MB Classics: The United States of America - The United States of America
 

Current Album is The United States of America's The United States of America.

https://e.snmc.io/lk/o/l/608c911a8f9...28/1225651.jpg

Your vote only counts if you say something about the album. It doesn't need to be a paragraph, just a couple sentences about the album.

Also, I'll ask mods to delete Votes this time. Just a couple of sentences. That's all.

Judging ONLY the original 10 tracks. This album IS assailable. Don’t buy into the corny Harry Partch silliness. It has nothing to do with not aging well. Using experimentation to be goofy shows a lack of appreciation for what they were working with. Still a lot of positives 8/10. Hopefully, this is NOT voted a classic.

Then you shouldn't have voted it an eight, silly.

I gave it a ten. I do think it's a classic. It was very innovative in its time. Electronica in some ways hasn't aged well, but this album is timeless. And the Garden of Earthly Delights is one of the trippiest songs out there.

The right electro-acoustic music considerably older than this has aged very well.
Luc Ferrari is one of several who didn’t make a carnival act of himself.

It deserves an 8 for the contribution it made. It’s just not unassailable. Classics are ten.

Yeah, but Blank considers an eight a classic.

I can see how Wooden Wife is pretty goofy, but that doesn't really extend through the whole album.

This ain’t gonna make it.

Shouldn’t happen at all.

I guess we'll have to see, but I'm pretty certain this is going to end up on the list despite not being exclusively electroacoustic music.

I gave it a 10. It's one of the best psych rock records ever made and the way pulls together the pop of the time with the European avant-garde is as good as efforts by artists like Beefheart and 50 Foot Hose. On a sonic level alone I would give this a ten, but as a historical landmark in the democratization of music? An unbudging 11. Don't let these separatists get to you.

Is this your pick?

Yep.

Saw Rubber Soul's pic in a record shop today, did not pick it up however because no thanks. Anyway, this album is great. Plenty of excellent melodies and wonderful arrangements in general. Nothing bored me, nothing wow'd me, but still the amount of superb tracks had to bring it up. Just barely, but voted 9/10.

What’s the excuse for the goofball bull**** in The American Metaphysical Circus?

I’m not even going to address you mentioning Beefheart but I will say that The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators and The Parable of Arable Land are both better.

Democratization of music? The Fugs and The Monks.

Gee idunno

Good point but bad song

Nah. The orchestral parts in the beginning are like the buildup of a trip where you're entering a circus and the middle part of the song is when you're inside and things get surreal and the fade out returns to the orchestra mashup as if you're leaving the circus. Plus I love that dark vibe. It's good ****.

I'd give the other stuff that you're comparing it to a 10/10 as well, some like Red Krayola and The Monks are even better. Getting bent that it isn't attempting to be standalone electroacoustic music as opposed to rock that implemented elements of that is kind of missing the point of the album in the same way that so many people do with Sgt. Pepper's.

It’s the Harry Partch thing. His music always chapped my ass because it sounds like a ****ing joke.

Thing is that this sounds pretty great though.

It is a great record

http://www.musicbanter.com/avant-gar...on-thread.html

A little bit from back in the day

I have this one on CD, not vinyl, but I haven't listened to it in a long time. I discovered United States Of America through a list website called DigitalDreamDoor back in 2008 or 2009 when I was really into psychedelic music and thought it was the coolest thing ever (and I still do). I remember only being able to find certain songs at the time (YouTube wasn't as expansive at the time, it was mostly videos of backyard wrestling and kids lighting bottle rockets in their friends asses), so it took me a while to ever listen to the full album. It's pretty insane, but it's good and I think it'll get an 8 for sure, probably a 9. I really have to listen to it again, though.

You didn't buy my record? Shame on you. :(

This one earns a solid 8/10 from me. It's a fantastic record with a couple of weak spots.

This is what Broadcast would've sounded like if they'd been around in the 60s. I like having these kind of short-romp albums around. First track and Coming Down (plus transition into Love Song for the Dead Che and the suite at the end) were some of the highlights for me.

For me this falls into "good, but not great", but there's room to grow. This is gonna get a 6, but I wish it the best of luck.

Possibly my favourite "classic" psych album, which isn't necessarily saying much, since I'm not the biggest fan of the genre.
Still it's a fantastic album. Some of it is a bit dated, some a bit boring, but everything below an 8 wouldn't do it justice. Therefore: 8.

it's status as a classic is undeniable

That’s just a fancy way of saying unassailable.

Oh really

not really

kinda the opposite

That’s the weakness.

I voted 9. It's a great album and I was really quite surprised when I covered it in my History of Progressive Rock journal, but that "Wooden Wife" thing hangs over it, for me, like a slightly loopy dark cloud, and prevents it from getting a full ten. Nevertheless, given that it was their only album under this name, and given the time, very innovative and definitely deserves to be listened to. A minor classic of the era.

This album is actually better than I remembered, and I've been giving out too many 10s lately, but I gave it a 10 anyways. I really like the synth in this, it's trippy as hell and it's amazing how ahead of it's time this album sounds in that at times it's very surreal. It still have a definitively late 60s psych-rock sound and production, but that only adds to the charm. It's a 10 for me.

Whatever fruitloop

What? I gave the album a 9... oh.
Glad to be of service. :D

If in doubt, use this maxim: Anything Trollheart likes is directly and inversely proportionate to anything you like. Or, put it another way, if I think it sucks you'll probably like it, and if I like it you'll probably think it sucks.

Also, Merry Christmas.
Also, **** you. :D

I love the album and track but it's easily the low point of the whole thing.

As opposed to the rest of the record?

Decent album. Meant to give it a 7 but somehow the poll registered me as a 5. Weird. 'Love Song For The Dead Che' is pretty awesome, and the album as a whole has a good whimsical flavor even if I think there are better Sunshine Pop-oriented outings out there. While King Crimson's classic debut would hit in less than a year from this and rewrite the playbook on "experimental", this is a minor classic for sure. Great time for music in general. :)

I got you on the vote. A 10 it is!

Election Fraud

Immediate DQ

Sort of all over the place. I loved the song "The Garden of Earthly Delights", but a lot of the songs were less appealing. Maybe a few too many annoying, cheap sound effects and other gimmicks.

I voted a 6