Gary McFarland - America The Beautiful (1968) 320 kbps

Tracklist

01. On This Site Shall Be Erected... [04:35]
02. 80 Miles An Hour Through Beer-Can Country [09:08]
03. Suburbia: Two Poodles And A Plastic Jesus [04:42]
04. If I'm Elected... [06:20]
05. Last Rites For The Promised Land [04:41]
06. Due To Lack Of Interst, Tommorrow Has Been Cancelled [08:35]

One of Gary McFarland's major works, this orchestral jazz suite (originally on Skye and reissued on CD by the audiophile DCC Jazz label) utilizes a big band and some strings along with the influence of rock, classical, and jazz. The six-movement piece is ultimately a bit downbeat about the future of the United States as seen from 1968. The emphasis is on the ensembles rather than any individual voices, and the overall results are certainly listenable but less memorable than one might hope considering the potential scope of the work.~Scott Yanow