USA Union

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USA Union
Studio album by John Mayall

Publication
(s)

1970

Label (s) Polydor

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

blues

Title (number)

10

occupation
  • Vocals, guitar: John Mayall

production

John Mayall

Studio (s)

Larrabee Studio, Los Angeles

chronology
Empty Rooms
(1969) 		USA Union Back to the Roots
(1971)

USA Union is the 14th album by British blues musician John Mayall .

History of origin

John Mayall lived from 1969 to 1971 in Laurel Canyon , a residential area of Los Angeles that is very popular with musicians . Since his band - with the exception of himself - consisted only of Americans, he chose a title that should make the cooperation clear. For him it was the first time that he only worked with Americans.

The line-up is unusual in several respects, for example the lack of a drummer. The band wanted to create a calm blues atmosphere and move away from the standardized urban blues driven by the drum metrics , which came from Chicago in particular and dominated the scene. The use of a violin is also unusual , an instrument rather untypical for the blues.

The accompanying booklet is also worth mentioning : Mayall wrote a text there about how to avoid damaging the environment ; this is a very early example of a musician's commitment to environmental policy . Since he also worked a lot with Canned Heat at the time, he had found a partner for such topics in Alan Wilson . The reason for this text is the first song on the sound carrier called Nature's Disappearing (German: "The nature disappears"). All of the songs were written by John Mayall, who also created the album's design and images.

The album was recorded at Larrabee Studios, Los Angeles on July 27th and 28th, 1970. The next two days were spent mixing and editing the album. This work was done by John Judnich. The four musicians presented the fruits of their work on the American Concert Tour that followed.

Track list

  1. Nature's Disappearing - 5:56
  2. You Must Be Crazy - 3:55
  3. Night Flyer - 5:33
  4. Off the Road - 2:47
  5. Possessive Emotions - 5:20
  6. Where Did My Legs Go - 3:45
  7. Took the Car - 4:08
  8. Crying - 6:27
  9. My Pretty Girl - 4:21
  10. Deep Blue Sea - 5:06