Happy Trails

- Quicksilver Messenger Service, huh? Imagine trying to send a message through them… we’ll get your letter to its destination, smelling like patchouli, sage, weed, and B.O., in approximately 1,000 business days, after taking every scenic route and stopping for a few peyote breaks. You’re never getting that message, and if you do, you’ll wish you hadn’t. It’s not their fault! They thought the stamp was just another tab of acid. - Oh no… now they’re grunting and tribal clapping. - I can’t imagine being at this show, even off my face… standing there wishing the song(s; it feels like one long song) would please just end - thinking about how my feet hurt. - The lead guitarist is good and has nice tone, but it's still not interesting enough for me to ever reach for this album. - The first half was much better than the second half except Where you Love, which was painful, and I was getting really tired of it all by Who do you Love (Pt. 2). The second half, except some of Mona and Maiden of the Cancer, was a chore. - The vocals are good enough when they’re there, but there isn’t enough of them.

In which some dudes spend three quarters of an hour workshopping a couple of Bo Diddley's vital classics and, despite the band's technical chops, somehow make the music turgid and stale. Absolute toss

If I went to a bar and a psych band was jamming out to some Bo Diddly I would be all for it. The music on this album wasn’t bad by any means but I don’t think it really deserves a spot on this list. 4/10

No idea what was going on here. Sounded like an average high school garage band.

Who/When/Where/How/Which/Who (again) plus love is a fine naming gimmick for half your record I guess. I wish I found the songs more interesting. On a positive note, this is a tight live performance. Maybe you had to be there.

Not what I was expecting exactly based on the cover and band.

Jam band nonsense, big skip

I expected to like this more than I did. It perhaps requires LSD to enjoy properly, which is hard to convince my wife to let me do on a Tuesday.

The Good: We are on happy trails! The Bad: They lead nowhere… The Ugly: The messenger service wasn’t quick enough… Not my cup of tea… The only positive thing I can say about out this is that the album title reminds me of a Godley & Creme song “The Last Page of History”, which is followed by this insanely great song which nobody knows, but I do… So, thanks to this, I spend a lovely 44 minutes listening to an album which is NOT on the 1001 list, because Mr Dimery seems to think that my life will be better having listened to this crap… 2* for it being music...

Interesting to start, but gets repetitive

Well with the listen too. Never come across this album so will listen again later.

Interesting choice and not one I would have thought to have made this list. Is it rocking? Sure. Gives great counter evidence to the Dead era country psych stuff, but also not an essential rock album IMHO. Fun, brash, and loud. Great semi deep cut on a vinyl night.

Jam band, pretty good for background noise while working, nothing stands out as particularly notable.

At the equator that separates song and jam sits Happy Trails. And as befits an equatorial climate, it’s a hot and sticky sort of record; teeming with a diversity of brightly feathered and dangerously-toothed wildlife; prone to the most dramatic, most rancorous thunderstorms. Across 10 jams – and that’s what they feel like; though don’t be fooled, nothing here is happening by accident – Quicksilver produce a heady atmosphere that’s all encompassing. It’s best moments can feel like they stretch over days – the sliding strings and droned feedback of “Where you love” that give way to a tribal feeling call and response of claps – or can blip into and out of reality in the scarcest of seconds (an arpeggio in “Mona” demands to have a whole album written around it but then just … disappears). Happy Trails offers precisely the right conditions for a grower of a record. And by the time “Calvary” is done with me, I’m sold. It’s that feeling of total freedom that follows turning on a big warm tube amp and plugging your guitar in, extended across an entire ecosystem of sound. Wonderful.

Not for me. Boring, discordant in many places, out there without any structure. Pass.

The first half of the album is an awesome cover of Who Do You Love, the guitar is ridiculous. They’re a little psychedelic but don’t stray too far from good music, certainly plan on listening to it again.

Really enjoyed this album, the whole "love" suite was great, nothing terribly innovative going on here but some really solid blues psych rock. I had only known them for the single Fresh Air, but this is worth further exploring. 3.5 rounded down because six of the ten tracks are an extended cover of one song.

This morning's conversation with my husband: Him: "What's your album for the day?" Me: "Happy Trails by Quicksilver Messenger Service. It gets a 2.81 rating." Him: "Never heard of it. What genre?" Me: "Rock. Psychedelic Rock." Him: "Oh. Then you'll like it." 22 years of marriage and the man knows me. I did, in fact, like it. Not sure why, but it was decent music to have on while working. Much, much better than the Taylor Swift I suffered through yesterday. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

Not as iconic as some other psychedelic music but a pretty good listen.

Only slightly familiar with them, my first listen and natural instinct to categorize them was as “Grateful Dead with Live-At-Leeds era Pete Townsend on guitar.” Seeing they were actually SF contemporary of The Dead was completely unsurprising. It’s good, hard, but ultimately jam-band material that either grows tiring or doesn’t age well, at least not outside a live experience. I concede that it’s unfair to criticize/compare a live music experience to how it should plays in recording. “You had to be there, man.” Yes. Yes I did. It’s fine otherwise. Moving on.

Hey guys? Just because you had a good band sesh with the boys doesn't mean you have to put it on a self-congratulatory album, y'know? You can just enjoy the experience in and of itself.

Ok jam music but doesn't exactly set the world on fire. The first part is dry sounding but most cohesive. The second part is more interesting. But the cover of happy trails was unnecessary.

The first forty minutes were pretty interesting; would have been good to see this group in concert during their fleeting career with the original group.

Never heard of this band, pretty typical 1960’s California rock album, very close to losing a star for “Happy Trails”

I expected this to be cowboy songs for kids, which was initially disappointing. Now I wish that’s what it was.

Rarely have I had such a disconnect between the impression raised by an album cover and the actual music. I was expecting half an hour of jolly cowboy songs, but I actually got a 25 minute extended jam where they take Bo Diddley’s Who Do You Love (a proper 2 minutes 30 seconds banger) and drag it out into a drug fuelled 25 minute jam session wankathon. Side two isn’t much better, but at least they close the album with a version of Happy Trails. I’d much rather have had a whole album like that, to be honest.

Grateful Dead light but not as good songwriters or jammers

Dad- 7 Mom- 7 Mike- NA Lori- 5.5 Michael- 6.5 Miles- NA Cole- NA Avg- 6.5

More Sad Trips than Happy Trails

was not expecting to like this

It’s hard to fathom, I’ve never heard this before.

