Happy Trails

Fans of the Grateful Dead will enjoy the half-hour long ramble through Who Do You Love, though I don't think their improv chops are quite up to it. Still, I enjoyed it.

First off, this album kicks major ass. If I had a time machine I would go back to the late 60's in San Francisco. For me, the psychedelic rock scene of that period produced some of the greatest music of all time and you could go see some killer live music every day of the week. Secondly, a bit of a rant. This album starts with a 25 minute version of a Bo Diddley song, but the entirety of this book is devoid of a Bo Diddley album. The most egregious omissions of this book is it's lack of real blues music. By my estimation there are only 5 actual blues records on the list. No Howlin' Wolf, no Buddy Guy, no Big Mama Thornton, no Butterfield Blues Band, no Fred McDowell, no Mississippi John Hurt, no Magic Sam, no Freddie King, No Albert King, no Otis Spann, no James Cotton, and on and on and on. I don't have many soap boxes but this is one of them. But anyway, highly enjoyable listen for me. The recordings of these gigs at the Fillmore West in '68 had the Grateful Dead on the bill also, it must have been jam band heaven.

Country western vibe but great

A live album of long, "psychedelic," mostly instrumental jams. These guys grew up alongside the Grateful Dead, and I rate both bands about the same, which is to say, "I'm not stoned enough to enjoy this."

Don’t believe the low ratings. Wasn’t expecting to like this but from the start it just pulls you in. To be fair the second half is a bit weaker. Well worth a four

Izgubljena karika između grateful dead i television znam da je nekom ovakav stil gitarskih nudlanja dosadan ali meni je sjajan

What if allman brothers were more psychadelic n less racist, for better or worse

a faixa where do you love me lembrou um pouco AnCo na era Hollinndagain

Yeah it's pretty good! Hadn't heard QMS before, and it's kind of a Stones-meets-Dead crossover, a bit more bluesy than most Grateful Dead stuff. Very psychedelic rock. Interesting exploratory parts. I'm not usually one for long-form improv, but it was an above average listen that kept me hooked in.

I really enjoyed this. From the same school as the Grateful Dead. Some great rocking out and noodling.

Ok i listened to the album of the day today actually for the first time ever and it was actually sick i think i could get into this (ill make luke give it a listen too)

Always knew about it, never listened to it, bloody love it!

I don't know why it took these guys half an hour to play Who Do You Love, George Thorogood pulled it off in about four and a half minutes.

Too much drugs, too little talent.

Initially I thought this sounded awful, terribly recorded. Then I realized this is a live album, which doesn't make it sound any better, but explains why it sounds like that. So, the whole first side is just them jamming around a Bo Diddly tune and then play a handful of other songs on the second. I'm sorry, I'm just too sober to engage in any of this. What a mess.

What's wrong with all these people hating on guitar solos?

Happy Trails It’s hard to fuck up a song as great as Who Do You Love, and when they are working with the rhythm and melody on the 27 minute version it’s good, with a nice punchiness to it. But when they veer off into extended solo sections its far less interesting and more aimless, becoming the kind of wank fest that’s only really fun if you are in the band, you are off your tits in the audience or if you are a late 60s rock critic jizzing lyrical about it in order to justify that rock journalism is actually like, you know, an art form, man. Mona is a much better, the bass and drums are nicely locked in to the Bo Diddley rhythm, the tremolo guitar shimmers and the lead guitar tone is great, with some excellently interwoven lines and runs, even if there is still a fair amount of the more standard acid-blues rock fret tossery. There’s a touch of Black Sabbath before Black Sabbath to Maiden of the Cancer Moon in some passages, hinting at a kind of ominousness, but as a whole thing it doesn’t seem to go anywhere, feeling very much like the jam that it is. Calvary also has a little Black Sabbath and a little Led Zeppelin over the first few minutes, again prior to either band having released any music, before it moves into a kind of combination of Moricione/Spaghetti Western and blues rock, which I really liked, giving it a cinematic kind of atmosphere. And Happy Trails feels quite throwaway, which I guess was intentional, but it doesn’t really add much. I wasn’t particularly enamoured on first listen, and I’m not really into the Who Do You Love suite, and there is a fair amount of acid rock self indulgence throughout, but I really like the version of Mona and found myself being won over by Calvary, the Morricone, film sound track feel being very effective if it does lean a little towards pomposity at times. That’s enough to give it a 3, I liked it more than some of the other late 60s blues rock albums, and I’d certainly come back and give side 2 another listen. 🐎🐎🐎 Playlist submission: Mona

Plenty of guitar, but not much I really got into. Long, long periods of instrumental work that just didn't do it for me at all.

