Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs Present State Of The Union ~ The American Dream In Crisis 1967-1973

By mid-1968 there was a growing consensus that something had gone horribly wrong with the American dream. The nation s 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 Orbison's seven-minute Southbound Jericho Parkway), and forgotten gems by some of the biggest names in the business (Elvis Presley's Clean Up Your Own Back Yard). Reactions to America's existential crisis ranged in subject matter from divorce (Frank Sinatra's The Train) and the break-up of the nuclear family (The Four Seasons Saturday's Father), to eulogies for fallen heroes (Dion's Abraham Martin and John), sympathy for Vietnam vets (Johnny Tillotson's Welfare Hero), the church's institutional racism (Eartha Kitt's intense Paint Me Black Angels), and even questioning the ethics of the space programme (Bing Crosby's 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 today's 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

1    Clean Up Your Own Backyard - Elvis Presley
2    Brand New Day - Della Reese
3    Abraham, Martin and John - Dion
4    The Train - Frank Sinatra
5    Saturday's Father - The Four Seasons
6    4th of July - The Beach Boys
7    Wine in the Wind - Anita Kerr & The Anita Kerr Singers
8    What Do We Do With the World? - Bing Crosby
9    Lord of the Manor - The Everly Brothers
10    Hitchhiker - The Four Preps
11    Paint America Love - Lou Christie
12    Mr Businessman - Ray Stevens
13    Paint Me Black Angels - Eartha Kitt
14    Southbound Jericho Parkway - Roy Orbison
15    Questions - Bobby Darin
16    This Crazy World - Paul Anka
17    Take a Letter Maria - Mel Tormé
18    Cherrystones - Eugene McDaniels
19    Some People Sleep - The Tokens
20    Cardboard California - Buddy Greco
21    Do You Believe This Town - Dean Martin
22    Welfare Hero - Johnny Tillotson
23    Save the Children - Teresa Brewer
24    Revolution - The Brothers Four