Reviews (page 5 of 7)
Spacey, trippy, bluesy psych rock. You can tell the genre and its conventions, and particularly its experimental elements, are still up in the air as this isn’t the most exciting album in a lot of ways, but it’s a fun and approachable listen.
Best Song: Love. This one had that hectic energy that I like from early rock. Worst Song: Porpoise Mouth. I've never really liked a waltz. Overall: Respectably decent early rock. Sounds no different from most of the genre and I am all but guaranteed to forget both the band name and album title immediately after listening. But while it was here, it was alright.
meh
Pretty by-the-numbers 60’s psych/blues rock. Can’t *quite* beat contemporaries like Jefferson Airplane or Big Brother and the Holding company. Still, the Lyndon Johnson track is a bit highlight.
God I wish doctor strange and the fantastic four would help me force lbj back onto the farm.
Fine, just kinda...boring?
Generic 60s hippie stuff, was ok
Country Joe ken ik eerlijk gezegd enkel van Woodstock dvd's. Zijn iconische 'What's that spell? -FUCK!' moment met daarop volgend I-Feel-Like-Fixin'-To-Die Rag zal bij menig overjaarse hippie wel kiekevel veroorzaken. Country Joe & The Fish was het op het lijf geschreven om op dat legendarische podium te staan. Dit is de eerste keer dat ik er eens een album van in zijn geheel beluister. Het ging er wel in, zoals de meeste 60's psychedelica met de nodige weirdness en typische orgelriedeltjes, maar er is niks dat mij gaat bijblijven achteraf. Er zijn andere bands die hetzelfde beter doen of gedaan hebben.
Started better than if finished
It was fine, idk some of the 60s and 70s rock start to blend together for me. Cool band and album name tho!
Haven’t ever really listened to these guys other than a couple of songs from their Woodstock set. Pretty good stuff. Really dig the dark and moody Bass Strings.
pretty cool sometimes
Super Bird was my favorite, the rest felt strong enough to enjoy listening to. I'm sure it I was smoking while listening, it would have been even better.
Highly recommend taking an edible and listening to this by a campfire. That’s how I enjoyed it.
Funky stoner music, a little more on the chill side than the doors. Liked a few of the songs plenty.
Crazy 60s psych which was fun, but I won't be going back to
goed oldschool scheurende gitaren
Didn’t she very well. Maybe it was influential back then but to me it’s not that interesting. But it had some good tunes !
Some good songs but it was alright
Decent psychedelic music, I would give it a 3.5 if I could. The LBJ song was one of the best.
снова старьё которое я в каверах встречала! норм но не увлекло
Really I haven't listened to any Country Joe apart from the Woodstock film with the bouncing ball over the lyrics to his Vietnam song he was performing. Thought he was interesting, but listening to an entire album was a challenge. Kinda psych, kinda bluesy and folky, the songs and lyrics were okay, but underwhelming with some songs a bit too long. So, I'm surprised to read he's recorded 33 albums and had a career spanning 60 years! Impressive, good for him.
Nett, bisschen durcheinander
Pretty decent psych music. A bit rudimentary but not bad.
There are better versions of this style of music than this album by Country Joe & The Fish - heck there's even better versions by Country Joe!
It’s mediocre psychedelia—which this list has an excess of. It’s worse than its influences (old school rock and roll, folk, Hindustani classical music)—all of which this list has a lack of. There are solid moments, and their use of synths feels a little fresh. “It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a man insane, it’s my president LBJ” is a hilariously bad line.
Interesting. I was half expecting more dull midpaced 70s rock, but this was a charming combination of jug band instruments and cod eastern psychedelia. I loved that they were trying to make something different, even if some of the coded humour is a little too obvious. Would have been a 4, but the stereo mix of "drums in one ear, organ in the other" was just a bit too off putting.
Decent psych, hadn’t heard of it before. I like the song ”Super Bird”
something tells me this album might be from the 60s idk
AJ: cool jams. Psycho dellic nonsense. Had me till porpoise mouth. Too. Much. Acid.
Much copied and mostly bettered.
Psychedelic rock/jam band. Pretty fun
It was OK - document of its time I suppose
puolet poppimusiikkia, puolet huume hörhöily häröilyä...meikä poika käyttää huumausaineita heh...kirjotanpa siitä biisiä....... SUATANAN SENTÄÄN....saa hävetä silmät päästä.. tommonen turpiin tollasia. vanhoina aikoina, ei MITÄÄN HUUMEITA OLTIIN HUUMEVASTAISIA!!! nykyään halutaan kaiken maailman hallusigeenejä politiikan isot kihot haluaa huume joen virratana suomeen HUUMEITA TUOKAA TUOKAA... vihreät haluaa TUHOAA KOKO MAAN... death sound
Good country blues I feel
Needs another listen
Just an average classic rock album
mmm
I know that Country Joe & The Fish played at Woodstock, but I'm not sure if I've ever heard a complete track from the band. I didn't find anythign obviously objectionable on Electric Music For the Mind and Body, but nothing really drew me in either. The music rests just outside of psychodelia, and not quite something that you'd call Rock and Roll either. The lyrics and vocals aren't particularly endearing either. My favorite track from the album was "Section 43", which had some experimentation to it. I was left wondering how this album and the artist fit in to the overall context of rock and popular music. I couldn't place the music. I guess the album was okay, but I'll soon forget what I heard.
Always been intrigued by these since I read Paul Doggett's epic book about the counter culture from the 60s and beyond There's a Riot Going On. A cracking and thorough read. Country Joe and Joan Baez seem to have played every benefit going to support the cause against Vietnam. I know Maoism (who called revolutionaries "the fish who swim among the sea of the people") had a big boom around this time but seems mad to me to also name yourself after Stalin, particularly as a leftie - perhaps too much history between us and that decision. The music, I've heard bits of over the years but it's never stuck particularly. There's Doorsy keyboards (is that a Hammond?) particularly on the long instrumental Section 43 which I enjoyed, probably the strongest thing here. Reminds me of Inspiral Carpets as well. Apparently Clint used a Farfisa Compact which sounded like a Hammond. When the vocals kick back in the next songs though I'm dropped back down to earth as it's fairly sub standard psych rock, there's better examples in the period. But definitely an interesting band. Go listen to fixin to die rag though, you shouldn't move on from this band without hearing that mad hoedown. Also fun fact, the fish cheer was sampled by Death in Vegas for 'Dirt'.