A 30 min jam on Who Do You Love, a song I don't particularly care for that they somehow pull off. I'm a fan of Quicksilver Messenger Service but haven't actually heard this album and it's a great jammy masterpiece, classic San Francisco acid rock. It does drag a little near the end but overall a pretty great album, would give a 4.5 if I could.

Obegripligt rörigt Blues Jam med psykadeliska inslag. En etta

Not offensive, but not all that interesting either.

don’t think this one was for me

Super funky guitar, a bit western feeling, but does well to keep it out of country music territory. Reminiscent of 70s rock

This was surprisingly good! I thought it'd be more country, more singing - nope, a lot of instrumentals, great music. I'm giving it a 5, fuck it.

1/1001 First impression: Good jams, easy to listen. Good for: Car rides, campfires, background music. Loved it for a first album on my journey and similiarities with Phish. Final impression: Do not let the album cover fool you, not a country album. Jam band with very few lyrics. I enjoyed it with my similar interest in Phish and the Grateful Dead.

not my style!!

Me gustó. 5/5

I can only imagine this degree of guitar wankery and aimmless/tedium are far more enjoyable if you’re high on lsd. If there is a redeeming element it is the surprise of discovering what i assume is the original version of Mona, which was covered by Henry from Neighbours in his short lived foray into pop stardom. Any nostalgia is quickly (more precisely slowly over an excruciating 13 minutes) ground away by Calvary. Ending the album with what sounds like a drunk in a western bar says it all.

I would rather listen to Craig McLachlan’s version of “Mona” for an hour than this album.

I mean.. frankly... what the fuck? Not as bad as the Liars album, or Trout Mask Replica, which I still hate with a firey passion but this was shit. 1/5

I legit thought this was going to be some 60s country and western album based on the title and cover art, so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be psychedelic rock instead. That twist alone made it more interesting right from the start. The playing is tight, and the band really leans into those extended jams with some wild guitar work and trippy vibes. It’s definitely got that late 60s energy where everyone was experimenting with sound and stretching songs way past the radio-friendly mark. That said, the instrumentals ran a little too long for my taste. After a while, it starts to feel more like background noise than something I want to actively listen to.

Psychadelic guitar noodling. get boring very fast

2.5 stars. Mostly instrumental acid/psychedelic rock. Side 1 is a 25 min riff on Bo Didley's "Who Do You Love?". Suppose drugs would help but hard for me to get into this one.

🍜

No thanks

This reminds me lot of the live album 'Live / Dead' by Grateful Dead because they are both very mind-numbing jam bands with a very forgettable sound. There are a handful of interesting moments, like the choir in 'Calvary', but overall, is full of stale ideas that are not interesting nor they reach any interesting point. I also think that the instrumentation was very bland and mediocre. I didn't hate it, but it is far from me liking it.

Kind of nice but a little basic.

Most of this album is pretty dull, but I almost enjoyed the 13 minute "Calvary"

Music is good, I remain a lyrics person to be more engaged.

он просто есть. ни хороший, ни плохой

Nothing about Jam Bands really does it for me Best Song: Who Do You Love Pt. 1 Rating: 4.5/10 Stars: 2

It was ok, but nothing popped out for me as great or something I wanted to listen to.

Does meander, but that's kind of the point, and it's still interesting music.

Cipollina found the critical laud for "Who Do You Love?" baffling, saying "it was just a two-chord jam." Obviously an over praised album cause for whatever the music critiques had a circle jerk.

There’s cool elements to this, and I understand what they’re going for, but there’s too much space. It loses its groove and it’s stark when it kicks back in, to the point where one time I got absolutely jumpscared. Just a big meh

The Who Do You Love medley is pretty great. Pretty fun all in.

A joyful listen.

Great album. Solid. Mostly instrumental rock ryhthyms with great bridges to connect all songs.

Если это лайв, то вдвойне странно

there will be a lot of mediocre psychedelic dad rock on this list, won't there

I now know why i've never heard of this band

Surprisingly enjoyable. Not super different from most late 60's psychedelic music, but I liked it none the less

A good album from a forgotten time, raunchy riffs and solos. Modern music might have faster tempos and more polished production but it doesn’t have the energy and feeling that a lot of theses older albums have. It felt as though the band were playing live to the listener. No homogenising just raw talent and passion.

6/10

Den kunne jeg faktisk godt lidt - der var nogle ret gode sange iblandt og det var meget lig noget spilmusik

Being a Grateful Dead fan, I thought this started out fairly promising. Certainly not the chops or enjoyment of the Dead however

A side and a quarter of jammy Bo Diddly covers.

Bo Diddley cover

Very middle of the road nothing blew me away

Neutral

Jazzig Rockig. Live. Nicht so zusammengedrückt, dynamisch, Es läuft im Hintergrund und plötzlich ist es ganz anders als Zunder Zeitpunkt als man zuletzt zugehört hat.

Enjoyably weird. I was half expecting more CSNY style country, but this is Zeppelin-adjacent groovyness. Some interesting use of early effects, and some vibe which could fit alongside the doors or similar 70s work. Dragged a bit in places, and not giving me much reason to go back to it, but at least it was something different! A high 3.

After yesterday's ideal punk song length I am forced to endure one song dragged out over 30 minutes. The late 60s and early 70s were a plague. 2.5

Some genuine jams on here. The kind where your train of thought rolls past the music and then a guitar chord brings you back into focus like “oh you’re still here” feeling. Hell yeah (3.5/5)

Obviously, not to everyone's taste. This pushes the limits of what I can take, too. But in the end, this is a classic jam band at their peak. Not as great as the Dead, but still I love it.

It's whatever 3/5

Fine, unmemorable

I like the album cover. But it obviously ain’t country or even southern rock. It’s psychedelic guitar noodling and while it extended songs started out ok they disappeared up their own arse. And if wiki is correct this was an edited down version to fit, super noodling. But at least it stays loose and doesn’t fall into pretentiousness like the more prog noodlers do, but lacks that rhythm foundation that keeps it together of the southern rock jam bands. And I mean guess you had to be there (and high) with the slight guitar squeak noises and clapping part. It was ok to listen to but don’t need to hear it again, but do like the cover..2.5 star

What have I just listened to? Folk? Rock? Pre-MBV madness? It gets 3* for being absolutely mad.

Good live hippy music.

Only exist in the Fall and Spring. I said what I said.

Psychedelic rocker. Glad to hear it for first time. More like this!

Worth listening to but not essential. It’s two songs.

point4.