Awesome. Great discovery ❤️

Never heard of them and there’s probably a reason for that. Nothing interesting at all on this album. I hate me a live album and this barely even constituted as background noise… yawn

This was so good! A new favorite!

Fantastic

If a messenger turned up at my door and delivered this, I think I would punch them square in the jaw.

lol drugs must have been good

"This is truly exciting and groundbreaking work" is what I would say if I listened to an album that wasn't boring blues guitar noodling.

This was good, sorta like ancient King gizzard

What if a bunch of guys who aren’t great players, and who have no musical ideas, crucified Bo Diddly, and then followed that up with pointless meandering for what felt like six hours. And then a drunk sang a version of Happy Trails so bad, you’ll be praying to fall off your horse and get trampled.

This was like a recording of a rehearsal where the band were too stoned to reign anyone in, and at the end of it, they just said fuck it, let's put it out, done, now lets go and get a kebab.

Psychedelic middle section that drifts into some good licks. The whole album seems like one continuous song until the Happy Trails song provides a clear ending. Will listen again.

5/5. I just love jam bands, especially ones that don't take themselves seriously. The whole Love Suite is hilarious, just the complete unseriousness of it keeps me entertained the whole time. The solos are awesome in every part of the song and each one feels distinct enough to know which part I'm at. The second half of the album is not as good overall but I wasn't surprised to hear more solos and long winded jams. There are better albums but this one just gave me what I needed and I enjoyed the whole thing. Best Song: Who Do You Love Suite (Who Do You Love Part 2 mostly), Mona, Calvary

unfamiliar beat and is not bad

Really enjoyable. Just good, well played music, something I plan on coming back to when I need ambient good noise.

I will never understand why this album gets so much hate. I LOVE IT from the first to the last second. It might be on the more accessible part of the psych rock spectrum, but in no way is it underwhelming or boring IMHO.

I absolutely loved this album! It felt like a fun jam band. This type of music transcends time and space. I could see myself listening to this on a long drive from Chicago to Phoenix (or vice versa). Super fun.

Jam. On.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll surprisingly bump up to a 5. From the album cover, I sort of assumed we’d get country music, and I was dead wrong – this is psychedelic rock, recorded seemingly live, and as such, I think there was a slight collective PTSD from that endlessly long and rather drab Grateful Dead album we got a while ago. Not a bad album, mind you, but a really fucking boring one. It did not help that the first 6 tracks of this are a 25 minute setpiece riffing on one track. Thank the good lord above that these guys know how to make 25 minutes actually sound captivating – I actually really, really enjoyed the opening suite that starts this album. It is just one long extended riff on a track, and therefore, maybe the longest cover I’ve ever heard, but they do a great job of keeping it fresh. It certainly helps that each little changeup is its own track here, to keep those changes really obvious, and to stop it from *feeling* like a 25 minute slog. Each individual segment does have its own vibe, and I really, really enjoyed “When You Love” in particular, just for being totally eerie as hell, especially when the audience noises come in. Mona is fine. It’s sort of Hendrix-y, but a bit too lowkey, without being fully in harmony, & it doesn’t really get its own conclusion, which threw me off. It is part of another 3-track set though, and Mona’s shortcomings are quickly resolved by both “Maiden of the Cancer Moon” & “Calvary”, which both really clicked for me. The former feels very Hendrix-y, even with how short it is – it finds the harmonization between everyone and the energy that “Mona” doesn’t. Calvary is a remarkably strong 13-minute track that has a really nice, building, swirling structure reminiscent of Western movies and militaristic soundscapes, before sort of settling into a more serene & ethereal tone for its final 5 minutes – a calm after the storm, if you will. I would’ve ended the album there, mainly because the Happy Trails cover falls flat on its face as a final track after all that, but regardless… I dunno, I really enjoyed this. This is, at its very basic core, just 50 minutes of a jam session, but it does feel infinitely better than that Grateful Dead album that we all had a bit of an ick towards, and I’m just glad they’re flexing their technical chops in a more fulfilling way that doesn’t feel self-serving and pretentiously artsy. It’s probably no less than a 3 – I think the people giving this a 1 or a 2 on the site either have no patience for these sorts of albums, or they just really did not pay enough attention to care about the little details that I found captivating. Realistically, it’s definitely not a flat 5, since it does have a little bit too much empty air at times, but I feel no shame in giving it the bump; I liked it a lot, and for 1969, I think this is about as good as you can ask for in terms of “50 minute jam session” albums.

