JOE BYRD & FIELD HIPPIES '69 electronica psych LP HEAR

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28

Joe Byrd, fresh off one of the most pioneering electronic psych albums of all time with the United States of America, promptly pulls a Lee Mavers and breaks the band up.  Then goes and basically re-records the USA album with a different female vocalist – sure, the songs are different (some are), but the sound is pretty much the same.  Which, when you’re talking about one of the most pioneering electronic psych albums of all time, makes for smart strategy.  If anything, Joseph Byrd and the Field Hippies 1969 album “American Metaphysical Circus” is even STRANGER than the USA album, with longer stretches of textures and experimental sounds than its predecessor, punctuated by actual songs.  Hard to believe that this was released on Columbia’s CLASSICAL label, Masterworks, but then again, they also released a film soundtrack featuring Blood, Sweat and Tears, so I’m guessing their definition of “classical music” was about as broad as Rick Wakeman’s.  Where specific songs begin and end on this album is anyone’s guess sometimes, as each side is treated as a seamless whole with names given to different sections.  If that reminds you a bit of Yes, keep in mind that some of the titles on this album – “The Sub-Sylvan Litanies”, “The Southwestern Geriatric Arts and Crafts Festival” and “Moonsong: Pelog” actually manage to make Jon Anderson look humble.  “Kalyani” begins our journey with some creepy wailing female vocals that sound like descending harpies buzzing from speaker to speaker, and I mean that in a good way.  It almost sounds like a rehearsal session for Pink Floyd’s “On the Run”, with various synthesizer and electronic textures panning from left to right, with only a single continuous organ chord providing any sense of stability or structure.  This is followed by the album’s first words, the repeated phrase “Waitin’ to die…waitin’ to die.”  No “feel good hit of the summer” here, folks.  This leads directly into the first proper “song” on the album, “You Can’t Ever Come Down”, which not only borrows its title somewhat from the USA album, but also sounds an awful lot like that album.  This is prime fuzzed out electronic psychedelia, riddled with acid and fried like a hallucinogenic potato skin.  Apparently this new chick likes it rougher than Dorothy Moskowitz, because Joe and the Field Hippies’ kick it up a notch and come off sounding heavier and harder-edged than even the raunchiest USA bits.  The title was also a lie, because they do come down after this, softly and gently into the beautiful “Moonsong: Pelog,” which, for a while, sounds like the prettiest and most exquisite femme psych you’ll ever hear, until she starts singing “Come die with me” like some suicidal Sinatra.  There’s a theme here, and it aint a pretty one.  Side 2 starts off like an old scratchy 78, playing only in the right channel, a gimmick that was used to death by now and already sounding old when Mike Nesmith did it in “Magnolia Simms.”  This leads into “American Bed Music 1”, which is subtitled “Four Dreams for a Departing President”, deep stuff until you realize there are actually SIX parts.  One of ‘em, I can’t tell you which because they all segue together, is prime acid psych much like “You Can’t Ever Come Down” from Side 1 – real United States of America and Fifty Foot Hose goodness.  “And sleep will come in different colors” they sing, while great trippy liquid guitar chords weave in and out of the ether, playing cat-and-mouse with a distorted roller rink organ lifted from some Ray Bradbury carnival midway.  More sample lyrics:  “While 17 realities add flavor to your soup, you’re embarrassed ‘cause you can’t recall their names.”  Which continues Joe’s odd “Lost”-like fascination with the number 17, since on Side 1 he was “waiting to die for the 17th time.”  Go figure.  Our loose “death/old age” theme ends its song cycle (and the album) with the bizarre infomercial “The Southwestern Geriatric Arts and Crafts Festival”, not a song per se but a spoken word ad for a retirement home called Leisure World.  Which bears the slogan “Because you don’t have to stop living when you stop working.”  The Field Hippies even write a jingle for it.     I can’t claim to know what most of “American Metaphysical Circus” is about, because, frankly, I stopped eating mushrooms ten years ago.  But as a landmark of early electronic experimental psychedelic rock, it’s a worthy successor to the mighty United States of America album.  It may not be as pretty, but it sure is weird.  This is an original 1969 pressing on the Columbia Masterworks label.  Cover's in VG shape due to large radio station song list on the front (did any station even PLAY this?), price sticker on front and some tape residue.  All seams intact, no splits.  Vinyl plays VG+ with some crackle underneath, Side 1 Track 1 has a click through most of the song.

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