Even after five minutes into ¨Happy Trails¨ by the Quicksilver Messenger Service, I still don’t know what I’m listening to. It’s kinda bluesy, kinda rootsy, a jam session with no vocals and a quaint, Western-inspired cover. I was expecting Roy Rogers and I’ve gotten who knows what. Is it wonderful? So far, yes. I don’t know if this was a jam on the spot or if they sort of wrote the songs first, but sometimes it’s fun to just hear musicians play. They’re really going for it, and that chemistry of people in a room being good at what they do together just can’t be beat. Of course, by the time we get to the riot sounds at the end of ¨Where You Love,¨ the song has just gone on for far too long. There are long songs that keep you into it, like ¨Desolation Row¨ or ¨Marquee Moon,¨ and then ones that just seem to go nowhere. Vocals finally come in on ¨Who Do You Love Pt. 2¨ and it sounds like one of The Doors’ more meandering songs, bluesy in a white person blues sort of way. Is it bad? Not always. ¨Mona¨ continues this Doors déjà vu, thankfully without the lame keys or Jim Morrison’s sometimes overwrought lyrics. A real ride, this album. Best songs: ¨Who Do You Love Pt. 2,¨ ¨Mona¨

I can see this not being everybody’s cup of tea. But as a blues/rock fan, some parts of this album are very enjoyable. Unfortunately a couple of the tracks lost me. But interesting enough for me to be glad to know about this project.

A lovely little ditty of a 60s album long gone by.

Over intulgent guitar and unedited trash songs but not so offensively bad sounding for a 1star

Pretty good psychedelic rock album released in 88’ from a concert in 69’ hah. Nothing crazy special IMO but was a good listen as I worked. Might throw on again.

Some very accomplished jamming to be sure, but stellar chops and tight grooves alone do not a classic album make.

Not sure what the point of this album was

I might come back to this one to try and get through the whole thing (I didn't make it) but yeah, this just really isn't for me, although I think it probably almost perfectly encapsulates what it was like to watch a noodly psych-rock band in San Francisco in 1969. I've said I'm not a jam guy really, but appreciate great musicianship - the problem is this is even way more experimental than the Dead and certainly less musically proficient than the Allmans, and just feels too aimless at points. Maybe I'd raise the rating with a more careful listen but I just kinda wanted to move on which is probably a bad sign.

Not offensive enough to 1-star, but what did I just listen to???

nice

Pretty cool album, definitely had this band confused with someone else. I'd listen to it again.

Okay this might be the first album so far that's actually something completely unknown to me, and also something I want to acquire and listen to repeatedly. This is some sick late west coast 60's acid rock. Kinda reminds of me of The Doors and Jefferson Airplane. And it's not an ersatz derivative of those sounds at all. The cover art and album title totally threw me off. I want to drop a tab and freak out to this shit

Parts of this album had me psychedelic grooving, and the other parts had me questioning if any of this music was any good.

Nice jam line record. Pretty cool!

Meh, just meh

meh nothing happened

I don't care who you love, what you love, when you love, where you love, or even how you love, you probably won't love this album. It started out promising, and then just became repetitive, and irritating noises. Favorite Track: "Who Do You Love Suite".

First 6 tracks here are a fun lovin jamboree. I did not realise this was a live album until the 6th track ended. So that's a very positive sign for this album considering how much I hate live albums. Ultimately though, this is just a jam session. Its fine, but I wouldn't really want to relisten. 2.8/5

When I woke up this morning I did not expect to come to the realisation that loveable Aussie surf-hunk Henry Ramsey from Neighbours had recorded the definitive version of Mona. Insufferable, self-indulgent art-wank.

I appreciate the cover of Bo Diddly, but I don’t fuck with jams.

Easy to follow crowd pleasing jam

Little to know vocals. Not really my thing. Psych rock would be better with a bit of singing.

They have a decent sound, but it all kinda runs together, especially with almost half an hour of Who Do You Love. If you're happy with super jammy psych blues that doesn't do much, this should work great for you.

This seems like a jam band situation, which is not really my thing (2 tracks in). ... it's still going. I might not make it all the way through. This doesn't seem like essential listening to me.

Not my cup of tea

I prefer their debut album by quite a bit, though critics generally say that it doesn’t capture these essence. Happy Trails is interesting but to me lacks variety and is a more intelligent release. The band had a lineup of significant talent and is always worth a spin.

Pretty decent performances, but it really just felt like a jam. I once played with a friend who would stand at the mic and raise and lower his arms to show us how he wanted the music around intensify/detensify as we played. I imagine the band leader doing the same (which would be for AGES because there are some long lead breaks!). I was a bit disappointed as I was really hoping for a country and western movie soundtrack theme by the cover. Honestly, I've got a vinyl with that exact title and it really hits the spot. There was some cool guitar work, but it gets lost amongst the rest. 3 Stars.

This album is like being at a small house party and seeing an acoustic guitar leant against a couch in the corner. There are a few cute girls at this party, and since your lack of charisma with the ladies rules out any chances of you sweet talking them, you grab the Epiphone and play some classics. Everlong goes down well with the girls, but you can’t help notice you’re doing more singing than they are, because they don’t know the lyrics as well as you. Fuck it, time for Wonderwall. The girls butcher the words to that too, but you don’t care. You actually stop singing because it is a foolish play to assert your lyrical knowledge over them. For one, it’s rude. Secondly, you don’t get to second base with a girl by pointing out her inaccuracies in singing along to a song. Things are going pretty good, and you’re just about to slow things down with your next song. The trick is, play a couple of songs that the ladies know well, then hit them with a gentle acoustic that they aren’t too familiar with, as a means to show your guitar playing skills. Even better if the lyrics get a bit emotional, better yet if they hint at the need for emotional connection with someone. “Another Lonely Day” by Ben Harper, come on down! But wait, here’s your friend who doesn’t go to house parties, and has only had one beer. Why is he intervening? “Bro Ben Harper is a sellout, listen to this!” He proceeds to snatch the guitar off you and rip into his work. Admittedly, this dude fucking shreds. He isn’t playing any songs that you’ve heard of though, and you think he might just be riffing this on the spot. It’s really impressive stuff, but the girls are obviously put off. They go outside and talk to the soccer jocks outside. You resign yourself to drinking 14 more beers.

A bit self indulgent.

3.5

I wrote my bachelor thesis about western movies and this one would have been great for listening to it while writing. but I am already done. 4 stars nonetheless.