There is nothing overtly negative to say about this album, but it does wear its time and place on its sleeve in a way that indicates a dearth of truly spaced out freak-outs with truly colorful images to grab a hold of the psyche. Maybe these guys need a bigger platform, and a bigger crowd, to espouse their issues with the country they live in. They've already got a song about, maybe they can craft one more. But this'll do. Favorites: Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine, Death Sound, Section 43, Super Bird, Bass String.
Reminds me what i think grateful dead must sound like. 3 stars is generous.
kinda average psych rock
Scrapes a 3 but I'm not happy about it.
Enjoyable overall. Some quite bluesy moments. Some songs sound like the Beatles, some sound like the Doors. And other weird interesting psychedelic things.
This wasn't terrible at all and I guess it was quite interesting to listen to something like this - something I've never heard of before. The use of such extreme stereo was irritating though - I guess this is in the quite early days of stereo recording being standard so I can understand why people were experimenting with it, but I imagine that these days this would be better listened to via a mono speaker. For me at least. It's OK but I'm not going to seek it out to play very frequently. So it's a 3.
It’s solid not great though, section 43 in particular is a very odd duck. But it’s not horrible 3/5
Had its moments. Could have done with slightly less of that organ.
Similar to countless other 60s albums. Cool guitar work though.
Ultimately a rather uneventful and plain album
Not entirely sure what to make of this. Really bluesy in some parts, obviously really psychedelic in others. Meanwhile, ‘Porpoise Mouth’ is a just a shit song and its omission along with the two instrumentals (which add nothing in my opinion), would have made this a tighter and probably more enjoyable listen.
Tres quarts d'hora d'exercici psicodèlic, lisèrgic, experimental per moments. Molt del moment i molt per experimentar en el correcte estat d'alteració mental
Not as bad as I thought it would be. Definitely of the era.
Great psychedelic album.
Nice jams with some mid cuts mixed in
Psychedelic baby! Horrible band name, but Country Joe and the Fish were actually quite cool. Electric Music For The Mind is obviously very much a product of it's time, and specifically San Francisco at a certain time, but there really is something liberating about the sound.
A quite psychedelic album from a man called Country Joe. Country Joe and The Fish and their band coincidentally named Country Joe and The Fish delivers some nice tunes and while I’m never over the top, I’m never bored.
Takes more time to get into, but definitely worth it. Solid. 3.5
If you told me these guys never actually recorded an album but just spontaneously formed to play that Fish Cheer and Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die and then vanished Id have probably believed you until today. This is an acceptable late 60s bluesy, psychedelic album by a band from San Francisco. Fun fact apropos of nothing really: "Country" Joe McDonald was named after Joe Stalin
San Francisco psychers produced about what one would expect, with similarities - but strong! - to the Doors. LBJ lines aren't groundbreaking but clever enough to giggle at, and the ending gives the record a good bit of weight.
Eh
This is like jam band music for the 60s. And what’s with every jam band having some sort of fish involved with them. This was okay. It had some good 60s rock sounds and continued into different paths of psychedelic and harder rock. The biggest problem was how long some of the songs were where there wasn’t much substance. It seems like a good precursor to a lot of music but not something I’d revisit a ton. 6.1/10
What an eclectic mix of sounds and styles. Somehow it all gels together into a fantastic melange. A psychedelic, heady mix of politics and drugs so redolent of 1967, and its summer of Love. I was also reminded of the Doors and a bit of Jefferson Airplane. The homage to Grace Slick was quite appropriate, since Joe’s, at times, androgynous voice actually sounded like Grace Slick. I would feel quite happy to come back and explore more of this. It’s more of a 3.5 for me….
I enjoyed this more than expected. My affinity for jam bands is limited, and I had in mind that these guys were something of a San Fran psychedelic noodle fest. Well, the 3-star rating undersells my impression of the album — there's more to the band than I thought. I appreciated the overt political criticisms and a number of the songs, particularly in the first half of the album. Things trailed off into noodle-land a bit as the album played on, which notched this back a little from the promise of the opening. But I liked Country Joe plenty good, and I won't shy away from listening if this ever gets teed up again.
Some good stuff here, some maybe not as good experimental stuff here.
I've never listened to this before and it's not bad. I will revisit this to see if it clicks with me.
Awesome acid rock with some real trippy songs. Not sure about the tone of the album but hey, it was recorded in 1967.
Yup, I was a fan but listening now I wish the vocals were stronger. The music and mix of hippie, anti war, get high and free spirit kind of music with some country and soulful stuff is still holding up. Just not the vocal performances. My teenage self would have given them a 5.
Not really good, not really bad. Not worth it, though.
I can hear this albums influence in other albums to come out of California soon after. Not bad.
Just ok. Got a little repetitive toward the end.
Made zero impression
Enjoyed my first listen of these guys.
Generally pretty good. Pretty clearly second tier San Francisco psychedelia. Which is ok. Country Joe.
This is fine
Un bon album de Psychedelic rock, je reconnais un son qui a été utilisé mainte et mainte fois après cet album. Je comprend son iclusion dans la liste. 3.5
HL: "Death Sound", "Section 43", "Masked Marauder”, "Porpoise Mouth" Something about the organ tone irritated me, but that might be a production/digital master issue. As in, it was too loud and too treble-y. I did like this (woo, 60s psychedelia) but I didn’t love it, and it’s valuable to me more for filling in the gaps of that 67-70 rock era, than as an album I want to put on repeat. Ya dig? February 7, 2023
Good
Exact wat ik van dit album verwachtte. Niet slecht, maar ook niet zo goed
I liked this wayyyyyyy more than I thought I was going to. Definitely going into my "things to explore more" list.
Écoute très agréable, j'aime les accents de blues, le mariage des synthétiseurs et de l'harmonica, comme une façon d'explorer la modernité sans perdre la tradition. Belles mélodies, belle atmosphère.
Very chill album. I enjoyed listening to it even though this isn't really my type of music.