It is a rule of nature that nobody likes guitar noodling, apart from the noodlers themselves. But you know what, I actually kind of dug this. That can only mean that it was in fact me who recorded this album; all despite never having touched an electric guitar in my life. For that feat alone, this album deserves three stars in my book.

No. 229/1001 What Do You Love Pt. 1 3/5 When You Love 3/5 Where You Love 1/5 How You Love 2/5 Which Do You Love 2/5 What Do You Love Pt. 2 3/5 Mona 2/5 Maiden of the Cancer Moon 3/5 Calvary 2/5 (2x) Happy Trails 2/5 Average: 2,27 Didn't enjoy this one.

can't wait to never hear this again

Even by 60s jam band standards, this one was giant pretentious steaming noodly jizzbridge of wank.

Self indulgent as hell.

Fantastic long form 60’s psych. Experimental and jammy, with touches of avant-garde guitar interplay, noise and feedback, you can hear the influence this record might have had on a band like Sonic Youth. With such a dynamic sense of improvisation and tight rhythmic focus in these live performances, I’m left wondering, “Why on earth would anyone listen to the Grateful Dead when this exists?”

A hidden gem.

Reminds of my first job in high school, working for the Cheyenne Messenger Service. Used to deliver daily telegrams to ol' Tracy McCraken at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. He'd sometimes scold me for being late, other times he'd buy me a beer from the Railspur across the street. Then me and the fellas would roll up a joint and listen to Happy Trails behind the rail yard. I dreamed of better days, not realizing I was living them all along. Happy trails my friends, happy trails.

my heart sank when i saw this record and my fears were justified, a very sorry collection of smelly 60s noodling

truly dreadful. First song is one verse of a Bo Diddley song then 20 minutes of uninspired blues noodling. And that's the highlight! Each track gets steadily worse, with awful hippy grunting on top of amateur guitar riffing. 2nd to last track is literally 13 minutes where nothing happens at all, but even this is preferable to the final track which is as brief as it is awful. might be one of the worst albums I have ever endured.

this is like the musical equivalent of those 52-in-1 game cartridges for the NES. theres country, jazz, psych rock, blues, and even ambient on Cavalry???????????????? and why are half of the songs named one of the 5 W's with "You Love" stuck on the end???????? this may be the weirdest one yet.

Who spiked my LSD with retrospective adulation? I had a good time with this. Brings to mind Paul Butterfield’s Blues Band - this is a compliment. Those were the days: you could amble onstage dragging curly leads, thwack off over a couple of Bo Diddley covers for an hour, and then sixty years later have some faded Gen-X’er be compelled to write about your vintage jizz as it is now classic jizz that you must listen to before you die. Sounded even better on second listen and only didn’t make it to a four because the last song annoyed me. Reading the Wikipedia page on this album is confusing fun; reading QMS’s Wikipedia page is confusing poignancy - you can tell they were legit from the premature deaths with tints of bitterness, ey.

Literally just 50 minutes of boomers noodling on guitars. 4/10

Exactly like being in your brother's weird friend's basement. Can't say I ever had a good time there............

