This article is not about the 90's alternative group, The Presidents of the United States of America. The Presidents of the United States of America is an alternative band which was formed in 1989. ...

The band's 1968 self titled album

The United States of America was a progressive rock and psychedelic band whose works are an example of early electronic music in rock and roll. Theirs is one example of a rock music group where the claim that they were "ahead of their time" can be given without irony. The United States of Americas self titled album. ... The United States of Americas self titled album. ... The progressive rock band Yes performing in 1977. ... This entry pertains to the word psychedelic, its origin and uses. ... Electronic music is a loose term for music created using electronic equipment. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ...

Formed in 1967 by Joe Byrd, the band membership consisted of the following: Joe Byrd (electronic music, electric harpsichord, organ, calliope, piano, and Durrett Electronic Music Synthesizer), Dorothy Moskowitz (lead vocals), Gordon Marron (electric violin, ring modulator), Rand Forbes (fretless electric bass) and Craig Woodson (electric drums and percussion). Ed Bogas also performed on the record with occasional organ, piano, and calliope; he became a full member of the band on its first and only tour. Joseph Byrd (born Kentucky, raised Tucson, Arizona) was the leader of The United States of America, a notable rock band from the 1960s and 1970s. ... Electronic music is a loose term for music created using electronic equipment. ... A harpsichord is the general term for a family of European keyboard instruments, including the large instrument nowadays called a harpsichord, but also the smaller virginals, the muselar virginals and the spinet. ... This article or section should be merged with Pipe organ The Casavant pipe organ at Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Montreal The organ is a type of keyboard musical instrument, distinctive because the sound is not produced by a percussion action, as on a piano or celesta, or by... For the musical instrument, see Calliope (music). ... This article is about the modern musical instrument. ... A classic FM synthesizer, the Yamaha DX7. ... An electric violin is simply a violin with an electronic signal output. ... Ring modulation is an audio effect performed by multiplying two audio signals, where one is typically a sine-wave or another simple waveform. ...

The record was recorded and produced by David Rubinson, for CBS Records in 1967, and released in 1968. It was rereleased on CD by Sundazed Records in 2004. Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ...

The songs were:

1. "The American Metaphysical Circus"
2. "Hard Coming Love"
3. "Cloud Song"
4. "The Garden of Earthly Delights"
5. "I Wouldn't Leave My Wooden Wife for You, Sugar"
6. "Where Is Yesterday"
7. "Coming Down"
8. "Love song for the Dead Che"
9. "Stranded In Time"
10. "The American Way of Love"

The 2004 reissue adds various alternate takes, demos, and outtakes.

The USA was one of the most revolutionary and ground breaking groups of the late 1960s. Their sound drew from a multiplicity of musical sources, avant-garde, psychedelic, and progressive. One of the stranger points of the band is that it had no guitar player, which, for 1967 and 68 was quite radical, as the electric guitar occupied a central position in rock music of the time. Instead, they used strings, keyboards and electronics, including primitive synthesizers, and various audio processors, including the ring modulator. A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... Psychedelic music is a musical genre which is not rigorously defined, and is sometimes interpreted to include everything from Flower Power music to Hard Rock and Acid Rock. ... The progressive rock band Yes performing in 1977. ...

Despite widespread support of music critics, the album was badly marketed by CBS, sold poorly, and soon disappeared. The tour for the record didn't go well, (members of the band were arrested for drug possession, and they had a number of serious equipment failures - these and other tensions made Byrd increasingly difficult to work with, and the group largely unmanageable) and resulted in the band splitting up.

Byrd went on to form Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies, who released an LP, The American Metaphysical Circus, in 1969. He presently (2004) runs a bed and breakfast in northern California near the Oregon border, and occasionally teaches musicology at a local college.

Dorothy Moskowitz later worked with Country Joe McDonald's All-Star Band, married, has two daughters, and lives in a suburb of Oakland CA. She writes for and teaches music to children in her local school system. Country Joe McDonald Country Joe McDonald (born January 1, 1942 in Washington, D.C.) was the leader and lead singer of the 1960s rock & roll group Country Joe and the Fish. His best-known song is his I Feel Like Im Fixin to Die Rag, a black comedy novelty...

Gordon Marron became a Los Angeles studio musician and now lives in Hawaii.

Craig Woodson teaches percussion in Los Angeles and has toured with the Kronos Quartet. The Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973. ...

Ed Bogas composed soundtracks for Peanuts and Garfield TV cartoon specials and for Ralph Bakshi's film Fritz the Cat. Peanuts book cover Peanuts was a syndicated comic strip written and drawn by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. ... The character design sketch of Garfield. ... Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is a director of animation and occasionally live-action films. ... Fritz the Cat Fritz the Cat is a comic book character created by Robert Crumb during the height of the underground comics movement of the 1960s. ...

Rand Forbes' current whereabouts are unknown (anyone?).

A band very similar in structure and somewhat similar in sound to USA was the early 1970s British Progressive Rock outfit, Curved Air, which also featured bass, drums, keyboards/synths, electric violin, and female vocals. Curved Air was more classical and largely apolitical in the content of their music. The USA was a profoundly political band, with a decidedly leftist political vision. Perhaps it was their uncompromising political stance that prevented the success they deserved, but it is that same intensity of vision and social conviction in both the content of their lyrics and the avant-garde form of their music that has made this record the enduring classic it has become over the years, since its release in the heady times of Spring, 1968. Curved Air is a progressive rock group formed in 1970. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ...

Amongst current artists, Broadcast are devoted fans of USA, taking the USA sound a bit further as well as introducing a whole new generation to electronic psychedelia. Broadcast are an electronica music band, based in Birmingham, United Kingdom, currently signed to Warp Records. ...

The USA were also thanked by the triphop group Portishead in the liner notes of their 1997 album Portishead, for the song Half Day Closing which bears a more than superficial resemblance to American Metaphysical Circus. Trip hop (also known as the Bristol sound) is a term coined by United Kingdom dance magazine Mixmag, to describe a musical trend in the mid-1990s; trip hop is downtempo electronic music that grew out of Englands hip hop and house scenes. ... Beth Gibbons, Portishead Portishead is a trip hop band from Bristol, United Kingdom, named after the small town of Portishead, 12 miles west of Bristol. ... Portishead is the second album from the band of the same name, released in 1997 on GO! Beat Records. ...