Pretty good
like the Stones, but less terrible
This is pretty good, very much of its time. Loose, bluesy, jammy, druggy late 60s psychedelia. Shades of better bands like the Doors and Jefferson Airplane. The quality of the songs picks up as the album progresses. There are threads of some interesting stuff in here and it's probably a notable album of that genre, but I can't imagine coming back to it. Fave Songs: Bass Strings, Sad and Lonely Times, Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine, Superbird
I wasn’t a huge fan of this. All the songs sort of run together. Moments in here shine. Those moments grabbed me by my ear and lead the way for me. Otherwise fairly forgettable.
I reckon I owned this vinyl for 40 years until somebody made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Thankfully I burned a copy onto disc before I sold it. It wasn’t an album I was mad about but when I played it today it actually sounded better than I remember. I always loved Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine. It sure sounds like the period that it came from. And a nice time it was.
Nice, easy sounding album. Guitar playing is fine but not outstanding. In all I think it merits more hearings to really get into it. Nice, but not sure I'll devote the time it needs to grow on the ear.
too many solos
Descends into weirdness and stays there for long long time
3/5. A fun political album, with some jamming vibes. I can tell they are having fun but not necessarily great musicianship.
Weird, not very good. But I didn't hate it.
It's fine. Nothing remarkable but nothing offensive. Just... fine.
Idk fine typical sixties psychedelic
I had never heard of these guys. Based on album cover and 1967 - i figured jazz infused drug rock. I was correct. Not my typical jam but hit a groove. Very Janis + Doors + Grateful Dead.
Psychedelic rock.
Lite psykadeliskt. Lite blues. Lite folk. Helt okej.
the Doors -vibat tuli. Positiivinen yllätys kun en ollu ikinä kuullukkaan koko bändistä. Olihan tossa vähän sekavampaakin settiä välissä mut hyvää musisointiahan tää oli. Paras biisi: Flying high Huonoin biisi: Section 43
70s hippie
this could have been written by absolutely anyone form that era as it pretty much all sounded like this. nothing to write home about.
Nothing particularly notable, but not objectively bad. 3.5
Solid psychedelic rock. The highlight of the album is Barry Melton's guitar playing. I'm surprised I've never heard of him (or the band as a whole). Gets a littler weirder than I'd prefer at times, but that's par for the course with psychedelic stuff.
Pretty chill trippy album, will probably need to give it a couple more listens
ganske nice
6/10. Fairly enjoyable, not what I would have expected from the title, but about what I'd expect from the artist's name and the year.
Pretty boring considering how much of this late 60s psych rock is on the list. 5/10
Not the biggest fan of this type of rock
I was not in the mood for this when listening, so that probably didnt help, but I get it. I just feel like I've heard it better in other bands.
Very, very 1967. Some nice moments here and there, but nothing that really stuck out for me. Mostly, it felt very much of its time and that can be fun. This was good background.
I’ve listened to this album before and found it generally fun to listen to.
Not too bad. Enjoyed some parts of it, some were too long for my taste.
Some Beatles esque type stuff with some bluesy shredding. Lots of synths sound like something out of a ninja turtle movie and beeping noises
The only country Joe song I knew was the classic Feel I’m Fixing to Die on the Woodstock album. There is a lot of good playing here. Decent psychedelic and some jamming that sounds like it could be The Doors sans Ray.
Though I knew he played at Woodstock, I couldn't have told you much about the sound of Country Joe and the Fish. It sounds like they discovered psychedelic after they'd already recorded half of a blues rock album. The psychedelic songs like Bass Strings and Grace are interesting, especially for 1967, like something I would have played at 4 in the morning at CKCU.
I liked him but they were never the most talented band from that era. Loved their politics, so so on their music.
For the first album I missed while at ragbrai, this was exactly what I expected it to be based off the title, band name, and year it was released. Pure psychedelic rock and the trippy instrumental tracks are almost always better than the vocals, except for love
Found this a bit meh. Just sounded like Dylan.
Acceptable Psych Rock of the era. There are pretty fun moments, but Psych rock just isn't often great for me. Weird, considering how much it helped spwan some of my favorite genres today.
kinda neat
Didn’t fully concentrate on it but I enjoyed what I heard. 3*
Enjoyed this. Didn't find it too psychedelic and more rockabilly. No more than that though.
60s
Started out a bit boring, twelve bar blues heavy, but kicked up the psychedelia in the back half for some interesting takes.
Intéressant mais pas très plaisant
le début était sympa après c’est malheureusement pas à la hauteur de son titre
Good psychedelic sounds
"One, two, three, what are we fightin' for? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. The next stop is Vietnam." I grew up singing those words from Country Joe all the time, but strangely enough it's the only song I had ever heard by this band until today. This had some nice moments, but a lot of the late 60's psychedelia hasn't aged that well. 3 stars.
05/18/2022 Fun & funky blues. Not bad.
yea would probably be better fucking high on shrooms or weed. Otherwise it's aight
Eh, ok psychedelia I guess. Gave it a couple of listens and it didn't grab me super hard, although neither was it all that objectionable. Fave track - "Section 43" - I like a bit of psychedelic noodling...
