Tripsichord, Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Locksley Hall, Ill Wind and countless others. I kinda like the Fifty Foot Hose album, but it really isn't up to the innovative standards of the USoA. The latter displayed electronics and other technology as not only an integral part of their soundworld, but as a 'mental disposition' in their entire manner of expression. They were arguably the most successful stab at futurist primitivism in pop/rock at the time, and although a period piece nowadays it still holds up for what it was back then. As exposed in significant disciples such as Broadcast, Stereolab, Portishead and Beach House.

[Levgan]

I had an email from Mr. Stoughton, maybe around ten years ago in response to a review I'd written of Transformer. Actually a couple of emails. IIRC he said he hadn't been doing music but did have a lot more of the experimental tape stuff that had never been released.

Well, good to hear he's alive and reads reviews of his album. Last time someone searched for him all they found online was a mug shot of a prison inmate going by that name whose features were eerily reminiscent of an older version of a guy on the cover of Transformer.

[Echoes]

As I said, I don't really know what the actual deal was with them.

Here is the deal. You can hear an interview with Joseph Byrd and singer Dorothy Moskowitz here: http://echoes.org/2013/03/01/the-uni...-byrd-podcast/

[StevegSr]

Quite a novel experimental album that showcases proto synth sounds by way of a ring modulator hooked up to almost anything that produced a recording signal. Fascinating to listen to, at least to me, but it sounds very dated too, IMHO.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

[. Another one to consider in this context is David Stoughton's Transformer, a wonderfully odd psychedelic one-off, which tries to sell itself to you as a singer-songwriter record, with the guy's face on the sleeve, but in fact is anything but. It has sadly never been reissued legit as far as I know, and Stoughton's whereabouts are unknown.[/QUOTE]

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

[. Another one to consider in this context is David Stoughton's Transformer, a wonderfully odd psychedelic one-off, which tries to sell itself to you as a singer-songwriter record, with the guy's face on the sleeve, but in fact is anything but. It has sadly never been reissued legit as far as I know, and Stoughton's whereabouts are unknown.

[/QUOTE]

Sorry...computer problems. I don't know what Jac Holzman was smoking the day he signed David to Elektra, but you haven't lived until you've heard "The Anecdote of Horario and Julie".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBwvxe3S7NU

[soundsweird]

The U.S.A. album has generated several threads here over the years, and I always chime in. The album seems to improve with age for me, I like it more now than I ever have (it helps that I have the CD version with a whole bunch of worthwhile bonus tracks now). Actually, I heard the "spin-off" album "American Metaphysical Circus", credited to Joe Byrd & the Field Hippies, way back in the late 60's, but never heard U.S.A. until I saw an early CD version in a pawn shop in the 90's. I think both of them are great! Interesting to hear about other experimental stuff from that period in this thread. I have "White Noise", "Introducing Lothar & the Hand People" and some other similar albums that haven't been mentioned yet here, and have owned several others like Silver Apples (sorry, too primitive and unmelodic!) in the past.

[spacefreak]

Interesting to hear about other experimental stuff from that period in this thread. I have "White Noise", "Introducing Lothar & the Hand People" and some other similar albums that haven't been mentioned yet here, and have owned several others like Silver Apples (sorry, too primitive and unmelodic!) in the past.

Friendsound "Joyride" (RCA, 1969)
The Unfolding "How To Blow Your Mind and Have a Freakout Party" (Audio Fidelity, 1967)

Are you familiar with these?

[Levgan]

you haven't lived until you've heard "The Anecdote of Horario and Julie".

Absolutely! Not all Transformer is like that, though, there's some more conventional songs too, but always a little odd and with a twist. Melodically this stuff kinda predates things that came from the Henry Cow / Slapp Happy axis many years later.

[Udi Koomran]

What about Beaver & Krause ?
Any fans here ?

[Dana5140]

Me, big fan. Loved Ghandarva, for sure. Loved all those early psych records- Mort Garson, United States of America, Lothar, WCPAEB, Fifty-Foot Hose, Mecki Mark Men, Silver Apples. I remember getting Cosmic Sounds of the Zodiac and just being blown away. Had never heard such stuff.

[spacefreak]

I remember getting Cosmic Sounds of the Zodiac and just being blown away. Had never heard such stuff.

This is a great album indeed.

[Dana5140]

[Progbear]

What about Beaver & Krause ?
Any fans here ?

Gandharva is a classic, especially the side recorded in Grace Cathedral with Gerry Mulligan, Bud Shank, et al. In a Wild Sanctuary is good, too, more Moog-y (and the THX logo that was before every major motion picture in the 90s totally ripped off the ending of “Spaced”).

[Digital_Man]

I think I read somewhere that the spoken word parts on that were an influence on Days of Future Passed.