[.ca] Sons of Mercury (1968-1975)

From Amazon.com:
Given its 30 tracks, this two-disc overview is all the Quicksilver anyone but fanatics and scholars of the '60s San Francisco scene will ever need. The band had a couple of powerful spearheads in stinging electric-guitar master John Cipollina and songwriter Dino Valente (who authored Jefferson Airplane's "Let's Get Together"), but they infrequently made musical sense of their own instrumental prowess and pretensions. But as the excellent but truncated live recording of "Who Do You Love" indicates, QMS was the definitive acid-rock band. Fans of Pink Floyd and Phish will find a kindred spirit in the arch, ambling music Quicksilver made. This is a frequently fascinating, rarely humdrum collection. --Roy Kasten

This is a great set.:
A lot of people did not like Dino Valenti; however, Fresh Air is one of my top rock tunes. The band used special production on the tune. I think Valenti sang great on the tune. However, I do agree Valenti did set the band on a more commercial course later on, without much success. Some of the pre-Valenti tunes on the first CD were really great, also (The Fool, the live Happy Trails tunes). Local Color, Hope, Fire Brothers, and tunes from the "What About Me" album were good, too. Let's face it: Some of the tunes of the band were not very good. But, the good tunes were often spectacular.

Quicksilver and the San Fransisco sound:
This is an important album for anyone who is in the process of establishing a collection of historic music during the late 60's and early 70's when the Bleeker street sound was by far the definition of what the media later called the flower power sound. At the time you would pop into a small club or bar and there would be at least two bands. Often one or two of the members of the previous group would get on stage with the next group because everyone knew each other. In the first CD of this compilation the raw sound of the time comes out, blues based with plenty of new guitar and vocal technique. By the way who was that mystery female singer? Influence and contribution of other California bands is evident. The second disc may catch some listeners off guard because the first 4 cuts are rather low key and spiritual. but this gets better if you start with cut 5. The two discs seem to be divided between when the band was located in the Frisco area and later North in Marin county. This is a recording to save to show your children and grandkids that you are not as square as they think! Its fun too!

Excellent Compilation:
This is a wonderful collection of songs from the greatest American jam band of all time. However, it's not nearly as fascinating as the LOST GOLD AND SILVER compilation. The main reason for that is because this album doesn't have any live material (besides the inevitable selections from HAPPY TRAILS), whereas LOST GOLD AND SILVER had some live performances that were simply out of this world. On the other hand, this album chronichles the entire career of the band from the beginning to the end. But there are some songs that were left out that I feel should've been included. The post-HAPPY TRAILS albums are all extremely difficult to find, so for me, this album is essential because it contains various tracks from those albums. Disc one opens with three rare tunes, two of which they recorded for the "Revolution" film. First is "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" (quite different from the Led Zep song of the same name), an outstanding rocker with a searing, exquisite solo from my main man John Cipollina. Did I mention that he's my favorite guitarist in the world? Well he is, and this here solo that he delivers is simply awesome. "Codine", on the other hand, is an anti-drug tune. I love the one part where it gets really calm and quiet and then, all of a sudden, they tear back into it, with Duncan wailiing out "STAY AWAY...!". Killer song. And also included is a previously unreleased blues song called "I Hear You Knockin' (It's Too Late)". A different version of this song can be heard on the LOST GOLD AND SILVER compilation, with horns added in. This version sounds better, though, with no horns and a lot more of an 'echoey' sound. And a great solo from John. The rest of the songs on disc one are from the debut album and HAPPY TRAILS, which I have already discussed on their respective reviews. Disc two is actually more intriguing. Four songs from the SHADY GROVE album are included. The title track is a psychedelic remake of an old bluegrass song, with that great piano intro from the one and only Nicky Hopkins. And I can't believe that nobody ever talks about "Flute Song", it's one of the most beautiful songs that I've ever heard. I had no idea that David Freiberg could sing that good. The vocal melody is to die for. "Joseph's Coat" is an eerie number with lyrics that I can't quite figure out, but there's no denying the sheer haunting atmosphere of the vocals. And what we have next might be the finest moment on the whole album: The nine-minute instrumental "Edward, The Mad Shirt Grinder", which features some of the most glorious piano playing ever caught on an album. This is where Hopkins really shows his dexterity, and toward the end, he goes crazy and seems to hit about 1,000 keys per second! One of the most gifted pianists that I've ever heard in my life. "Fresh Air" was the closest the band ever came to a hit-single, and it's not hard to see why. The lyrics are far from brilliant, and in fact they're so simplistic that it's kind of silly, but how can you not love that chorus? "OOOOOOHHHHHHH, HAVE ANOTHER HIT". It's obviously a metaphoric song about the pleasures of marijuana. John's solo is quite wonderful too. And speaking of John, two of his guitar instrumentals are included here, "Cobra" and "Local Color". The former was recorded in Hawaii, where they recorded the JUST FOR LOVE album, and the song actually has a Hawaiian feel to it. The latter is even better, with John throwing in some slide guitar this time. The only problem I have with it is that you can't really tell which guitar is John's and which is Duncan's (or perhaps it's ALL John's playing and he used some overdubs, who knows?). "Subway" is a cool little rocker with a solid riff and more piercing guitar work (John and Gary just never let up), and "What About Me" is Valenti's famous enviornmentalist anthem. The lyrics may sound like pure 'hippie' lyrics, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, what's wrong with wanting world peace and caring about our planet? The post-Cipollina songs are a mixed bag. Most of them are rather lame, but some of 'em are alright. But if you can lay your hands on a copy of LOST GOLD AND SILVER, you'll definitely want to get that one first. Believe me.