I listened to it, didn't think it was anything amazing, but it wasn't too bad either. I think if I were more familiar with it I would like it. I'd add this one to my list of albums to hear again. I've heard of the band but never heard any of the music. 3/5
Rock psicodélico
Tendencja do dlugich tytulow sie utrzymuje, ale tym razem cos nowego do posluchania, pierwszy studyjny krazek od Country Joe & The Fish czyli bande rokowo folkowa tworzaca w nurcie psychodelicznym, jak przystalo na album z 67, wiec po albumach byrdsow, beatlesow czy beach bojow doszlo do wysypu psychodeliki, lepszej lub gorszej, ale z pewnoscia goracej, bo albumy ukazywaly sie jak grzyby po deszczu i electric music for the mind and body jest jednym z nich, nagrany w przeciagu tygodnia na zachodnim wybrzezu stanow, w kalifornii, sama banda to pieciosobowy sklad, wiec nie ma tutaj zbyt wiekich eksperymentow instrumentalnych, ale nie zabraklo harmonijki, dzwonkow czy tamburyna, jak przystalo na psychodeliczne melodnie, pojawiaja sie takze modne w tamtym czasie efekciarskie zabiegi zawijania czy fazerowania dzwieku klawiszy czy gitarek, slychac takze ze bylo to nagrywane na spidrunie, bo material jest dosc szorstki od strony technicznej, moze to tez byc kwestia remasatera, bo jakies byly problemy z tasmami na wydanie cd, a slucham akurat spotifajowej wersji, wiec pewnie to co ostatnio sie pojawilo tam bedzie, lirycznie rowniez ciezko o cos odkrywczego, bo sporo o lataniu wysoko, kochaniu nisko i niecodziennej codziennosci psychodelicznej, ale koniec koncow nie sluchalo sie tego zle, 44 minuty i 11 trakow z czego 9 wokaluje Country Joe McDonald i dwa Barry Melton, zdecydowanie ten pierwszy bardziej pasuje do psychodelicznego grania w ktorym jednak sporo folkowych lub country influencji mozna sie doszukac, na plejke leci otwierajacy flying high i jeden z najdziwniejszych tytulow jakie ostatnio widzialem, wiec porpoise mouth, bo takiego okreslenia zwiazengo z seksem oralnym i morswinami jeszcze nie widzialem jak zyje
Experimental and a less cliche side of this time and place that isn't often heard in pop culture. Good listening.
When one of the features of the album cover is "Stereo", you know it's gonna be a throwback. And what a trippy throwback this album is! But I gotta say it isn't bad. Heavy and deep. But it's as advertised. Electric Music for the Mind and Body, with a little bit of blues for the Soul to boot.
Only thing I knew about this band is that they were at Woodstock. Decently enjoyed this album.
Raucous and fun, I enjoyed this!
I really enjoyed it to start but it lost me in the 2nd half. I think other substances would dramatically change my enjoyment of the entire album.
This album is fine. Not bad, not great. Some great guitar licks though.
Pretty solid, especially under certain circumstances
4th January 2021 Listened in the morning when I first got up on first day back at work. Seb and justo came round, Laura made fish and we played ticket to ride. Pure 60s psychedelia, but I liked the bluesy heavy tracks.
Dafür fehlt mir dann doch die Dröhnung. Aber an sich ganz gut, wenn auch manchmal die elektrischen Sounds zu präsent waren
it was alright
Great for the background, was over before I noticed
I like psychedelia but this one gets kinda boring during some of the instrumental passages.
Pretty good psych-rock. I am wavering between a 3 and a 4, but since nothing specifically grabbed me I'll go down to a 3.
Not for me at all
It was okay, nothing particularly distinguishing about it. There were a lot of more innovative groups around the same time.
Just okay
Props for this being a pioneering psychedelic album. I confess to not hearing much of this band outside of "Feel like I'm Fixin to Die". It is an *important* record that wasn't really something I'm into at the moment. It might be worth another listen to digest, but it didn't strike me as something I'll have on rotation.
Another one I have no preconceived idea of. It's kind of sloppy and bluesy. Sounds like it would've been cool at the time? Not so sweet Martha Lorraine is better. Genuinely odd, and a bit less of a bluesy trudge. Odd fairground organ and some texture to it. When this is good, it sounds like a less up its own bumhole Doors. Which is great. All the psychedelic fun, none of the 'The ancient snake, woo incest' crap. It's great. The album goes between being maybe a bit much, and great and direct. It's ultimately enjoyable though, and I quite like the politics of the album, the fun 2.5 minute fun songs mixed with 7 minute psych/proto-prog stuff, and that it definitely sounds ahead of its time.
Well, it's fine. One track that was jusssst hippie style instrumental was getting on my nerves, but tracks with vocals were fine.
Sicher einflussreich, aber auch anstrengend!
I enjoyed the twangyness of this album. 0RS
Overall this would get a 2.5 if Super Bird wasn't such a great song. That knocked it up at least 1/2 point to 3 stars.
Strangely enough the vocals sound terrific on hear, but the mixing and production are awful. The guitars and drums are way too sharp, and some sounds are strangely isolated throughout the entire record. Why am I only hearing the drums through my right earcup, and the vocals only through my left? It ruins what could be very nice record with a perfect balance between more dark and spiritual psychedelic tunes and noisy folsky tracks. Such a shame, still a 3/5 for the music besides the obvious prioduction flaws.
Meh
Psychedelic rock. Agradable.
Acid/Psych rock bands of the day tend to be meandering or simple in a lot of their music, preferring to play with the guitars and see what cool sounds they could pull up rather than focusing on songwriting. It's fine. I don't mind too much because the music isn't bad but it also isn't memorable. Giving it credit for being a cornerstone of the genre, but that's about it.
A-typical of its time and a testament to the death of modern music. These lads are obvisouly top of their game musically, but lost in a sea of talent for them to stand out to me. Dozens of bands like this have been a by product of the era so for me, my lack of knowledge and experience creates an ambiguous blur of 8 minute tracks and gratuitous organ solos. A fun album however nothing overly original from the wider genre of psyche rock. A fun listen, nice grooves and solos. Fun social nods especially in “Super Bird”.
An interesting psychedelic album. Some fun tracks to listen to but unfortunately some meh ones that just don't really strike a chord as well.
Not bad, not great.
Etwas fad
Solidan acid/psiholedijski album. Jednostavno ovakvi albumi ne pašu toliko kada je vrijeme depresivno. Više paše na lijepo vrijeme time je odmah i pozitivniji mindstate i za takvo vrijeme ovakvi albumi bolje pokazuju svoju sliku. Nisam imao puno vremena za preslušavanje albuma pa vjerujem da nije u potpunosti opravdana ocijena, ali tako je kako je. 3.3/5
I don't know what I expected, but this is
Are there any 1960s psychedelia albums that didn't make this list?? This one has quite a clean, robust sound, somewhere on the rockier end of the psychedelia spectrum of this period. Some blues and r&b influences sneaking in. But there are also some space-age moments and a little psych whimsy here and there. I can respect the quality of this, even though it's not to my tastes. 3*
My favourite sort of 60's music, a bit of psychedelia
Yeah this is okay. Between 2 and 3 for me.
