First a full and likely obvious disclaimer: I'd not heard of this band or any of their songs before this week.
I'm not sure how many of you even have, given they had only one album ever released and this was it. They didn't make much of a dent in the UK, much less the US, despite their group name.
This album combined rock and psychedelia with then-uncommon electronic instrumentation and experimental composition, along with an approach reflecting an anti-establishment, leftist political stance inspired by the Communist Party USA. Oh boy, just what 1968 was
REALLY in need of! ;-)
This album in fact received limited attention on its initial release, and only charted at 181 on the Billboard 200. The band broke up shortly after the album's release amidst interpersonal disputes. This 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, and for that reason, I'm including a song here, because sometimes you only get one shot to make an impression.
Joseph Byrd, the band's leader, stated that his aim for the band and album was to create avant-garde, political rock music; he envisioned that their music would combine electronic sounds, musical and political radicalism, and performance art.
My two favourite reasons for this nomination include:
- Creating the electronic sounds on the album was difficult because of technical limitations at the time. Byrd recalled "the only available functioning keyable synthesizers were Robert Moog's at +$20,000. They were left with whatever sounds Bryd could squeeze from three variable wave shape generators, modulating one another.
- The title of the song "Love Song for the Dead Ché" reflected the idea to educate and radicalize American society. Columbia Records originally wanted the song's title changed due to its political implications. In response, Byrd suggested "Julius and Ethel Rosenberg" as a replacement title if the original title had not been used. One has to love the use of the choice of finger that the band directed towards the record company in pointing out which title would persist.
Finding a single track was tough given there really were no "hits" from this selection, and is probably best enjoyed as part of an album experience, but I'll choose this one that I liked musically the most.
"Hard Coming Love" - The United States Of America
(and for anyone possibly wanting more, I'd suggest "Stranded In Time" as Byrd termed "a weak Beatle-esque copy of "Eleanor Rigby", and could not be performed live because it called for a string quartet)