That side A makes it

#DÍA 44: 1001 Discos Que Hay Que Escuchar Antes De Morir (English Translation Below) Por si no fuera suficiente, más psicodelia para mí. Quicksilver Messenger Service, a parte de ser una de esas bandas de los 60s cuyo nombre tiene más bien poco sentido, fueron uno de los grupos que mejor definieron el sonido psicodélico del San Francisco de entonces. Este segundo LP de la banda fue un éxito inesperado, y no es de extrañar lo de “inesperado”, por lo poco convencional de la música que contiene. La primera mitad está definida por una supuesta cover de Who Do You Love de Bo Diddley. Digo supuesta porque mantiene el riff y la letra, porque lo del festival de solos de 25 minutos que hay entre versos se lo han sacado de la manga. Y es que ahí reside un poco la magia de este LP, son un banda que, en general, demuestran tomarse poco en serio, y eso les da un encanto que me ayuda a diferenciarlos. Este suite se realizó en concierto, los acompañamientos tocaron en bucle de dos acordes original y de ahí fueron desvariando todos. El solo de Gary Duncan es más convencional, con una estructura en forma de valle que lo hace recompensante. A continuación, seis minutos bastante psicodélicos por parte de Greg Elmore que terminan con una especie de pelea melódica a voces entre la gente del público; un tipo de interacción con el público llamativa como poco. De ahí entra John Cipollina con un solo bastante vigoroso que encadena con otro del bajista David Freiberg. Dentro de que el sonido es bastante limpio, hay cierto interés en el uso de efectos, las técnicas que usa Cipollina son memorables desde luego y la progresión es muy sólida contando con que fue improvisado. La segunda mitad también es un extracto de concierto, solo que la pista Calvary tiene algunas modificaciones de estudio aparentemente (imagino que esos sublimes coros del interludio). Mona, por un lado, es otra cover extendida de Bo Diddley con improvisaciones de Cipollina. Llegado a este punto te das cuenta que realmente la gracia del LP en sí es la guitarra, es de lo que va, así que lo interesante es perderte un poco en el virtuosismo de los guitarristas. Ahora bien, no termina siendo cansino, aburrido o pretencioso, realmente son actuaciones potentes que me explican por qué entraron en la lista de los mejores 100 guitarristas de Rolling Stone. Calvary tiene una ambientación más oscura y desértica, apoyada en cierto sentido fúnebre dotado por las ligeras raíces flamencas de la pieza. Aquí encontramos distintos crescendos envueltos en coros, percusiones de película y serenos pasajes acústicos. Como se ha dicho, todo notablemente encabezado por las guitarras, como si huyeran del resto de instrumentos en una persecución. El LP como experiencia completa es entretenido, a mí me ha mantenido atento la mayoría del rato, aunque perdiéndome en algunos momentos del suite inicial y de Calvary. Aún así, quizá la música tan centrada en la guitarra no suele ser con lo que yo más conecto… Con algunas excepciones claro, pero en este caso, aún no pudiendo criticarlo demasiado, tampoco ha despertado especial pasión en mí. Favoritas: Who Do You Love Suite, Calvary Menos favorita: Maiden of the Cancer Moon #DAY 44: 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die As if I hadn’t had enough already, here comes more psychedelia. Quicksilver Messenger Service —aside from having one of those ‘60s band names that never made much sense— were among the acts that most sharply defined San Francisco’s acid-drenched sound. Their second LP became an unexpected success, and “unexpected” is the right word given how unconventional the music actually is. The first half is built around what’s ostensibly a cover of Bo Diddley’s Who Do You Love. I say “ostensibly” because while it keeps the riff and the lyrics, what you actually get is a 25-minute festival of solos. That’s the charm of this record: a band that clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously, and paradoxically that’s what makes them stand out. Recorded live, the band just loops the original track’s two chords and lets each player spiral outward. Gary Duncan’s solo is fairly traditional, rising and falling like a valley and ultimately rewarding. Then Greg Elmore dives into six minutes of psychedelia, capped off by what sounds like a melodic shouting match with the audience; bizarre, but also oddly engaging. John Cipollina comes in hot with some signature effects and sharp phrasing, seamlessly giving way to bassist David Freiberg. For something improvised, the progression feels surprisingly solid, and Cipollina’s techniques in particular are pretty memorable. The second half is also pulled from live performances, though Calvary seems to have been polished with some studio touches (those sublime choral passages, for one). Mona is yet another stretched-out Bo Diddley cover, but Cipollina once again keeps things interesting with extended guitar workouts. By this point it’s obvious what the record is about: the guitar. That’s the whole show, and it works because the performances never feel bloated or self-indulgent. No wonder Cipollina landed on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists list. Calvary, meanwhile, paints a darker, almost desert-like atmosphere, with a faintly funereal tone underscored by flamenco-tinged motifs. The track unfolds in waves: choirs, cinematic percussion, acoustic respites, all of it led by guitars that sound like they’re racing away from the rest of the band. As a whole, the LP is engaging. It kept me hooked most of the time, though I did drift during parts of the opening suite and Calvary. Truthfully, guitar-centric music isn’t always what I connect with the most… With some exceptions of course, but in this case, it didn’t blow my mind. Favourites: Who Do You Love Suite, Calvary Least Favourite: Maiden of the Cancer Moon

Aimless self-indulgent noodling. Total waste of time.

This wasn’t that great, pretty slow for me.

This was alright. The guitar was nice but certainly noy my thing. 100 albums down!

good listen, not really something id come back to though

Very cool guitars in this, not much else to say except some songs should be trimmed or cut completely. Sounds strangely modern and dated in some ways. Would be higher if the album was more tightly produced

surprisingly pleasant to listen as a background music

Bo Diddley meets psychedelia. The whole album is a banger.

alright

was just super boring to me, too many blooz instrumentals

Moins banal que ça ne s’annonçait. Un rock curieux et débridé

Really smooth and interesting. Note in future for background jams

This is fun - put it on in the background at work and answering emails felt like a gunslinging adventure

Very great, psychedelic. 5?

This was pretty good. Some good experimental hippie 60’s instrumental material going on here. Nothing remarkable, but certainly listenable. A high 3.

Very late 60s jam-band feel, loosey goosey. Some would say meandering….

Too noodly. 2

Almost instrumental throughout the album but an interestingly easy listening experience.

Atrocious snoozefest

Jag är whelmd. Jag gillar inte psykedelisk rock, men jag respekterar vad det här albumet betydde för rockgenren as a whole. Jammet är väldigt imponerande, känner inte så stort behov att lyssna igen lol

He chill like that. Felt very relaxed after a day of work.