Àlbum interessant però alhora un xic dispers. Barreja molts elements, rock, blues, psicodèlia, i tot i que l'inici és molt potent la segona meitat no acaba de fer-li justícia. Malgrat tot, un disc interessant, un descobriment. I una confirmació més de la bona collita del finals dels 60.
I’d only know of this band from watching the Woodstock movie years ago. From that, I wasn’t too interested in listening to their music. For the most part, I’m not a fan of psychedelic music aside from a few select bands. When I started listening to this record I was mostly disinterested, but not bothered. As it progressed, I found that every song had parts I just didn’t like. A music flourish here or a bad harmony vocal there. However, the final few songs annoyed the crap out of me and led me to disliking it as a whole. The second day in a row of an unnecessary album, IMO.
Tsja, dit is voor mij een vrij standaard psych rock album. Merk wel dat er wat meer blues invloeden in lijken te zitten? Ook al heb ik veel te veel over deze band gelezen om er achter te komen dat Country Joe niet op de muziek slaat, het gaat over Stalin. Oprecht, zoek maar op. De gitaarsolo's vallen wel echt op, waarschijnlijk dat ik daar de blues associaties vandaan haal, maar verder? Dit is een album dat ik voor mn gevoel al meerdere keren heb gehoord en ik bied hierbij mijn excuses aan de Beatles aan. Want als dit de grote bijzondere muziek was uit de tijd, dan zijn ze zo ontzettend veel beter dat het lijkt alsof je pro's en amateurs vergelijkt. Excuus knullen, bij dezen krijg je voor de meeste van je albums 3 sterren of hoger. FAVO: Death sound
Not for me
it was fine but actively forgot about it as i was listening
Never really listened to Country Joe. When I first learned of his existence, in the early-mid 80s, he seemed to me to be hopelessly a relic of the Sixties and not tenable in our modern world. Listening to this album, expecting that to be only more the case ... I still said "Oh, good lord" out loud as I was listening to the first couple of tracks. The wacky LBJ song is sort of fun, and connects to the Fixin To Die Rag about the Vietnam War, the song that Country Joe is best known for. I don't think anyone ever needed to listen to this, but we certainly don't need to in the 21st century. I think Woodstock nostalgia alone can account for this album's inclusion in The Book.
Another nail in the coffin for any lingering sixties nostalgia. I'm not sure if Helter Skelter killed the sixties, no matter what Joan Didion said. It might have been this record and others like it. Each song seemed worse than the last, honestly.
I liked the Blues parts
No
Some of these songs were great, but then the other half made me feel like I needed to be on a lot of drugs to understand what was happening.
Day 24 I don't wanna know what the fuck San Fran put in their water in 1967 Fav track: Martha Lorraine
I listened to it, it was ok
There’s enough late 60s psychedelia that this didn’t really add anything to the equation.
for the most part this was underwhelming. I found it a chore to listen to and nothing really stood out for. It was unmemorable and very generic for the time. No real standout song. 2.5 stars
4 keepers in 11 (36%). 1 klunker (9%). This album smells like Otto's jacket. 2 stars.
I feel like the invention of LSD set music back like a decade. All this psychedelic stuff is so dull, it's like listening to some stoners noodling in a basement and playing a few notes in a repetitive pattern for several minutes straight, while convincing themselves that it's genius
So it turns out this dude played for free at Woodstock solo. After listening to this, I kinda understand why he never got paid. It’s a bunch of below average songs in an era full of life and great music. Zero reason for this to be on here. 2 stars.
Appreciate the talent but I just found a lot of this quite boring. I just don’t think the songs were that great.
Review - it's slightly bluesy countryish psychedelia, and about as good as that sounds. Rating - 4/10 Need to listen? NO
Impressively boring milquetoast psych rock. I've never heard of Country Joe & The Fish and I don't plan to again.
This was just kinda boring. I appreciate the fact that this was probably influential or something but there's a million other bands who went on to make music that sounds like this who are far more interesting.
Not much to say. "Death Sound" is a pretty good blues rocker and "Super Bird" is fun, both lyrically and musically, and I've already forgotten the rest.
There were moments of this I didn’t mind. Parts of it almost sounded like every typical album of the 60s (see: “Sad and Lonely Times), which is tolerable. It’s also, for the most part, nice and short. And then there are tracks like “Section 43”, that is instrumental, over seven minutes long, and is what feels like 9 different tracks, rolled into one - a combined concept that is dragged from the depths of hell on what is a psychedelic album - or “Grace”, which made me think I had a leak. It’s probably a 1.5* album, but I’ve definitely heard (been subjected to) worse.
Some of this wasn't terrible. Then it fell into the circus tent of 60's psychedelic music, and I just lost all interest.
I wasn't a big fan of this album. It was definitely not one that I would add to my collection. A couple of the songs were too long. I definitely heard some country music and folk song influences in the music. Best song for me, "Porpoise Mouth"
It wasn't bad, but I don't think I'll be revisiting.. Top tracks: Flying High
Yeah, this sounds exactly like the kind of music I would have expected to hear if you had told me beforehand that it was performed at Woodstock in 1969. I think the music kind of fell apart anytime there were vocals, the lead singer is struggling to hold a tune and the lyrics haven't aged well. In fact, the whole album feels really dated. There were some tracks that I like in a vacuum, but nothing that I loved. I'm playing catch-up right now. I generated this album while I was on a fishing trip, and I was hoping (based upon the name) that it would help summon fish on a historically bad year for the salmon run, but alas it did not, and that's the final nail in the coffin for this rating. Favorite track(s): "Section 43" (really not beating the "longest song is always my favorite" allegations this week), "The Masked Marauder," "Bass Strings" (maybe that's the problem, wrong fish)
They sound as bored as I feel listening to this
Classcial 2.5 Star album that didn't bother nor shocked my ears. Okay but not more.
Not great.
Wasn’t terrible but that’s about as far as I can comment on it
Mid. Doors, early pink Floyd esque fuzzy guitars
Just o.k. but nothing that really hooks me.
More shit that old Woodstock goers would probably eat up, but there's not much here get into for the sober man
Funky ahh weird ahh music, kinda groovy ig
Strange. Ok in places, but not a repeat listen.
Not my thing at all.
