American Metaphysical Circus

Joe Byrd & the Field Hippies, Joe Byrd | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 30, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: One Way Records Inc
• ASIN: B000002R51
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,510 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Kalyani

2. You Can't Ever Come Down

3. Moonsong: Pelog

4. Four Dreams for a Departing President: Patriot's Lullabye

5. Four Dreams for a Departing President: Nightmare Train

6. Four Dreams for a Departing President: Invisible Man

7. Four Dreams for a Departing President: Mister 4th of July

8. Gospel Music

9. The Sing-Along Song

10. The Elephant at the Door

11. Leisure World

12. The Sing-Along Song (Reprise)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sophisticated experimental art rock, April 29, 2002

By 

"tony6483" (Wausau, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Metaphysical Circus (Audio CD)

This incredibly creative concept album from the psychedelic 60's deserves to be more widely known. I'm glad I snapped up the CD when it was briefly reissued a few years ago (Sorry, I don't know where to find it today. But keep asking for it!) I had worn my original vinyl out some time ago.

Although it's clearly a "concept album", I wonder just what the concept was ?

Never mind. The music covers a very wide musical spectrum.

Joe Byrd, the band leader and composer was classically trained (he is now a professor of music history) and it shows on this album, even through the hard rock songs.

...

"The Sub-Sylvian Litanies" is haunting music in an alien tongue on an ancient phrygian scale. What more do you need to know ?

"You Can't Ever Come Down" is a bad acid trip set to heavy electric rock music (think "White Rabbit").
"All of the doors lead you further inside. Thousands of eyes and there's no place to hide..."

"Moonsong: Pelog" is a very pretty tune with highly suggestive lyrics, anticipating Sheena Easton's "Sugar Walls" by more than a decade. But the singer's voice sounds so angelic it's hard to believe she could be saying such things !

"Patriot's Lullabye" is my personal favorite. A beautiful choral piece that leads you into an aural NeverNeverland... until some of the lyrics sink in and you realize the song is actually ABOUT lulling citizens into a political deep sleep using soothing patriotic themes and melodies. ( Could this have any relevance today ? No, I don't mean to imply anything by that. Honest.)

"The Sing-Along Song" is a catchy little theme repeated in a variety of old-folk styles, including the legendary Lawrence Welk "a-one-a-and-a-two-a" bubbly sound. It's wickedly funny.

This album is not for everybody. But if you found your way here you probably already know that ! The Salon story mentions that Joe Byrd is "actually a bit embarrassed about the album's odd, trippy feel."

Why is that, Joe ? This is a period piece. But great stuff all the same. The story notes that Portishead (no less !) was looking to cover one of his songs. How, like, HAPPENING is that, baby ?

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The penultimate psychedelic experience, April 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: American Metaphysical Circus (Audio CD)

After his first album with a band called "United States of America," Joe Byrd released this, his masterpiece, in 1969. Even without the aid of mind-expanding drugs it is obvious that metaphysics is central to the overall theme of this great concept album.

The first section, "The Sub-Sylvian Litanies," is an attempt to turn reality inside-out. Literally meaning "beneath the forest," its three odes get right to the core of our very existence. It employs themes built upon the fourth degree of the octal scale, a Greek mode called phrygian.

The middle section, "Four Songs for a Departing President," are a slap in the face to former president Lyndon Johnson. It is a condemnation of both his "Great Society" movement and his perpetuation of the Vietnam War. "Gospel Music" is a tribute to Byrd's brother, Ruddell, who was imprisoned at Leavinworth for evading the draft.

Finally, the third section deals with aging under the sub-heading "The Southwestern Geriatrics Arts & Crafts Festival." Often morose and overly nostalgic, it nevertheless presents a clear view of the way our elders are shuffled off to nursing homes to await death.

The song writing and arrangements are superb, the use of synthesizers is tasteful and the theme is awesome. You have to get out of the box to receive the full experience this album has to offer.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, December 30, 2004

By 

G. D. Pincus (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Metaphysical Circus (Audio CD)

I first heard this album when I was in high school and have over the years worn out two copies of the LP. A friend of mine recently located the album on vinyl and made me a CD. The more you listen, the more you hear...it's absolutely brilliant.

I recently ordered a CD of "The United States of America," also by Joe Byrd. And while TUSOA precedes TAMC--it includes a number of tracks that reappear on TAMC in more refined form--and some consider it the greatest experimental/psychedelic recording of the 1960s, I still feel The American Metaphysical Circus is the masterpiece of this genre.