This album shouldn’t work as well as it does. I feel like if you asked anyone if they want to listen to a half hour rendition of Who Do You Love they would say no. But if you just put this album on without any context they’d think it kicks ass

Holy fuck. What have I been doing with my life that I haven't listened to this before now? This is exactly what I want out of psychedelic blues rock. A whole side dedicated to an absolute killer rendition of "Who Do You Love?" Yes please! I am now looking for the Pure Pleasure pressing of this as soon as I'm done my vinyl diet.

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would. I'm not into jam bands. And these guys can't sing. I'm not entirely sure they are very good guitarists. And yet I found quite a bit of this album entrancing—the spacey bits, not the more traditional noodley bits. When they were doing kind of standard jammy stuff I was bored. In fact, I skipped through half of the second song. But that third tune (in the Who Do You Love suite) was incredible. The noise and swooping feedback totally won me over. I'm sure Sonic Youth is a fan of this album. Some of this stuff even reminded me of the best of Miles Davis' 70s fusion work. These four dudes had a real chemistry together. And while I didn't enjoy all of this, I did admire their commitment to go OUT THERE as well as their patience to let these jams rise and fall (and fall and fall) and trusting the audience to hang in there with them.

Oh man, I find this whole album really irritating. It's all about the self-indulgent guitar solos and it just sounds like boring and annoying dad rock to me. I don't know this band already so sorry if they're really important and popular haha.

The first 25 minutes or so is a very long and experimental version of Bo Diddly's 'Who Do You Love'? that meanders around pretty aimlessly and doesn't ever come close to being as good as Bo's version. So there's that. It's not a 1/5 but it's unspectacular. Heard better stuff from bands who were wildly off their tits in the same era.

A song I vaguely know followed by 40 minutes of what sounds like people tuning their instruments, concluded by the worst version of Happy Trails I've ever heard.

You know, they could've shot the messenger.

This album is a great guitar solo, don’t think I needed to hear it though

"Extended free-form jazz excursion" - Spinal Tap

Per Wikipedia: Quicksilver Messenger Service began as a SF-based horseback courier, but was forced to pivot their business to psych rock after an unfortunate sexual incident involving a large, valuable parcel and an Appaloosa. Tip of the hat to QMS for somehow, against all odds, squeezing a half hour of juice out of the 2 chord Bo Diddly beat and keeping it pretty interesting. C+ Also very interested to see Josh's review since he usually isn't a fan of live albums but has a special place in his heart for QMS.

Alright I’m biased as a big fan of psychedelic bands from the 60s, especially ones from San Francisco, but surprisingly I didn’t know much about quicksilver other than hearing who do you love on car commercials. I thought about giving it a 4 because it certainly won’t appeal to everyone or be “objectively” great, but it’s accomplishes everything it’s going for and more. It’s an impressive feat to be a musically talented half forgotten live acid band in the 60s and yet still have your music played in mainstream 2020 commercials.

Maybe it was subversive, edgy or outsider when it first came out but it sounds a lot like every jam band since. Reminded me of the Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane. I'm not sure why this would be considered important unless it were earlier than the Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane and influenced them.

Oh Christ, here we go. Even just looking at the cover I can guess two things: nowhere near as country as you'd think, and (probably) psychedelic rock instead. Plus it's 1969, so expectations are low. aaaaand boom, not country at all! Just psychedelic rock, extended jam SHIT. It was so boring I forgot it was on and only paid attention once spotify started playing "radio based on" songs. Fuck this stuff. it's an angry 1/5.

Sometimes you discover a great new band. This wasn't that time.

I enjoyed side 1 as, despite it being a 26 minute song in 5 movements, it was accessible and a pleasant listen. Perhaps helped that it was a well known cover ('Who do yo love?'). It was also well performed - I didn't realise it was a live version until the applause at the end. Side 2 is somehow even more self indulgent. 4 songs this time. 2 are ok covers (although Henry from Neighbours still has the definitive version of 'Mona') and the other 2 just sound like dull jams with nothing going on to keep my interest. My snap judgement: QMS maybe good at noodling on a guitar, but are not blessed with much in the way of creativity or songwriting talent.