137. Electric Music For The Mind And Body - Country Joe & The Fish (1967) 7.9.26 Variety: 2 Adequacy: 2 Listenability: 2 Uniqueness: 1 Emotionality: 1 = 1.6 rounded up to a 2 "I hunger for your porpoise mouth/ And stand erect for love" I really want to give these guys the benefit of the doubt, but they have existed for so long in my head as the stereotypical "dirty hippy" band that I might find it hard to overcome my prejudices against that whole movement. And this is admittedly without ever hearing a lick of their music ( I think? Maybe a bit in the Woodstock documentary that bored me to tears so much that I turned it off very quickly. They were there, right?). My other concern going in is that if they are such an important act, then surely I might be familiar with at least one of their songs? Has any of their stuff had a shelf life of more than a year or two? I think at one point I assumed that the annoying "Going Up the Country" by Canned Heat was this band. Not looking forward to this, but fingers crossed they prove me wrong. THE TRACKS "Flying High" - We start things off with a messy, bluesy sort of drug narrative ( I'm sure this will be a recurring motif). Country Joe's voice is a bit feeble for this type of material, but the rhythm section does an admirable job at the shuffling, fake-live sound. This was a pretty boring start. "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" - This was their big hit? Different times I guess, but this is pretty damning of a segment of the public's taste that they were willing to swallow this kind of dashed off sounding stuff when they'd been primed by MUCH MUCH better stuff. I guess despite being their biggest hit, it still didn't make too much of a splash. The only memorable part of this was the organ and bass playing during the Doorsy breakdowns, brief as they were. The guitar tone on this was pretty grating and can this guy do anything except a some poor "make it talk!" blues noodling after each turn of phrase? Find myself starting to sour very quickly on Country Joe's voice. It lacks any sort of power or charm, and I feel like he's just reading a lyric sheet. "Death Sound Blues" - A much more successful attempt at a blues rock sound, and Joe seems to dig down and bring out what little emotive capability he possesses. I can't quite escape the Doors comparisons, especially when they're in their Roadhouse mode. The tremolo here was so distractingly stuttered I had to stop the track and verify that my laptop wasn't suffering some sort of catastrophic lag. Man that got old fast. This might have had a chance at the highlights apart from that. "Happiness Is a Porpoise Mouth" - An interesting turn. We get a very Euro-folk sound on this one, with some interesting instrumentation and an oopmah beat. There's also a Doors influence going on here with the Hammond organ and the darker lyrical content. Did this guy just compare his lady love to a dolphin? Ok. Sure. Donovan handled this sort of thing much better. Points for atmosphere though. "Section 43" - What a mellow freakout, man. This is the sort of thing you might be expected to hear over a montage in a bad movie about the sixties when the protagonist is first introduced to the horrors of *GASP* mari-ja-wanna! and then descends into harder and harder drugs until we close with them shooting up in a filthy den full of spaced out human detritus. This compares very unfavorably with anything similar by the Doors ( sorry but I can't help the comparisons). And that goofy ass bit about 2/3 way through was just terrible stuff. "Superbird" - This was too groovy by half. I had flashes of the Laugh In interstitials of the sickening zoom in and out on the go-go dancers intermittently while this pretty embarrassing "takedown" of LBJ. At least it was mercifully short. "Sad and Lonely Times" - This is more or less the sound I had always imagined. Shambling, weakly delivered, sub-Grateful Dead country-tinged folk. Open mic night at the Fillmore. "Love" - Barry "The Fish" Melton takes over lead vocals here, and I have to ask... other than the difficulty involved, why was this guy not singing EVERY OTHER SONG. Dude is not the best at it by any means, but injects some actual life into things. The song itself is more Laugh-In go-go stuff, but felt 1000x more electric than anything thus far. "Bass Strings" No Canned Heat, faux-Americana whimsy here. This track seems to have a bit more in common maybe with the Cream album we recently listened to, being much more in the acid rock vein, but less musically adventurous. This is very languorous and gets across the sluggish drug trip narrative pretty well. The tremelo guitar effect was nice used as an accent, and I appreciated there was no endless noodling. The guys are maybe a bit too pleased with themselves at the end though and the conspiratorially whispered "L... S... D" got an audible groan from me. I could almost hear Country Joe winking through my headphones. Not an amazing start, but not awful. "The Masked Marauder" - This was an ok, noodly bit of bluesy organ stuff, and then the guitar section kicked in and it legit sounded like the dude got distracted mid riff, and THEN we get the weirdly perky waltz and "la la la" vocals, followed by some terrible harmonica stylings. Then back to the go-go club. This was a trainwreck. "Grace" - We end on a slightly sinister guided trip with some water drip, and bottle chime effects and a sizzling bit of cymbal work that, along with the doubled, mis-overlayed vocals on the chorus, actually legit engenders a decently trippy atmosphere. By FAR the best thing on this album. And they stuck the goddamn landing. *furious applause at them not fucking up* HIGHLIGHTS - "Grace" MIDLIGHTS - "Bass Strings" - "Death Sound Blues" - "Happiness Is a Porpoise Mouth" - "Love" LOWLIGHTS - "Flying High" - "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" - "Sad and Lonely Times" - "Section 43" - "Superbird" - "Sad and Lonely Times" - "The Masked Marauder" FINAL THOUGHTS Very little about this was memorable in any way, and the whole thing suffered in comparison with the Doors, who did almost all of this better, and the Grateful Dead in the few more low-key country folk numbers ( of which there were surprisingly few!). Overall, this was at least a surprise, content-wise. I had always assumed these guys were bunch of crunchy granoloa farm hippies who played sub-Grateful Dead type stuff, but their psych and acid rock bonafides are ( while still suspect) more or less intact here. But there are just too many knocks against it, including Country Joe's unconvincing vocals, the ofttimes muddy and production, and the bizarre choices made by what seems like an otherwise competent set of players. I can't imagine ever wanting to revisit any of this, and I'll likely stay far away from any more of their material. PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - You can keep all of it, thanks, though "Grace" I might not skip if it ever came up. FURTHER LISTENING - The United States of America by The United States of America - Are You Experienced by The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Strange Days by the Doors - Happy Trails by Quicksilver Messenger Service - Santana by Santana
It was fine. Kind of a facsimile of many other bands and albums of the time.
