The United States of America

I didn’t like the first track at all but it picked up after that. It’s not an album that’s going to live long in the memory but it was an enjoyable enough listen.

Top Track - Where Is Yesterday

Odd little folks album with skits. I don't relish the rare releases and alternates.

i imagine this is what the white album sounds like to people who hate the beatles

The Good: We get to listen to the peaches song!
The Bad: We’ve confused this band with another…
The Ugly: Album name = Band name…

Listened to it… wasted my time…

1*

Coincidentally, a friend of mine recently reccomended this album to me - due to my love of psych rock. Relistening to it for the project has reasserted my opinion when I checked it out at his request. This album is absolutely awesome.

I think the USofA really nail the ethos of psych rock in their one album. It's weird at times, quirky at others - but underneath all of that it's got some kickass moments. Take the opening for instance, which fades from circus-esque twee to a haunting vocal-led track. It's almost like a portishead track, only decades beforehand. Or Wooden Wife, in which the catchy satircal chorus is interspersed with a manic bridge, which feels akin to a more unhinged Zappa track.

This album won't please everyone. It's too wierd for that. But for the right person this is really engaging, fun music.

This was too long and kind of boring to listen to

I didn’t even miss the guitar. I was ready to absolute hate this and tear into it after the first thirty seconds, but then the rest of the album happened and I was sold. The dual vocalists really work here. Very reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane. Super interesting early experimentation into the use of electronics. I guess Mac Miller and ID Labs really liked this one too with how Coming Down became Smile Back. Great album. Favorites were Hard Coming Love, The Garden Of Earthly Delights, Where Is Yesterday, Coming Down, and The American Way Of Love.

FYI The album is only the first 10 tracks on Spotify.

I liked it but I like weird. Maybe it deserves a place on the list. 1968 is still a very experimental time (just look at how music psychedelic rock is on the list this year) so I dunno how innovative these guys actually are. 3/5.

What the hell was this? It's great! It's weird enough while still being enjoyable to listen to, so in my eyes it's a perfect album.

This album starts off with a sound collage that's overwhelming and feels like circus music from a nightmare. At first I was taken aback and was preparing for a long, difficult listen, but the album really came together quite well and sounds like a mix of the most psychedelic and experimental Beatles tracks and the Velvet Underground. By the end I was completely entranced. I think there may be a few times that their ambitions surpassed their skills or the technical abilities at the time, but the best experimental and avant-garde music should be pushing boundaries. I am definitely going to have to give this a few more listens to fully digest everything I just heard.

On second listen, the opening track isn't nearly as abrasive or overwhelming. In context with the rest of the album, it actually works quite well and makes a lot of sense. I am really happy to have discovered this album and am going to return to it in the future for sure.

Didn’t love this one. With a name like this was expecting a patriotic album for the 4th but apparently not

(Light 8/10)

Overall really interesting and mind-expanding stuff from this one-off group from the late 60's. Definitely going to have to hear this one more down the line but I liked what I heard!!

I only listened to this yesterday. But feel like I didn't.

I need the people on here to explain their low ratings. This is really good!

Very ahead of its time. Quite an annoying listen in 2026.

'In the center of the ring / They are torturing a bear.' Academic is the word to describe this psychedelic mess, at once far stranger than Sgt. Pepper's & yet more solid, more lucid. A third Jefferson Airplane, a third Byrds, & a third Washington Irving on strong LA acid, The United States Of America is about as inevitable as the night resolving itself into day, but the inevitability is shot thru w/ invention, w/ soul, & w/ vitality, so whatever you may find to be annoyingly intellectual, e.g., the silly interludes of traditional, old-world instrumentals, is balanced by Dorothy Moskowitz's vocal profundity, which matches Grace Slick's, & the authentic psychedelic blues that is this thing. My least favorite is 'Where is Yesterday,' but even that one's got a purpose.

An interesting album. Really out there. I think it was very innovative at the time. However, the band and the album aren’t that far ahead of other bands and albums in terms of innovation. Similar music and experiments had already been around for years. But the album is definitely worth a listen. It reminds me in part of Krautrock, Tangerine Dream, early Pink Floyd albums, and Monty Python. That’s excellent company. I’m going to listen to the album again. 4/5

This feels like a momentous record. As abrasive as it is avant-garde, it does pull beyond its first track 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' to offer a very weird yet solid psychedelic experience which is unlike most albums on the genre.

9/10 [KEEP]

Some interesting sounds. The distorted bass gives this a unique feel, and the lyrics are poignant. Kind of a mess production- and composition-wise though.

Fun and actually quite exploratory psych rock, integrating proto-synths and electronic sounds, some pretty amazing rumbling bass, a swishy space age futuristic lounge sound, and all the classic psych trappings: fuzz, jangle, whispery vocals, ecclectic blends of hard hitting foundation with a whimsical silly decoration, pre-modern folk, circus music, and Beatles knock offs. Not always successful, sometimes annoying, sometimes gnarly, often both one after the other very quickly. But a nice artifact of the experimental searching tendency in California counter-culture.