USA Union
Artist: John Mayall
Label: Polydor
Released: 1970
Number of Tracks: 10
Duration: n/a
Website: https://www.johnmayall.com
Review by Charles "Dutch" Metzker
USA Union is a 1970 album by John Mayall, featuring Harvey Mandel on guitar, Larry Taylor on bass and Don “Sugarcane” Harris on violin. The album was recorded on July 27 & 28th, 1970, at Larrabee Studios in LA and released by Polydor later in the same year.
With his new all-American line up, Mayall pursued the jazzy blues experiment documented on his live album The Turning Point. This unusual format (electric guitars by Mayall and Mandel, Mayall playing piano and harmonica as well, Harris’s electric violin, Taylor’s acoustic and electric bass, and no drums) the band created a unique sound and recorded this series of songs mostly chronicling Mayall’s then-romance with Nancy Throckmorton (a theme he first visited on Empty Rooms), who provided some photography for the album jacket. “Nature’s Disappearing,” the album’s opening song, dealt with environmental issues, the only song on the album that didn’t address Mayall’s romance.
Side 1
Track 1: Nature’s Disappearing is a 1970s anthem to stop polluting air, land, and water, with haunting harmonica work. 5:50
Track 2. You Must Be Crazy – A piece relating to possibly unrequited love with upbeat guitar work. 3:55
Track 3. Night Flyer – I can’t stand being away from you so even though it’s dark and raining I’m getting in a cab and heading your way. 5:35
Track 4. Off the Road – Upbeat and swinging with jazzy guitar licks. 2:50
Track 5. Possessive Emotions – A song about jealousy: thinking very annoying thoughts about you while you’re gone away. 5:20
Side 2
Track 1. Where Did My Legs Go? – Ever go over the line with drinking?! You can probably relate to this one plus stride piano work too. 3:45
Track 2. Took the Car – Let’s get away from everything for a while and drive up to Apache canyon building a fire — a brief escape anyway. 4:05
Track 3. Crying – plaintive violin work starts this one off-reflecting remorse over abusing his woman. Ouch! 6:25
Track 4. My Pretty Girl – an upbeat ditty that might be a counterpoint to Crying. 4:20
Track 5. Deep Blue Sea – What a happy song-on the beach with his lady and enjoying the underwater scenery-cool finish to the album. 5:10
Dutch rates this 8.5/10, one of my top 25 albums of all time.