Not sure I had ever heard of this band, or even the genre of "psychedelic country" before. The more uptempo songs were okay. I don't think I would actively seek this album out again.
What a crock of shit
Okay. Maybe needs more listens.
The original psychedelic slop. I liked the LBJ song.
I like 60s psychedelic music A LOT, but this didn't quite cut it for me. Sometimes it sounded like the worst of The Doors. Some interesting sounds, but thats about it
I'm sure the author found it essential because of how amazed he was at hearing the end of Bass String tripping balls, but I'm personally disappointed an album by "Country" Joe is just psychedildo noodling. Sad and Lonely Times was the one good song.
#389/1001. Yet another band from the late 60's which sounds like they were important at the time but perhaps not so important anymore.
not my electric body music but not too bad. weird.
i listened to this last week and already i can remember 0 things about this album
ehhhhhh
At first, I was pretty excited by the opening track, but my enthusiasm slowly faded. The psychedelic side of the album and the singer’s voice just aren’t really my thing. It’s not terrible, but it never fully clicks for me. Maybe it’s because it’s an early example of the genre, but compared to The Doors, it feels a lot less compelling and memorable. Definitely not The Doors.
It’s just a bit annoying. It’s the sort of music you hear at some point in a movie set in 1967, but it’s also the sort of music that you think nothing of as you’re watching said movie. It’s establishing music, not listening music. It’s perfectly fine, and perfectly whatever, and perfectly pointless.
Every few days I get given an album titled something like ‘Grum Fingers by Mr Pilchard’s Crackerjack Box’ Anyway, this was too bluesy and not psychedelic enough. Some of it was fine and trippy, but a lot was boring.
Quickly became background noise. Quite liked Super Bird tho.
Another round of psych rock-meh
Not my type of music tbh wasn’t awful tho I just don’t have much to say about it
This list has really soured me on '60s psychedelic rock. I love a couple of classica that belong in the sphere, but most of the albums I have generated so far were just an exhausting listen.
I like that fuzzy 60s psychedelic guitar, but this was mostly unmemorable. Liked Songs Added: Death Sound
Wouldn't listen to this one again
2.5 - ok
I liked the middle lalala part of the masked marauder. Everything else just kind of faded into boring 60's pop rock.
Stereotypically 60s
01) Flying High - 6,5 02) Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine - 6,5 03) Death Sound Blues - 6,0 04) Happiness Is a Porpoise Mouth - 6,5 05) Section 43 - 5,5 06) Superbird - 6,0 07) Sad and Lonely Times - 5,5 08) Love - 6,5 09) Bass Strings - 5,5 10) The Masked Marauder - 5,0 11) Grace - 5,0 TOTAL: 5,86 (59/100) Current ranking: 754/935
"Boy, they're really sticking it to this Spiro Agnew guy"- Homer Simpson reading a vintage Mad magazine, and me listening to these sick burns on LBJ.
I agree with one of the comments: "It was probably big or important in its time (67, right at the beginning of the whole psychedelic pop-rocknsummer of love..." There's other psychedelic music I like more, also other protest music from the same period.
Napoleon Dynamite music
Passable country rock, if that's your thing.
Country Joe was one of the major pioneers of the California hippie music scene. Their performance at Woodstock is legendary.
I had never listened to Country Joe and the Fish before. And now I can unequivocally say that I have. And one thing I can definitely say about this album after having listened to it is that I heard it. And that I can no longer say I don’t know what this band sounds like. And that is all true. And I guess that’s about it.
Nej, tråkigt. Inget som stack ut för mig. Jag vet att bandet blev hyllade för sin spelning på Woodstock men det kan inte vara på grund av detta album. Kommer inte ihåg en enda låt fast jag lyssnade alldeles nyss.
Not my “jam.”
Horrifically meh.
2.5.
2.5
Jingly jangly gibberish
(51/100)
2/5 very 60s stuff for better or for worse
Just not for me
Gear: ZMF Auteur Classic LTD Shedua Artwork: 🪩🌀🖌️ Production: 🔊😵💫🔊 Music: 🌲⛺🌿 Rating: 🐠🐠(🐠)/5
An important cultural artifact, but I can’t help thinking: how much did the organist pay the producers to get his part mixed that loud?
A pretty underwhelming psychedelic rock album. 2.5/5
Høres bare ut som dårlig The Doors
I sighed as soon as this album came up. I’ve heard enough psychedelic rock on this list already (59% through) to never hear any ever again. It’s no different than anything else from the genre and offers nothing of interest.
Trodde alltid att jag gillade psykadelisk rock men herregud vad mycket generisk skit det kom ut på 60talet
Too psychedelic for my tastes.
Well, I listened to it. Sounded like novelty 60s psychedelia. Were they originators or just formulaic imitators? Really don't care to find out.
Not sure if I’m really feeling this one. It’s ok, but there was heaps better examples of this prog/psychadelic rock around at the time.
No thanks.
Every time this record started to grab me with something — got me thinking that, yeah, this is pretty good, I can give it 3 stars — a subsequent track would be so annoying, dated, or just ridiculously silly and bad that I just couldn’t say I like the album that much. There’s a lot of fun stuff here, but it’s a real mixed bag from one track to the next; the sophomoric and childish crap just brings the rest down. I’m glad it’s the birth of psychedelia, but I’ll take the stuff it spawned over this every day of the week. 2.4 stars
Meh. Album was ok and probably fun to listening to in the late 60 with some illegal substances but it seemed like the songs went on forever and I got a little bored with the album.
I got pretty bored with this one after a while. Acid rock just does not excite me. Very funny to hear a song dissing LBJ though lol.
You know an album is great when you have 80+ year olds learning how to use Youtube in order to leave a comment talking about how they got absolutely fucked up on drugs 60 years ago listening to this album Not for me, though
4/10
Jus boring again
It's not electronic, it's more rock with a twang.
Thin and not-the-most-engaging psychedelic rock, could do without it but it's okay at least, if you wanna catch all the psych rock that you can
Meh
Psychedelic rock. The sound is right, but the music is just meh. Too much usage of substances?
That was not great. Headed to one-star status, but redeemed somewhat by some good guitar work at the back.