Bay Area Psychedelia at its finest:
Without question one of the most talented bands to come out of the 1960s Bay Area psychedelic era was Quicksilver Messenger Service, best known for its twin lead guitar players, John Cipollina and Gary Duncan. Rhino Records collects the best of the 8 lps Quicksilver cut for the Capitol label, as well as including cuts from the soundtrack for the movie "Revolution," a non-album single, and an unreleased track onto this 30-track double-cd anthology, by far the most comprehensive Quicksilver collection available to date. The band, at one time or another, included David Freiberg (later of the Jefferson Starship), Dino Valenti (an original member who was sidelined for some time while serving time in jail for drug possession, and who under the name Chet Powers wrote "Get Together" the huge hit for the Youngbloods), and Nicky Hopkins, who did session work for the Rolling Stones among others, and was also involved in the Steve Miller Band, plus Mark Naftalin, known for his keyboard work with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. "Sons of Mecury" includes such Quicksilver essentials as Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" and "Mona" as well as Hopkins' "Edward, The Madshirt Grinder" and Gary Duncan's "The Fool." Later period works, written by Dino Valenti under the psedonym Jessie Oris Farrow, "Fresh Air" and "What About Me" are also included. While Quicksilver may not have had the most beautiful vocals around, their instrumental prowess was always present, and "Sons of Mercury" presents many of their finest moments.

And what about us?:
Having grown up in the bay area (there is only one true bay area)we listened to ALL the San Francisco bands. Funny part is, quite a few were lived in Marin County. On a given night you could go to the Filmore or Avalon... to see the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and of course the Quicksilver Messenger Service. We would sit on the floor of the Filmore West and then it happened... Pow! an explosion of liquid projected lights, alternating naked dancing movies, strobe lights and the booming intro to Dino's Song with John Cippolina using his self customized Gibson SG guitar with the tremelo bar to play a finger-picked acid solo as no hip-hop band could ever hope to match. No explosions, no overpriced beer with ID tags, no 500 foot away seats and video screens, no gold Mercede's medalions, no music gang killings. Just real music. When you fire up these CD's you can almost smell the sweat and P'tooli oil. You can see the light shows and cute groupies. You can see Cippolina and Dino giving 150% performances. But... you can also hear the small mistakes and voices cracking. You can also see years of touring in dives and being forgotten. You can almost cry when you see the tiny obituary for a forgotten Dino Valenti, John Cippolina, and Nicky Hopkins. Maybe when you listen to this great archive of San Francisco Music you can picture yourself jumping into the band-van 45 minutes before a show to replace a no show band at the Matrix or Ark. Maybe you'll hear that albums could be made with less than 64 tracks of angry ... vocals. Try 8 track recordings. Maybe you should grow your hair long, start a Rock and Roll band, and sing of love, peace, and good times. Maybe you should get this CD and hear where it really started.

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