Description

By mid-1968 there was a growing consensus that something had gone horribly wrong with the American dream. The nations youth had loudly made their feelings clear, but now the older, pre-Beatles generations began to look at the country with urban riots, Vietnam, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy and wonder what the hell was happening.

This album includes rare classics (The Beach Boys Fourth Of July), lost masterpieces (Roy Orbisons seven-minute Southbound Jericho Parkway), and forgotten gems by some of the biggest names in the business (Elvis Presleys Clean Up Your Own Back Yard).

Reactions to Americas existential crisis ranged in subject matter from divorce (Frank Sinatras The Train) and the break-up of the nuclear family (The Four Seasons Saturdays Father), to eulogies for fallen heroes (Dions Abraham Martin and John), sympathy for Vietnam vets (Johnny Tillotsons Welfare Hero), the churchs institutional racism (Eartha Kitts intense Paint Me Black Angels), and even questioning the ethics of the space programme (Bing Crosbys terrific What Do We Do With The World).

Compiled by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, State Of The Union follows on from their highly acclaimed English Weather and Paris In The Spring compilations. With clear parallels between todays fractured country and the USA fifty years ago, this is a fascinating condensation of what Americans were thinking when they turned on the TV, or the radio, or simply walked down Main Street in 1968.