Started ok but finished poorly

"Hey sarge, you better come take a look at this." "What? Why does all the songs have similar names?!" "I got a bad feeling about this..." ... "Hey, Bass player! Get back here now! That's an order, soldier!" "He's not listening, Sarge. He seems to be in his own world." "Get back here right now or I'll... hey! Guitar player! Where are you going?!" ... "Finally back to your senses, huh? Now look where we ended up because of your insubordination! The depths of some dank cave!" "We better be real quiet, Sarge. We don't know what could be hiding in the darkness." "Alright soldiers, on me." ... "Drummer, what's our status?" "Shouldn't be too long now, Sarge. The air is quickly becoming clearer." "Alright boys, good work so far. Let's keep it steady until we're out, heads on a swivel." ... This album truly captures the feeling of playing rock, paper, scissors. ... "Where are we, Sarge?" "Out of that godforsaken cave, Guitar player. Other than that I have no idea. Drummer?" "Not a clue, Sarge. I say we start heading west for now." "Alright boys, you heard him." ... "You alright, Guitar player?" "Guitar player?" "Put down that guitar, Guitar player." ""Put it down now, soldier! That's an order!" ... "I can't believe it." "We did what we had to, Bass player." "I just can't believe Guitar player was one off them all along, Sarge." "I don't think anyone of us could have known he was... a Gothenburgian" Yeah anyway this album is kinda cool, they could've played tighter though.

This was enjoyable, solid psych rock jam. Not something I’d listen to again and not something I quite understand as being 1001 Albums worthy but fine nonetheless.

Was expecting a little bit of country but got a lot blues/rock/psych wank. Parts of the Bo Diddley cover had a groove so it sneaks a 2.

These guys love Bo Diddley. As with any extended jam, the band may stumble upon a good passage or two, for instance the blues-jazz, almost Peter Green feel, of the last minute of 'When You Love'. A couple of originals get an outing and that's when things get interesting. 'Maiden of the Cancer Moon' almost goes Black Sabbath, and despite its lack of depth I enjoyed it for that reason. That segues into the real star, 'Cavalry'. The departure from blues tropes into something more like cowboy prog rock is a great left turn. And the sparse, unsettling intro is genuinely suspenseful. This is like the 'American Beauty' to the rest of the album's 'Live/Dead'. But as an album I found it underwhelming.

Enjoyable but not 1001 albums material

Nice noodly psych rock

A little CCR feeling. 60s psychedelic pop/rock-ish.

I really enjoyed this. I thought it was gonna be some big iron western ballad type album based on the cover, couldn’t be further from that! Loved the vibe.

How can something this indulgent sound so goddamn dry?

An odd one. Sounded unfinished

This was for me. Long passages of music, experimental instrumentals I would buy this best tunes: who do you love (part 1); when you love, where you love, which do you love, who do you love (part 2), mona, calvary

It's basically a jam session with the usual doodling on guitar as countless bands did back in the late sixties. It's ok but hardly what I would call essential listening. Maybe you had to be there?

Cowboys on acid, tanks in space!

Enjoyed this but nothing the Doors didn't do better

It hung together really well, and the playing was really good, but all the best songs were covers.

Who, when, where, how, which... why????!

It isn't that the trails are *un*happy, as such... let's just say that this album is 'not my jam' 😏

Just an hour long 60s jam session.

pretty accessible psychedelic rock with some darker, jazzy blues riffs, and a vague desert-y vibe. Good contemplation music. A bit too long for a casual listen.

Mostly instrumental rock, but pretty good instrumental rock. Why didn't they do "What Do You Love" or "Why Do You Love?"

Not for me. 1/5

Psychnoodle and i wasn't in the mood

psychedelic rock is not for me glorified guitar solo

5/10

This had some good droning guitar sounds. I like the album cover.

Incredible album cover, pretty good jam band album. It sounded like if the Doors were like "let's do The End for an album". Will need a relisten before finalizing the opinion, but it is somewhere between a 3 and 4. Since I enjoyed it the first time, I'll throw it a 4.

Nothing groundbreaking here, but I enjoyed this album start to finish. The sort of blues-rock sound feels very late 90s. Getting strong My Morning Jacket vibes here, and that's great.

Full disclosure - psychadelic rock is not my thing and I don't think it ever will be my thing. Generally, if I don't appreciate a genre, I'll at least try to recognize that an album that typifies can be good even if it's not for me though. This is not the case with Happy Trails. It's boring and monotonous. Pretty much everything has a droning sameness which I guess if you're high is fun? But if you're not, it's just boring.

I don't really know when this album ended, but it was interesting to me. It was a bit laggy at some points, but I appreciated the playfulness of it that you could feel from the band.

Mostly instrumental. Flows really smoothly between songs. A lot of great technical guitar work. Not particularly my taste, and probably won't listen again. I can appreciate the talent and layering of sound.

Feels like the background music of a film set in the 60s. Might have been better if I was taking LSD but I had work in the morning

Started fine but just devolved into noise

The dictionary definition of background music.

I don’t hate it but not much there.

Some good straight-forward bluesy rock. Put this on and just chill with it.

Good

Some really fantastic jams here.. It's got some flavors of some other more popular bands. Pairs well with model airplane building.

Too Grateful Dead-esque to be enjoyable to me.

Very repetitive album. Not for me.

Prior to this list I had never heard of this band though I have heard "Who do you love" but a different version than the two versions here. I enjoy the musicianship and like the blues/ jam/ mix. I don't think I'll listen again but this is a fine example of this kind of music from an unknown (to me) band. 3/5

Happy trails is good but the rest was boring.

Dem Album merkt man sein Alter durchaus an. Ist solide Rockmusik, aber nichts, was mich heute noch vom Hocker reißt. 2/5

3.5/5

2.5

2 jamming sessions, 0 fucks given

Idk cant even remember it anymore

Interesting

Decent enough jam rock album. A lot of the middle sections of the longer songs really start to drag and lose my interest, but there are some fun and high energy moments in each of the songs. Definitely feels like an album that gets better with each listen, but a little underwhelming on first pass. Top tracks: Who Do You Love Suite, Cavalry

Good

2.5 - Meh

Nice sound but nothing special! Again

Nice bit of psychedelia.

At times it was interesting. Something to listen to in the background

Another great live(ish) jam. Some interesting ideas woven into it.

Good to listen in the car or in the backround 7/10

This one was odd - the first one was great but album devolved, 3/5. Definitely a very unique name though!

Acid rock in it's prime, what a magical time for the genre. This one crossed over to a Grateful Dead vibe for me. Familiar with the band and have a few albums, but I had not heard this one and I'm glad I listened to it. Definitely gonna seek this one out!

