VARIOUS ARTISTS BOB STANLEY & PETE WIGGS PRESENT…
‘State Of The Union – The American Dream In Crisis’
đ„With Bonus Signed Postcard by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs đ„
America coming down, the sound of a country trying to work its way out of a crisis. Following on from their excellent English Weather and Paris In The Spring sets, Bob and Pete get to grips with an American music that was losing its swagger.
By 1968 there was a growing consensus that something had gone horribly wrong with the American dream. With urban riots, Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, and ever-climbing divorce rates, the American way of life was under scrutiny from all sides. The nationâs youth had loudly made their feelings clear, but now the older, pre-Beatles generations began to look at the country and wonder what the hell was happening.
This album includes rare classics (the Beach Boysâ â4th Of Julyâ), lost masterpieces (Roy Orbisonâs seven-minute âSouthbound Jericho Parkwayâ) and forgotten gems by some of the biggest names in the business (Elvis Presleyâs âClean Up Your Own Back Yardâ). Reactions to Americaâs existential crisis ranged in subject matter from divorce (Frank Sinatraâs âThe Trainâ) and the break-up of the nuclear family (the Four Seasonsâ âSaturdayâs Fatherâ, Mel TormĂ©âs âTake A Letter Mariaâ), to eulogies for fallen heroes (Dionâs âAbraham Martin And Johnâ), sympathy for Vietnam vets (Johnny Tillotsonâs âWelfare Heroâ), the churchâs institutional racism (Eartha Kittâs intense âPaint Me Black Angelsâ), the hypocrisy of establishment figures (Dean Martinâs âDo You Believe This Townâ) and even questioning the ethics of the space programme (Bing Crosbyâs terrific âWhat Do We Do With The World?â).
It is now shocking to read that, as recently as 1968, the Bureau of Land Management proposed to build dams in the Grand Canyon; Richard Nixon would sign an executive order setting up the Environmental Protection Agency in December 1970. His administration then commissioned the Documerica photography project, which launched in 1971 â the year Marvin Gaye sang about âfish full of mercuryâ in a Top 10 hit â and it showed, shockingly, how the American way of life was trashing the landscape and poisoning the population. It provides the artwork for this album, a condensation of what Americaâs older generation were thinking when they turned on the TV, or the radio, or simply walked down Main Street in 1968.
Out on November 2nd – Pre-order via Monorail Music Today.