United Sons of America - "Greetings From The U.S. of A." (1970)

The story has been told before, an album found for a cheap price in a second-hand store, a cover that looks pretty cool, the recording year was 1970. And of course, the cliché on the back that This album was made to be played loud. Well, it was worth a shot.

United Sons of America recorded only this album, which, at least here in Montreal, you regularly find in the second-hand stores. It usually costs around 2-3 dollars. The members were Gerry Blake, Jerry Ritchey, Steve Woods, Mike Hulstis and Richard Freeman. Their possibly continued musical careers are hidden in the dark, as well as more information about the band, despite the infinite resources of the internet. A bit of a mystery.

It's an alright album, nothing out of the ordinary, but no worse than anything else put on a vinyl. Blues based rock, with some splashes of psychedelia, funk and maybe soul. At times I get some Steppenwolf vibes, although United Sons of America is more gentle. Half of the songs are covers, while the band is responsible for one half, Blake is the main songwriter. He has among other things written the record's opening song, Tomorrow Is Today, which is one of the album's better songs, at least the first half of it (the second half is kind of boring). Then there are a lot of blues rock songs, sung with a raspy voice, which is not really my thing. None of these songs are in any way above others in the same genre. Somewhere, a cheesy ballad is thrown in with strings, which is also not a favorite, even though the flute partially rescues the song.

But towards the end it becomes more interesting, and the two final numbers. Children Of Mist is a beautiful ballad, or at least a calmer song, which is really groovy. Church organ and saxophone in the same song can't go wrong. The final Friends is also fun, written by the entire band and clocks in at almost nine minutes, which takes the listener towards the progressive landscape that was under construction these years. A song that winds a little here and there, where the instrumental parts are the best.

Overall not a must in the collection, but nothing to be ashamed of.


Tracklist

Side A
1 Tomorrow Is Today 5:20
2 Tumble On You / Waitin' On You 5:00
3 We've Only Just Begun 2:15
4 Cultivation 5:24

Side B
1 Forget It, I Got It 2:20
2 Dear World 2:26
3 Children Of Mist 4:08
4 Friends 8:40