This psychedelic rock album has that jam-band feel with some longer songs that have amazing guitar work. Recommended if you want a great live album to listen to.

I think there are 40 words in the whole album and just sick ass guitar shredding lol - good but I felt like it was a Woodstock shred fest

Algo volado para la época, pero por lo demás meh. Nota: 2.7

if this list has taught me anything its how much i love wanky double digit minute length noodling

Majority of the record is cover songs, including the 25 minute mostly instrumental opening number, so it loses points right there for that alone. Also, this isn’t really a psychedelic rock album. It’s a blues album that sometimes gets loud. Just because it’s fun to smoke pot while you listen to it doesn’t make it psychedelic rock.

Much weirder than I thought it would be!

I don't think I've ever seen song titles be so obviously connected to one another. The first six (of only ten!) tracks' titles are essentially a list of short questions about love. In fact, these songs (which make up all of side 1) are essentially an extended jam session, and I'm absolutely here for it. All instruments are showcased and played pretty darn tastefully, from the Zeppelin-esque bowed-guitar-panning in Where You Love to the raging blues solos in When You Love, to the questionably mixed but still fun vocals in Who Do You Love. It's immediately obvious that this was a live recording, owing to the inconsistent singing volume, but that actually makes the rest of the performance more impressive if anything. Side 2 is also essentially one extended live take – excluding the final track, Happy Trails, which is a bizarre acoustic folk-jingle that acts as an afterthought. Calvary is also on this part of the record. And at 13 and a half minutes, it's too long. It's not exactly progressive rock, since the music doesn't progress at all. It just noodles over the same two chords with occasional addition or removal of drums. And it's at this point that the listener realises they've been duped into listening to 50 straight minutes of two-chord noodles (yes, the musical equivalent of your roommate's favourite meal). It's fun to kick back and mindlessly enjoy, but if you start to focus, there's not actually much of substance. Does it belong on the list? No. But it's a fun jam nonetheless. 3/5 Key tracks: Side 1

Western tinged rambly folk rock

"Happy Trails" is the second album by American band Quicksilver Messenger Service. Psychedelic rock and acid rock are the Wiki-listed genres. You betcha. Most of this album is dedicated to Bo Diddley covers and was recorded from two performances at the Fillmore East and the Fillmore West. The bandmembers included John Cipollina (guitar, vocals), Gary Duncan (guitar, vocals), David Freiberg (bass, vocals, piano) and Greg Elmore (drums, vocals, piano, percussion). The album had positive reviews and, commercially, reached #27 on the US pop album charts. The whole first side is dedicated to the band's "Who Do You Love Suite" with six different parts. The first part is the band cover of the Diddley song "Who Do You Love." A long guitar note leads to the Bo Diddley beat and guitar. Guitarists' Cipollina and Duncan give this a very loose feel. The song slows down for the second part which features guitarist Gary Duncan who gives a pretty stunning jazz/rock solo. This part really reminded me of the second half the Stones' "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?" Parts three through five highlight a percussion/drums solo , a Cipollina guitar solo and a bass solo respectively. The last song has the Bo Diddley rhythm with guitarist Cipollina and Duncan improvising with their guitars and vocals. On the side two, they continue with another Bo Diddley cover in "Mona." A percussion beat and layered guitars. More improvising and they bring in the wah wah guitar sound. This sounds a lot like the Grateful Dead. The song "Calvary" is called an acid flamenco and rightfully so. Four minutes of guitar noodling leads to the drums and bass eventually coming in to start the party. The guitars change to a Spanish flair. There's bells. There's a long droning sound period and finally a fade out. Woah! This album is trippy, jammy and psychedelic. All these musicians are very technically sound. The guitars are the highlight: the jams, the solos, the interplay, the droning and the feedback. On negative side, there's a bit of aimless noodling if that annoys you. Overall, this is a timepiece of the psychedelic era which I still enjoyed. So, if you're a psychedelic music or jam band fan, this will be right in your wheelhouse.

Very jammy. A good mix of Widespread Panic and Grateful Dead.

nothing amazingly engaging in here, but at the same time, nothing to dislike either, felt like it was totally radio friendly but didn't mind it at all as some backing music. the guitar work was really good throughout, very listenable

"Ok band, here's what we do in our next show, as we are really crap in writing songs: we just take some random song, use the basic part of it and then we show off one after another. Apparently the audience just loves our soli, so we'll give them what they want".

musique à écouter sur son rocking chair

Weird mix. Can't hear the lyrics. The "Love" suite is not very interesting prog for how much of it there is. The whole album is meandering and boring. Okay as background music, but I'm not going to come back to any of this to listen to again. At multiple points I was thinking "isn't this over already?" so that's a 2.

Easy listening psych rock. Don’t imagine I’ll rush to add any tracks to a playlist, but it was enjoyable. Ironically I think the closing track was the weakest by a strong margin.

First two tracks are jammin', but "where you love" is distractingly bad. Overall good improvisational skills and interesting sounds. I particularly liked where they worked in Western trail music to "Calvary".

What is this album? No one asked for a 25-minute jam session of "Who Do You Love?", or if somebody did, I need to talk with them. I mean, I guess it's a cool interpretation? I just don't know why I was forced to listen to it. On another note, Quicksilver Messenger Service has a great band name, one that works well with folk, psychedelia, and rock music.

All of these questions like "who?", "where?", "how?", and "which?" but nobody bothered asking the two most important questions: WHAT AND WHY? WHAT is this album? Well, it is a multi-track jam session, and not a very good one at that. Half the time, it trails off into the musical equivalent of mumbling. WHY is this album on this project? That one I can't answer, but even if I could, I probably would be disappointed with the answer anyway. I was pretty set on giving this album a 1, but the jam session got a little bit more tolerable on the second half of the album, after all the whos and the wheres.

# Album Name: Happy Trails # Artist: Quicksilver Messenger Service # Rating: 2/5 # Comments: Hell no brother. I like a good solo as much as the next man but a fucking hour. These guys aint santana ffs. Way too long, boring. Very uninspiring. Not the worst ive heard on the list. But i certainly dont get why they are on the list! # Top Tunes: Fuck knows. The one with the solo? # Would I listen to it again? Nar

This was alright. Kind of different, which I liked. It flowed together very nicely, and I often didn't notice the songs had changed, but it never felt overly long. My interest did start to fade near the end of the album, but it was still good.