Quite a confusing album. Didn't really read or hear anything to suggest it's a worthy "1001" album and didn't massively enjoy it either. 4/10

Half the album sounds like an improvised jam session and I am absolutely on board with that. A joyous treat of psychedelic rock and amazing guitar work. Will definitely stay in rotation for me.

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.

Wow drugs

Saved Prior: None Saved Off Rip: None Cutting Edge: None Overall Notes: This is one of those albums where it inspired a lot of music that ended up being much better. The first couple of tracks were pretty cool how they overlapped and sounded like one long jam session, but not something I'll be returning to.

As much as the music wasn’t at all offensive, I didn’t really enjoy listening to a band jam for 30mins. It wasn’t terrible music and would normally be a 2 star, but because half the album is a cover, I have to mark it down as I did for The Sonics. The infamous “star rating system” is nothing without consistency.

the past 2 acid rock albums ive heard were both pretty underwhelming, but this one was great!!! about half the album is taken up by one long continuous track, apparently it's a bo diddley cover? im gonna be honest ive never heard a bo diddley song i dont think. maybe one on the radio but thats it. the cover is really good though, it goes thru a ton of sections that're all pretty cool (Where You Love is some rly weird improvisational bs for 1969), and the guitar tones are really good. Mona isnt my favorite thing ever but it picks right back up after that! also worth mentioning: this is the first live album ive gotten from this site! not sure how many there are :o very nice guitar tones on here, cool noodling. most of it is instrumental (i kept forgetting there was a vocalist at all) so its pretty nice to put on in the background and just let it go wild in the back of ur brain. great stuff :D 9/10

Its ok but not interesting enough to get away with no Lyrics. 2/5

What the f——-? Mind blowing guitar solos. Like Roy Rogers on acid. Loads of fun but I don’t think I’ll be listening to it again except as mood music for my apocalyptic western RPG.

Love that this was recorded live and hat hte musicians just put thier stamp on some Bo Diddley tunes. Great psych rock record to listen to.

It's ok. Just fine. Don't know why I had to listen to it though. I'm from the SF Bay Area and never heard of Quicksilver Messenger Service before.

Some kinda cool instrumental bits but this is def a bottom 20% album

An uninspiring cover of the much-covered Who do You Love that morphs into what sounds like a post-concert jam and goes on much longer than it should.

I spent most of this album hoping for it to end

7/10

Not what I expected given the band and album name (and album art), but I enjoyed it

There are better quicksilver albums and better live ones - this was a hippie relic played on fm radio but guess you had to be there - and be pretty stoned

Yesss! This is music aligned with my DNA, I recognise it as if it's a blood relative.

#280/1001 🇺🇸 There is a time and a place for this album, without reading into it - i thought this had late 60s San Fran (live at the Filmore) written all over it. Turns out i was right. I'm sorry but a 25 minute - 6 part take of a Bo Didley tune is just too much. Then following it up with another 7 minute cover of another Bo Didley track is just a little bit more than a tribute. I don't deny that it would have been thrilling to see live but its not doing it for me today. Best track: Happy Trails.

I didn't realize this was a live album until the second listen, the energy wasn't there for a lot of the album and it ran a little long for my liking

This album is pretty much built around one guitar riff. It’s nice at times, but every couple of songs the groove fizzles out and then comes back with some minor variations on the theme, and it gets kind of tired by the halfway point.

One of the surprise so far on that challenge. I don’t know what to say about that record. It’s very rocky, and I like to think that sometimes it was improvised. Problem is, I don’t know if I like it or not. I was listening to it at work, and I wasn’t paying attention that much, so that’s a good sign, but I wasn’t looking around because there was a good riff as well. I think on the end, there’s good flashes, but not enough to really appreciate it. 2/5. Who Do You Love, Pt. 1: 2 When You Love: 2 Where You Love: 2 How You Love: 2 Which Do You Love: 2 Who Do You Love: 2 Mona: 2 Maiden of the Cancer Moon: 2 Calvary: 2 Happy Trails: 2

Quicksilver Messager Service is the San Francisco hippie band from the 60s that most people have never heard of even though they were highly influential in the scene at the time. You can tell that they were part of the same acid rock scene as Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. What makes Quick Messenger Service distinct is the dueling guitars, two distinct styles playing off each other. The guitar playing on this album is fantastic! Before giving this album a second listen, I read that it embodies the live music scene at the time and this knowledge made the album even more enjoyable. What an interesting time and place to be able to experience today through the music that was left behind.

