State of the Union (The American Dream In Crisis 1967 - 1973)

With their amazing compilation State of the Union, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs turned an eye towards how both early rock and rollers and even older singers had grappled with their times, lyrically, sonically or both, in response. Kicking off with Elvis Presley and the Mac Davis-written attack on religious hypocrites “Clean Up Your Own Back Yard,” there’s plenty of rightly-famed examples to note, such as Dion’s legendary comeback single “Abraham, Martin and John” and “The Train,” a selection from Frank Sinatra’s remarkable divorce concept album Watertown. The rarities are often something else, as with Roy Orbison’s truly bonkers suicide melodrama “Southbound Jericho Parkway” and the Everly Brothers delivering swampy soap opera funk on “Lord Of The Manor.”