Worth trudging through all the muck on here to discover diamonds like this. Never heard of these guys before, but I’ll definitely check them out after this. Just misses out on a 5 as it didn’t need to be 50 minutes and some of the solos were a little too long and wandering, but overall a great listen

Prog rock Im indifferent to? Impressive. Usually it gets some emotional reaction from me but this was just alright.

This was was mad and fun. No idea from the cover, no idea from the wiki, no idea after listening to it.

This has some really good bits. It also has some long and unnecessary bits.

When I got my album selection today, I thought to myself, "Wow...this is the second album from this band, and I have never heard of them?!" Then, I listened, and I see why. It's just meh - these guys would be fitting entertainment for the county fair, but not much else.

Some interesting Jammy elements, but overall a bit lacking in depth.

A-side is almost forgettable for me. "Mona" on the B-side grooves. As always I rate it down just because it is a live album. 1,5

Very creative even compared to their contemporaries. It's hard to find a band that doesn't sound basic in that San Francisco music scene. As experimental as psychedelic rock is, it's undeniable that this band stands out.

If you like guitar solos then this is for you

I hadn't heard anything about the album or the band before. The first impression from the cover made me expect bad country music. But it wasn't like that. I liked the album. There wasn't anything on it that I absolutely have to hear again. But as a support act at a concert of giants or at a festival, it would certainly have been fun. 3/5

While I love some psychedelic music, this album suffers from these long, introspective instrumentals that end up just being boring and uninspired.

That was a wild ride. I was absolutely not expecting however minutes of 'Who Do You Love?' to be the opening chunk of that. Very Grateful Dead, photo-jam band stuff. Putting 'Happy Trails' on the end was just silly.

I actually like the opening of this album, but including several tracks of meandering guitar wank and minute long stretches of just noise, really takes away from any illusion that this is a master piece.

Surprised I’ve never heard of this band. Fantastic classic rock with deep, blues oriented guitar work. Reminiscent of the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers.

Pretty groovy 60's blues

Potential here and some good tunes. Just doesn’t quite hit the level of other psych albums

I have never heard of this group, so let’s see what is what. Yeah ok. I like it. YouTube music has this released in 1988, but it also say 1969 and from the first track it feels timeless. Sounds a lot like the doors. The 60s sound really come out later but this sounds like a late 70s kind of jam. Really enjoyed this!

I've never heard of this band before. Not that I've heard of every band, but I've heard of many. So that was neat. I got the gist half way through.

Y venga medianías...

This was alright, did feel like it went on forever at times but the fact that half(?) this album is live is pretty fun. Nothing special though

It's fine. I'd listen to it again.

I’m not keen on the Grateful Dead, so I was probably never going to enjoy their non-union Mexican equivalent.

-not at all what i was expecting, but damn this was super cool. peak late 60s psychedelic rock experience -i absolutely loved the way the songs all sorta blended together especially during the A-side suite. aside from that i think it was sometimes a bit aimless but still really solid, could bump up to a 4 after another listen who knows -Favorites are Who Do You Love Pt. 1 and Calvary

Initial thoughts: Very nice. Exactly the kind of thing I'm into: psychedelic jam band action. Reminds me a lot of the Grateful Dead and has the same strengths. I especially love how the first side seems like a single recording. But Jesus Christ do the more meandery bits, Where Do You Love and parts of Cavalry bring it down. I did a bit of reading on it, and I understand now that side one is actually a rendition of a Bo Diddley composition. So, side one is best judged as a whole, and as a whole it's good. Going to give this 4 stars for the time being.

fun mostly instrumental

No idea what to expect this - never heard anything about this one. Well not what I expected at all. Jam band with some fun guitar solos and instumental parts. Had to inspire lots plot people. This was a good listen. This record rocked.

Not bad, reimagined versions of Bo Diddley songs.

Meh

Not bad, just boring. Late 60's psychedelic jam session.

Another one where you feel you had to be there. Instead of 32 minutes of a Bo Diddley jam just give me four minutes of “Who Do You Love?” by the Jesus and Mary Chain. I think Quicksilver themselves would also be surprised that these live cover jams made this 1001 list.

Ok hardish blues, extended work outs, very 1960’s but listenable would probably listen again.

Based on the terrible album cover, which looks like a terrible western romance novel cover from back in the day, I expected shitty country music. Instead I got shitty psych rock. So in the end I still lost. I never felt like I had to hit stop, so that’s a plus, but still meh overall. 1.5 / 5

so good. and what a beautiful finale! love finding these 60s albums from this site

3.9

interesting... a bit meandering at times

This was not great but not bad for me either. I thought they could play their instruments well and the covers were good.

It felt a bit too long and repeated the same chords the entire album

I’m always down for some psychedelic/acid rock and this started off really strong. Loved the first half, great energy, fantastic playing and solos. The second half though was just completely devoid of all the energy of the first half. Was quite boring honestly and that really disappointed me. If it had kept that energy and power for the whole album this probably would have gotten a 4 maybe a 5.

with the opening several minutes of guitar canoodling solos I thought this might be interesting...... but that's pretty much all this album is. would be "meh" as background music

Nothing for me. But you can hear they are good musicians.

If you were to tell someone, "Imagine a psychedelic rock album from San Francisco in 1969," Happy Trails is what they would imagine

Good guitar solos Very instrumental

if this was playing in the background of a restaurant, i'd be satisfied - that is about the only time i'd listen to this

I thought this was a solid psychedelic rock album. This is the kind of music that I feel like I need to be in the mood for and I wasn’t sure that I was when I listened to it today. Psychedelic rock can be enjoyable but sometimes it can get repetitive and carry on a little too long for me without going anywhere. But I would be willing to give it another chance in the future!

Perhaps a bit generous on this, but I was pleasantly surprised with this album from a band I've never heard of, with minimal Spotify traction. No huge hits, but a lot of the instrumental work was pretty impressive.

2.5

I like this, but is it essential? Not really. Grateful Dead have better psych jams than this... as does Iron Butterfly, and their exquisite 16 min psych jam also on this list. Still though, I do quite enjoy this album. 8.6 ★★★★

Good playing, but too long ang noodly. 3 stars

"Hey guys, I know we just jammed on a Bo Diddley song for 25 minutes, but maybe we should throw something different on the album." "Like what?" "How about a 7 minute jam of a different Bo Diddley song?" The playing is pretty good here, but as an album, it's boring as hell. It's just some guys jamming for 45 minutes and ending with a goofy cover of "Happy Trails". 2.5 stars.