What an odd album. The whole time I listened to it it felt like I was listening to a Doors-like band playing other people's blues numbers--really just paying homage to Bo Diddly--but at the same time I was sort of mesmerized with how well they avoided the seemingly-inevitable noodling aspect of epic jam sessions. This was particularly true for the "Who do you love suite", which managed to take up the whole first side and yet seemed well-paced even without much in the way of vocals. I'm not sure if they were just particularly disciplined when they played at the Filmores East and West, or if they were always on the same page when they played together, but I really appreciated how this largely-live album rarely descended into Grateful Dead/Colonel Bruce Hampton/Phish-like endless wandering (the odd spaghetti-western-soundtrack-like "Cavalry" had its moments, I'll admit, possibly because they ended up using a studio version). I'm not sure I'd intentionally revisit this album, but I'm glad to have heard a late 60s San Francisco band that knew how to keep it together. I also wonder if Van Halen was inspired by these guys to end "Diver Down" with a fun a cappella rendition of "Happy Trails"?

It's pretty underwhelming from the off, with lots of generic noodling rather than properly defined songs. It's the kind of noodling and jamming that doesn't seem to have much purpose or overall form. It's kind of weak and meandering with no proper connective tissue. The second half seemed to start with some promise of doing something a bit more cohesive, and then almost straight away turned to pretentious wank. It's the type of music that takes itself way too seriously. I'll concede... some moments have some real atmosphere to them (like sections of 'Cavalry') and I have to credit the musicianship at times. But let's be honest, this is mostly shit. The album cover couldn't be further removed from the content on here, apart from the last track, which is jarring. Weird. 1.5 rounded up.

There isn't much promising in the prospect of a twenty minute jam on the Bo Diddly Beat. But, to the credit of Quicksilver Messenger Service, they put a bit of movement and variety into it. At least until the guitar solos start. Maybe it is self-disgust, but, when the guitarist achieves no better than I would do under the same circumstances - quavers wandering up and down the scale; nothing close to narrative or expression - I can't give them much credit. A jam is a lot of fun and I'd be having a great time if this was me and my band. Twenty minutes is nothing. We could honk on this for hours. But that doesn't deserve to be on a record. It lacks the daring and abrasiveness of the improvisations on Tago Mago say, which would be still more fun to play than to listen to. But, for all the SF freak scene may have been far out, this improvisation is well within the limits of a talentless hack like me. 1.5 Listening to this I was reminded of Billy Corgan and the fellow up the front who interrupted Billy’s long, feedback-laden solos with a cry of ‘play a fucking song you baldy bastard’. Of course we all knew that Billy had very good songs he could have been playing and I wasn’t sure that Quicksilver Messenger Service did. So I listened twice with as much good will as I could muster. 1/5

It sounds like a 50 minute jam and it's alright.

i don't know maybe in the future

Album #174: Happy Trails - Quicksilver Messenger Service Genre (W): Psychedelic rock, acid rock No singles. I have listened to this album once before. Thoughts?: This album drags a lot, it ends up getting boring pretty fast when it’s the same sort of playing for over a half hour. Favorite tracks: Mona, Cavalry

Really enjoyed that, could be a 5 on relistens

3.5

Sounds like if the Grateful Dead had a standing appointment to listen to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds every Wednesday evening

It's an album-long jam session, which gets tedious near the end. But overall this is a good jam session. Less pretentious than a lot of other late-60s odysseys because it sticks to rock and roll and doesn't try to invent a new form of music.

не думал что мне зайдет когда понял что это психодел рок сразу какое-то пренебрежение появилось однако, если поместить меня в рамки психодела, то я могу это слушать, местами занимательно и не уныло, не скучно, атмосферно и динамично пока что нравится, но психодел в целом я бы не переслушивал) 3.0

Smooth, blues-y rock. Pretty good, though the only thing notable about the album is that it came out in the 60s.