"Best of 2018" - "Pay attention to the subtitle of Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs Present State of the Union: The American Dream in Crisis 1967-1973. That phrase hints at the turmoil in the United States as the Summer of Love rolled into a violent, turbulent 1968 and the country as a whole began to take stock of Vietnam, the Civil Rights Movement, and the legacy of the hippie dream. Stanley and Wiggs document this shift by focusing on establishment artists reckoning with all of these changes, usually with the assistance of strings and warped echoes of psychedelia. What makes State of the Union such a compelling listen -- and important historical document - is that the 24 featured artists are divided between accidental tourists, pandering pop stars, and genuine works of art".