2.5

This is several thousand leagues below what I expect of a good 1001 album or even a Quicksilver Messenger Service one. It starts off with very lame, twungy Bo Diddley riffing and collapses into the most pointless, cobwebby King Crimson Moonchild style instrumental noodling, wall-staring and thumb twiddling. The entire record ends up mainly being a grotesquely stretched out jam version of that one Bo Diddley song plus a corny minute long cover of Happy Trails. It’s all about as revolting as the clash of witchy green lettering and garmonbozia yellow on the god awful album sleeve.

I was actually aware of this album from previous deep dives into psychedelic rock. I can understand the hate that this album gets. It’s not exactly ground breaking and really just feels like a long drawn out droning guitar solo. The second half of the album becomes a series of uninteresting covers without much innovation. I am personally a fan of some jam music like “The Grateful Dead” and “King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard” but I find their jams to be more sonically interesting and evolving. If I did not enjoy psychedelic, progressive, or experimental rock music then this album would get a 1/5 stars. However for me, this album gets a 5/10.

Experimentellt flum. Lite småcatchy, men inget jag planerat att lyssna mer på

cool intro into psychedelic rock / acid rock. definitely felt a bit meandering for the Bo Diddley interpolation portion. Mona and Cavalry were quite nice. would listen again whilst high on lsd.

I only had to look at Quicksilver Messenger Service's band photo for one second to know they were from San Francisco. "Who Do You Love - Pt. 1" is an OK song. Nice riffs. "When You Love" had an awesome first ten seconds, and then got a little boring. The riffs are cool, but it's really just riffs. I'm sure it was a lot more innovative and mindblowing in '69. "Where You Love" has not improved much on the last song. There isn't much going on here. QMS have a huge "Past Members" section on Wikipedia. It's the biggest one I've ever seen. A whole lot of people have been in this band. Unfortunuately this album was not interesting, and often boring. 4/10

I didn't love it, but it was interesting and not at all what I expected from the album cover. Glad to have heard it. 3.5

What I expected: boring country pastiche What I got: some kind of wild psych-adjacent adventure— I dig it

6.5/10

Rating: 5/10 Meh.

The veil between jazz and country is thinned by a bunch of guitars off their minds on LSD. Easy 4 stars.

82% Best: Who Do You Love Suite; Mona Must-Hear? Sure

This seems like something I would have found at a goodwill and brought home simply because I liked the cover (+ they had no other albums worth any interest) and would only listen to because it was one of the 6 records I had

What the fuck.

6/10 - it was alright nothng was amazing but it wasn’t bad

Meh. More unimpressive 60s stuff

Felt like this melted out of my brain as soon as I stopped listening to it. It was some sort of instrumental classic rock as far as I recall but there didn't seem to be enough going on to carry it without lyrics. Mostly sounded like a jam session. It was decent enough I think, could have possibly been very influential if they were an early example of this sort of thing but cant imagine I'll ever be back. 2.5 I guess.

I really didn't mind it when it was on, but immediately forgot any of the tracks coming to write this review. Mary was good, but disappeared down itself a bit.

2 very similar albums, both from 1969, back to back. Again, enjoyed it. Probably more backgroundy than Credence yesterday. Also very kinda progressive and meandering compared to yesterdays. Prog blues rock. 3.5

Seems to be beloved by critics, but didn't grip me. The live tracks have excellent audio quality and I like the covers, but I won't return to this album.

Heard of them, but never heard them. They're OK.

I come back from vacation and pausing my activity, and the first album I get is called "Happy Trails". It's funny how such coincidences can happen. Anyway, I can't say that I've heard of the Quicksilver Messenger Service before. They are a psychedelic rock band that broke big in the San Francisco Bay Area as part of a wave of album-oriented acts that didn't rely on singles to achieve success. This album, in particular, is a compilation of live performances across both Fillmore venues and various studio recordings and overdubs. After giving it a listen, I consider it a decent record, albeit more as a novelty than anything truly innovative. The focus of this record is on the covers they pulled off, specifically the 25-minute medley of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love", running through multiple movements of sweeping guitar and bass improvisations. It's technically impressive with the degree to which they played their instruments and came up with new renditions for that song and the other Bo Diddley cover, "Mona". But outside of the group's demonstrated skill on those covers and a few original instrumental compositions that were fine, there isn't much to write home about here. Happy Trails is a solid album for sure, but in the grand scheme of psychedelic rock, I wouldn't consider it that much of a standout. Take that as you will.

6/10 classic rock, easy listening, inoffensive, some sweet guitar

Quicksilver Messenger Service's ode to rock-n-roll, i.e., Bo Diddley, is one of the great (live) guitar records of all time, rivaling The Allman Brothers' At Fillmore East. The six-movement suite of Diddley's 'Who Do You Love' affirms the improvisational potential of rock music, but it also testifies to its meat-and-potato edge. Extending a 2:18 classic to 25:22 is risky business, and could easily devolve into messy self-indulgence, but this never does, fortified by an unwavering commitment to Bo's rhythmic signature. This is continued on 'Mona,' another Diddley staple, while the final three tracks are a gorgeous tumble into what Emily Dickinson dubbed 'the letting go.' For music this austere, there's also uplift and relief. Happy trails, indeed.

Nice jam album. 3/5

Not at all what I was expecting from the cover, but a pretty good classic rock album. Not sure I'll spend much time coming back to it, but it was a fun listen.

Reminded me of a computer game I used to play.

3.8/good riffs, pretty good blues rock. wonder if Hendrix got inspired by this

Read up on this one. Very good once you do.

One of a million bands from the 60s psych wave, but on the trippier acid jams side more than the garage rock side. This all starts with a basic blues groove on the Bo Diddley beat and a chugging choogle from the rhythm guitar backing a heap of noodle from the lead guitar, who has the classic psych sound: sticking to blues scales but delivering a deliciously nasty tone from a fuzzy SG through a loud amp, modulated with wammy, wah wah and a whirling Wurlitzer. The bass is the best bit though, ripping jazzy walking lines with a rock swagger. The jams rise and fall and move through a few segments with tonal and stylistic shifts until it disintegrates into a sparse feedback and noise jam before coming back as a rave up. I'm as predisposed as can be to enjoy this sort of thing and only found it only fine. Maybe more accessible but way less exciting than the same year's Live/Dead which does the dark spacey psych and the rave blues both way better. Mainstays of the San Francisco scene, I think they're very much a you had to be there kind of band, eclipse by their contemporaries. Favorite: Cavalry

J’ai beaucoup aimé ! Du rock un peu expérimental/psychedelique, de la bonne guitare, ça fait plaiz. À réécouter

Unengaging, stopped halfway

Strange band.