Joseph Hunter Byrd, Jr. (born December 19, 1937) is an American composer, musician and academic. After first becoming known as an experimental composer in New York City and Los Angeles in the early and mid-1960s, he became the leader of The United States of America, an innovative but
short-lived band that integrated electronic sound and radical political ideas into rock music. In 1968 he recorded the album The American Metaphysical Circus, credited to Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies. After working as a record producer, arranger, and soundtrack composer, he became a university teacher in music history and theory. After receiving his M.A.(Master Of Arts), from Stanford in 1960, he relocated to New York City to study with avant garde composers Morton Feldman and John Cage; according to Byrd, he became Cage's last student. Byrd became a part of the proto-Fluxus experiments that were emerging at that time in conjunction with Young, Charlotte Moorman (Byrd's girlfriend at one point), Yoko Ono, Jackson Mac Low (he participated in An Anthology of Chance Operations) and others. Byrd took an eclectic approach in his compositions. He continued to work with La Monte Young, who organised the first concert of Byrd's music in Yoko Ono's loft in March 1961.
The American Metaphysical Circus is a 1969 album by Joseph "Joe" Byrd. It was recorded after his departure from the band The United States of America, and featured some of the earliest recorded work in rock music extensively utilizing synthesizers and vocoder, along with an extended group of West Coast studio musicians Byrd named "The Field Hippies"
The subject of critical acclaim, the album spent over two months in the lower regions of the Billboard charts; still, the United States of America disbanded soon after, with Byrd resurfacing in 1969 with The
American Metaphysical Circus, credited to Joe Byrd & the Field Hippies, a group of a dozen musicians including vocalists Susan de Lange, Victoria Bond, and Christie Thompson. A critical and commercial failure, the LP was his last until 1975, at which time he released Yankee Transcendoodle, a collection of synthesizer pieces. Three years later, Byrd also produced Ry Cooder's Jazz album, and in 1980 he issued another synthesizer record, Christmas Yet to Come. He additionally wrote for films, television, and advertising jingles. Fellow United States of America alum Dorothy Moskowitz, meanwhile, later resurfaced in Country Joe McDonald's All-Star Band, with the remaining members of the group essentially disappearing from the contemporary music scene.
Byrd then received the support of John McClure, head of Columbia's Masterworks classical music division, to record a second album. He recorded The American Metaphysical Circus, credited to Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies, later in 1968. The album again made use of synthesizers and vocoder, along with an extended group of West Coast studio musicians including Tom Scott, guitarist Ted Greene, and uncredited bassist Harvey Newmark.[13] According to Byrd, the whole album was written and recorded within a few weeks, apart from one song, "You Can't Ever Come Down", originally written for the United States of America. He said: "It was a real chaotic time... frantic.... The songs had to be churned out, and ultimately there was not enough material.... Columbia decided that no rock musician could be called Joseph, and told me they were going to call it Joe Byrd and…. The musicians had been close during the traumatic sessions, and Ted Greene, pointing out that we were really not city hippies, called us The Field Hippies, so I used that name. By then I was exhausted fighting for stuff."
As a "conductor" and organ/electronic synthesizer player, Byrd is very much the leader of this circus. With a couple drummers, a half-dozen horn players (including a young Tom Scott), three female vocalists, and a half-dozen or so other musicians popping up over the course of the album, there are a
lot more people involved in this project than there were in the (relatively) stable lineup of the United States of America. Despite the ambition of this LP, it ultimately serves to illustrate just how Byrd benefited from the unique synergy provided by the other members of the U.S.A. There are all kinds of adventurous electronics and eclectic ideas bouncing back and forth, but the songwriting is simply not as strong as that of Byrd's previous group. The best songs are the ones which most strongly recall the U.S.A. in their spacy melodicism ("Moonsong: Pelog") and driving psychedelic pulse ("You Can't Ever Come Down").
Joe Byrd And The Field Hippies – The American Metaphysical Circus
Label: Acadia – ACAM 8144
Format: CD, Album, Reissue 2007
Country: UK
Released: 1969
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Experimental
TRACKS
The Sub-Sylvian Litanies
01. Kalyani (Lead Vocals, Voice [Electronic Voice] – Victoria Bond) 3:50
02. You Can't Ever Come Down (Backing Vocals – Joseph Byrd, Vickie/Lead Vocals – Susan De Lange) 2:58
03. Moonsong: Pelog (Lead Vocals – Susan) 3:47
American Bedmusic I - Four Dreams For A Departing President
04. Patriot's Lullabye (Lead Vocals – Vickie) 2:44
05. Nightmare Train (Lead Vocals – Joseph) 3:23
06. Invisible Man (Lead Vocals – Joseph/Music By – Pot) 3:31
07. Mister 4th Of July (Lead Vocals – Christie Thompson/Written-By – Lisa Kindred) 1:46
Gospel Music For Abraham Ruddell Byrd III
08. Gospel Music (Performer – The J. Hunter Byrd Gospel Band) 4:28
The Southwestern Geriatrics Arts And Crafts Festival
09. The Sing-Along Song (Vocals – Joseph) 4:00
10. The Elephant At The Door (Backing Vocals – Joseph, Vickie/Lead Vocals – Susan) 5:10
11. Leisure World (Lead Vocals – Vickie/Voice [Announcer] – Ernie Anderson) 1:33
12. The Sing-Along Song (Reprise) (Vocals – Joseph) 0:44
Bass Trombone – Chuck Bennett
Clarinet – Fred Selden, Tom Scott
Conductor – Joseph Byrd, Pot
Cornet – Don Kerian
Flugelhorn – Ed Sheftel
Flute – Dana Chalberg, Fred Selden, Meyer Hirsch, Tom Scott
Guitar – Ted Greene
Guitar [Classical] – Michael Whitney
Organ, Synthesizer [Electronic] – Joseph Byrd
Percussion, Drums – Gregg Kovner, John Clauder
Piano, Harpsichord – Pot
Piccolo Flute [Piccolo] – Dana Chalberg
Producer – Joseph Byrd
Producer [Assistant Producer] – Dana Chalberg
Saxophone – Fred Selden, Meyer Hirsch, Tom Scott
Tabla – Larry Kass
Trombone [Tenor], Tuba – Ray Cappocchi
Trumpet – Don Kerian, Ed Sheftel
Vocals – Christie Thompson, Joseph Byrd, Susan De Lange, Victoria Bond
Written-By, Arranged By – Joseph Byrd
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