Pretty forgettable 1960’s progressive rock, does not warrant the time expenditure for any additional commentary.
Start was ok, but got weird and experimental really fast
Not sure this was for my mind or body.
For an album with such a cosmic title, Electric Music for the Mind and Body mostly delivers a long, wandering shrug. Country Joe & The Fish clearly aimed for psychedelic transcendence, but what they ended up with feels more like being cornered by someone’s overly enthusiastic friend at a 1967 house party. The organ swirls are less “mind‑expanding” and more “motion sickness,” and the band’s political edge dulls quickly under the weight of meandering jams that mistake length for depth. There are flashes of charm, but they vanish almost as soon as they appear, swallowed by the album’s tendency to noodle itself into oblivion. Historically important? Sure. Enjoyable? Only if you’re grading on a very generous curve. Final Verdict: 2 out of 5 stars — a psychedelic time capsule that’s more dust than magic.
I think I've heard all I want to hear from Country Joe.
Extra point for the name
This is my first time listening to this album. It's also about a week and a half since Country Joe just passed away. This is an album. I listened to it. I even read the blurb in the book about this album. I still don't understand why this album is included in a list of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It seems like the most special thing about this album is its inclusion on the list.
Really struggle to find anything to like in this tbh, after 2 tracks I was already bored out my mind listening to a sound I’ve heard done better in albums released before 1967 even. Maybe you just had to be there.
Give me an F! Give me a U! Give me “fixing to die rag” is a killer song and i wish it were on here!
Started interesting and slightly subversive, but ultimately ran too long…
Boring music for the mind and body
It sounds nice enough but psychedelic rock is just not my thing at all. You can tell they used to be a folk jug band too, which is REALLY not my thing.
Is this just an early electric guitar album? Why not add more Hendrix instead? This album is obviously dated and has rough production.
Saai psychedelic rock album. Zal mogelijk invloed op iets of iemand gehad hebben, en dat is top, maar het klinkt voor mij allemaal heel generic. De gefluisterde "LSD" adlib is erg komisch en tegelijkertijd écht heel kut "kijk ons eens LSD doen en een album maken hihi".
Fijn dat formulaic kopiegedrag van alle tijden is. Dit klinkt als elke psychedelische rockband ooit, maar dan iets saaier.
60s counterculture music is not my taste. I liked Sad and Lonely Times, but nothing else on the album really stuck with me.
I think I'm finding that 60s proto-jam psychadelia just isn't my thing. Probably a little better and more immediately accessible than Quicksilver or the Live/Dead album but this mostly just doesn't land with me. Some alright blues-y type soloing but also some of the guitar tones are just thin and sort of annoying to listen to. A bit of aimless organ noodling in the middle. It's not horrible by any stretch, but just not my "jam".
..
I'm getting real sick of these 60s albums where they all sound like a worse version of The Doors and The Kinks. This band definitely has good musicians but the songs are just boring.
The first track on this album, Flying High, is 2m41s. I made it to about 1m45s and was already thinking about skipping it. I endured only to arrive at the second track, Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine. And I noticed immediately that this song was not as good as the first song which I didn't think was all that good to begin with. At 1m37s into it, which is 4m24s, I knew I couldn't endure it. So I pressed skip and arrived at track 3, Death Sound (4m26s). Very bluesy start, which I don't hate but if this is as good as it gets, this 44m album is too long a haul for me.
An album that was probably one to turn heads in 1967. Now it just sounds unfinished like some dudes hanging out smoking a bunch of weed.
Pretty ok album loo nothing to write home about
2/24/26. Couldn't get into this one much. Decent, but thought it was a tad bland and boring for a psychedelic release. I get that this served as a pioneer for the genre.
They were just doing whatever in the studio
Not what I was expecting. But not in the best way. This is more psychedelic and parts they reminded me of The Doors. Not my cup of tea. It was an interesting listen but I wouldn’t care to revisit.
Some decent songs on here nothing crazy special but they have a good little vibe to them. I didn’t really care for the instrumental tracks, and I sometimes found the high-pitched synth sounds a bit ear splitting. This kind of feels like another fairly forgettable psychedelic rock 60s band I’m afraid though. The songs that I liked seemed to mainly just have more classical and acoustic sounds, the tracks that stood out to me were ‘Flying high’, ‘Death sound’ and ‘Super bird’.
Just background music, couldn’t get into the lyrics even after second play. Not for me this one
Why is no one talking about the song where they call Lyndon B. Johnson Superman then they get kryptonite to defeat him and force him to take acid? 4/10
No offense, but, what is the meaning of this? I'm going to turn to the book for some insight on what the editors were thinking, because I don't get it. ---- Ok, so the critic's argument is, this represents the gateway into psychedelia in the late 60s. Bruh, we're 60 years on. We can't hear that this was one of the first tripped-up records to market, just that it's one drop in the sea of that bygone era. On the topic of LSD, allow me to once again underscore that no record by Tool made the list. If you really cared to exemplify what psychedelics could bring to music, you'd have included literally anything from their catalog. Pound sand.
Was hoping for more but got less. Musically this would probably be 1 star but I’ll give it 2 since they kept it relatively short.
loads of hippy noodling.
This album was definitely a time capsule piece. While I didn't mind it, I wouldn't listen to it again or recommend it to anyone. 2/5 for the 60's vibes.
I found this at a record shop for about five cents, maybe twenty years ago. My friend thought it had a funny name, so we bought it and put it on. I remember thinking it was better than I expected, being some bargain bin garbage, but I never felt the urge, ever, to put it on again. Now, I know a little more about the psychedelic California scene, and know these guys were a player. You’ll see their names on the set lists with Jefferson Airplane, and they played Woodstock, etc. I came into this listen with more focus and respect. And, it’s pretty good for what it is. It definitely documents the times. I appreciated the message to LBJ, telling him to go back to his ranch. I imagine this album was important to quite a bit of kids in the hippie generation. The final track, Grace, I found to contain the most depth, and I added this to my playlist. Apparently, it was written to honor the singer of Jefferson Airplane. Otherwise, on a music enjoyment level, will I feel the desire to spin this record again anytime soon? Country No.
5/10 Favourite: Death Sound Least Favourite: Bass Strings